50 First Dates tells a realistic story
about a female, named Lucy, who is suffering from amnesia after a car
accident. Her memory was damaged and she has trouble with recall.
Lucy is able to recollect every memory up until her accident, but is unable to
store new memory. Her memory task cannot retrieve specific information, such as
ever recalling if she was in an accident, or even aware that she is suffering
from an illness. She lacked the stability to maintain her autobiographical
memory for she did not recollect the circumstance of her disease. The
disorder that is being portrayed is known as Goldfield Syndrome which is a type
of anterograde amnesia. This amnesia is related to memory lost for
events that follow an injury. Lucy’s short term memory lasts for only 24
hours. Her friends and family cope with her disorder by setting-up the same
routine for her to live by, day after day. Everyday Lucy believes that it is October
13th, her father’s birthday, the day her injury occurred. She still preserves
her working memory so she can still live her life normally, which could
be the reason why she never felt the need to ask if something was wrong with
her.
After
meeting and falling for a man named Henry Roth, things became different. He did
not realize that she had this disorder when he met her. It was not until they
met again, she failed to remember who he was. Henry tried to help her regain
her memory by thinking of new ways to meet her again, hence their 50 first
dates. When Henry and Lucy were told by her father about her condition, they
decided to seek her doctor for answers. Lucy and Henry needed to obtain a
professional’s opinion, taking the approach to distinguish the difference
between what was normal vs. abnormal. When Lucy’s accident is explained
to her, she is faced with flashbulb memories. These flashbulb memories
are memories related to a specific, important, surprising event that are
recalled with vivid imagery (229). Although this memory would only last for a
day.
One night Lucy has a dream of a man
she never met before, yet she has a familiar feeling about him. It so happens
to be Henry. She also keeps a diary, writing about her day so that the next
morning she would remember/read something she did. Roth’s approach to treatment
is known as psychodynamic therapy. This therapy seeks to bring
unresolved past conflicts and unacceptable impulses from the unconscious into
the conscious, where the patients may deal with the problem more effectively (562).
He has an idea to create a video of the occurrences of her accident so that
after she comes face-to-face with it, she can pick-up from there and live her
life.
In the
end, her amnesia was not reversed. However, with the video provides her, he
plays episodes of her life, helping her experience her accomplishments and how
she continues to live her life as she were normal. Henry reminds her, by the
time she wakes up to start her day, to give a flash of memory that she was
missing. Henry’s willingness and patience impacted me emotionally because it is
nice to see how much he really cares for her and completely understands her condition.
He is there giving her constant love and support. His motivation to do whatever
he can to make her happy even though her condition is hard to adjust to,
reminds me how precious memory is. Henry continues to comfort her, allowing her
to live a normal of a life as possible. They even have a family of their own.
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