The Bergsonian Concept of Memory and Filmic Representations of Prosthetic Memory

Mirosław Przylipiak

mprzylipiak@gmail.com
University of Gdansk (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7552-8112

Abstract

Henri Bergson, in his work entitled Matter and Memory (1896), distinguished between two types of memory: cerebral and pure. Cerebral memory belongs to the body and is used to respond to stimuli, and therefore prefers those memories that are most useful in real life. Pure memory records everything that has happened, including memories that are useless in real life. Cerebral memory situates us on the side of the body and therefore biology. The tribute to useless memories is a hallmark of humanity and a precondition for spirituality. These statements by Bergson, popularized in Gilles Deleuze’s theory, turn out to be extremely relevant when characterizing cinematic representations of prosthetic memory, in which the film protagonists have memory implants or their memory is externalized. Bergson’s claims that memory is a distinctive feature of humanity, that there is a relationship between memory and the body, and finally that there is a division between practical and impractical memories, also remain valid in relation to these representations.

 


Keywords:

prosthetic memory, Henri Bergson, memory

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Published
2024-04-08

Cited by

Przylipiak, M. (2024) “The Bergsonian Concept of Memory and Filmic Representations of Prosthetic Memory”, Kwartalnik Filmowy, (125), pp. 6–29. doi: 10.36744/kf.2378.

Authors

Mirosław Przylipiak 
mprzylipiak@gmail.com
University of Gdansk Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7552-8112

Professor of film and media studies at the University of Gdansk, film critic, translator, documentary filmmaker. His main publications include the books Kino stylu zerowego [Zero Style Cinema] (1994, 2nd edition 2016), Kino najnowsze [New Cinema] (1998), Poetyka kina dokumentalnego [Aesthetics of Documentary Cinema] (2000, 2nd edition 2004), three books on American direct cinema, over 150 academic papers on various aspects of film and media, and numerous film reviews. He translated nearly 30 books, mostly from the fields of psychology and film, and some poetry. He also made several documentary films and educational television series. He was the founder and first managing director of Academic Educational Television at the University of Gdansk. He has been awarded many grants and fellowships, from the Fulbright Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and the Polish Ministry of Higher Education, among others. His main areas of interest are theory and aesthetics of cinema, documentary film, American direct cinema, and Polish cinema.



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