Prosthetic Memory: Critical Reflection.
Alison Landsberg argues that a person can possess a memory of an event they did not experience (Landsberg 25). This is because media technologies such as cinema enable the viewer to have a vivid encounter with that event (Landsberg 25). However, even though this event was not experienced it is still authentic and real. This is because the mediated experience itself is real (Landsberg 33). How this blog incorporates Landsberg’s idea is through the exploration of the 1964 Beatles tour of New Zealand as a prosthetic memory.
In contrasting the personal entry with the historical, the blog emphasises the idea that through the historical memoirs and photo imagery of the past the person has developed a prosthetic memory. The memoirs influence their subjectivity of the event as mostly teenagers listening to Beatles records. Because of this engagement with the historical text and imagery, their memory of the event is shaped like an authentic experience. This is illustrated through the first person journal entry.
The clothing and Beatles records documented in the personal entry solidifies Landsberg's idea that it is through ‘advanced capitalism and an emergent commodified mass culture’ that enables an experience for the inexperienced through images and narratives of the past (Landsberg 25). This capitalism has enabled the journal entrant to purchase the products of the past and construct their own memory that has been influenced by historical documentation. The memory of teenagers in 1964 listening to their records is emphasised through clothing, the sepia tone of the images in the journal entry and the text itself.
Contrary to Landsberg’s argument, Frederic Jameson has argued that prosthetic memory is not real or authentic because we did not experience it (Landsberg 32). The mass cultural technologies of photography and text instead, ‘invoke a sense of pastness instead of engaging with real history’ (Landsberg 32). In response Landsberg argues that peoples engagement with the past and present has always been mediated, and this illustrates the difference between ‘experiencing the real and having a real experience’ (Landsberg 33). In the instance of the blog, it is evident that while the entrant has not had the real experience of attending the 1964 Beatles tour they did experience the real authenticity of the past through historical documentation. The personal journal entry plays homage to this through its description. The generalisations of the entry would suggest Jameson's argument that the blog is a sense of pastness instead of real history. This is because while the entry is based on history it is not an entry based on authentic experience. However, in agreeing with Landsberg the blog shows that there can still be a real experience in the experience of the mediation of the event through photography and text.
Therefore, how text and photography shape and organise the memory of the 1964 tour is through contrasting the event with the memory of the present. While the photography enriches the visual experience as authentic the text enriches the memory with detail. The blog's construction of historical fact before the personal entry demonstrates how an engagement with mediated history can shape memory. While we believe it is a memory of the actual event it may in fact be a memory instead of the mediated experience of the event. Therefore, in favour of Landsberg's argument the blog demonstrates how through the effective mediation of mass cultural technology such as text and photography memory can be transported to a person who has not had a lived experience of the event.
Bibliography
Landsberg, Alison. Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Rememberance in the Age of Mass Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. Print.
Hutchins, Graham, Eight Days a Week. The Beatles Tour of New Zealand 1964. Auckland, Exisle Publishing Ltd, 2004. Print.
New Zealand History Online. "Wellington - The Beatles In New Zealand." The Beatles in New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/beatles/wellington. 17 June. 2010. Web. 20 September. 2010.
