Overview: Jordan Harrison's Marjorie Prime explores our relationships with family, much like Henrik Ibsen did in his time with A Doll House. However, Harrison also delves into the ways in which memory shapes our choices and future. By doing so, he attends to the new challenges we face in our psychologically conscious world. Today we read Part I, Scene 1, pages 1-13.
Questions to Ponder: By using the conceit of a Prime, how do the characters reinvent their loved ones into what and who they want them to be? How do the Primes and the living, in turn, reinvent themselves? How are we all like Marjorie, when it come to memory retrieval? How do the ideas of Existentialism apply to these ideas and this play? Are there any questions or concepts you found interesting or confusing that you would like to explore in class?
I do feel like there are times where we do want to remind ourselves of our pasts, whether they may be good or bad memories, but when we reflect and learn from those moments in our lives, we grow as individuals and understand the humility of being human, which is what I think this playwright wants us to think about it. The same concept also applies to the people who were in our past and what we make of them, whether in our own perspectives or the other person's POV, knowing the difference between our fantasies and expectations of that person vs. the reality of them. Although we all can't have a prime provided for us such as Marjorie having a Walter prime, we are always reminded of that person in our past and what kind of impact they had on us (positive/negative) from those who've known and loved that person once. But even when we're reminded of that person from others, they may have a different POV of that person than ourselves so at times it can be hard to tell whether that person's character was something more than your original understanding of that person. But inevitably, the various thoughts we have of that person can either be complacent or altered, depending on our emotional and personal connection to that person, making us more in tune with our human nature.
ReplyDeleteEven if something was really unpleasant, the more details you remember about it, the less you risk having to put up with it again.
DeleteBlade Runner 2049 features, not a Prime, but something very similar.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sffdf9m2Ew
Joi wasn't made in memory of a character that once lived, like a Prime, but her appearance, responses, and traits are idealized.
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