In this blog post, I’d like to examine—through the movie ‘Shutter Island’—how memory and personality shape human identity, and how easily our intellectual abilities can be shaken.
Human identity stems from memory
What makes a person who they are? Contrary to popular belief, a person’s outward appearance does not seem to be a particularly important factor. Even if a person’s face changes drastically due to burns or if they acquire a new face through plastic surgery, the fact that they are who they are remains unchanged. Even changing the name given to them does not affect the fact that “I am still me.” So, what is the basis that allows us to recognize yesterday’s “self” and today’s “me” as the same person? Perhaps human memory is the key factor that defines a person. Or, taking it a step further, a person’s identity might be their memory itself. If so, what does a person experience when their memory begins to falter?
Dementia rarely affects a patient’s life expectancy. Nevertheless, the suffering patients experience is no less severe than that caused by any other disease. Their suffering stems from the fact that, due to the disease, their experiences and memories are fading away, gradually transforming them into someone else. Memory shapes a person’s character and behavior. As dementia patients lose their memories and their cognitive abilities decline, they begin to act and speak in ways that their original selves would never have done.
In this way, our identity depends on the fragile medium of memory. If that memory is shaken—whether by disease or some other cause—it becomes difficult to maintain our identity intact. We believe ourselves to be rational beings. Furthermore, based on this belief, we think we can judge the world we perceive through our cognitive abilities. This faith in human intellectual capacity was the source of power that drove the development of human society through modern times.
However, as our knowledge of human cognitive abilities and their principles has grown, it has become widely accepted that our identity is not as solid as we once thought. Unlike in the past, when the dualism of soul and matter was taken for granted, we have come to realize that our existence is nothing more than the activity of brain cells and the action of hormones. Furthermore, we have learned that our cognitive processes are prone to illusion and that memories can be manipulated.
The worldview of the movie ‘The Matrix’ has its origins in these discoveries. If what we feel and perceive is nothing more than electrical signals received through our sensory organs, can we truly say that the objects we are seeing and hearing actually exist? This film depicts a future world where humans are dominated by machines. Most humans are born and raised in incubators provided by machines and live their lives believing that a virtual world created by computers is the real world.
The Fragility of Human Identity
The film ‘Shutter Island’, which this article will discuss, raises another question regarding the fragility of human identity. It suggests that human intellectual capacity and memory can be easily shaken, even without diseases like dementia or a virtual world. The film is set on a fictional island called Shutter Island. On this island is a psychiatric hospital that houses criminally insane patients, and the protagonist, Teddy, arrives there as a federal marshal to conduct an investigation. A woman named Rachel Solando, accused of killing her three children, was admitted to this hospital but disappeared after leaving a note. Teddy continues his investigation to find Rachel, but the hospital staff tries to prevent the truth from coming to light. However, he ultimately succeeds. However, she claims that she is not insane and that the hospital framed her as mentally ill to cover up the truth. She also warns that if the protagonist learns this fact, he will be buried in the same way.
Just as in Rachel’s situation, when everyone around me tells stories that contradict the facts I know, will I be able to overcome this situation and maintain my faith? My faith is based solely on my uncertain experiences. The only thing I believe to be true is that I am not mentally ill. But even if I were truly mentally ill, I would still insist that I am not crazy. In other words, under no circumstances can I prove that I am sane. Moreover, if everyone around me tries to convince me that my mental illness is a fact, my conviction will inevitably grow weaker and weaker.
The Boundary Between Reality and Fantasy
Our memories and experiences are this unstable. If many people say it’s a mental illness, we have no choice but to believe it. Furthermore, our claims and words lose all validity the moment we are labeled as insane. “Rachel Solando,” who—like the protagonist in the movie—is branded as abnormal, says the following: “Reasonable defiance becomes denial of reality, and legitimate fear becomes paranoia.” Her words perfectly reflect this situation.
Just as she warned, he finds himself in the exact same situation. Teddy seemed on the verge of uncovering the island’s secret, but hospital officials claim that he, too, is merely another patient confined for mental illness. They also claim that, driven by guilt over killing his wife, he completely lost his memories of the past and created a new persona. What, then, is the truth? The film does not provide a definitive answer. What the truth is doesn’t really matter. What truly matters is that, regardless of what is actually true, it is difficult for us to distinguish reality from fantasy.
The Brain and Identity
At the end of the film, the protagonist, Teddy, accepts the claims of the hospital staff surrounding him and passively undergoes surgery as part of his treatment. The surgery is intended to remove a portion of his brain to suppress his violent tendencies, but as a side effect, the patient’s personality also changes. We might willingly choose surgery because it can extend our lives. However, undergoing surgery means we can no longer maintain our identity. Should we really choose this surgery? Surgery to remove a brain tumor often brings about irreversible changes to a patient’s identity. In such cases, have we truly survived through the surgery? Or have we, in fact, died?
Teddy’s final line clearly reflects this dilemma: “Will I live my whole life as a monster? Or will I die as a good person?” Here, “die” does not refer to literal death. If surgery removes the personality that defined one’s identity, that person is as good as dead. If our memories and personalities are what make us who we are, and if our brains are what create them, then altering the brain inevitably destroys our identity. Through this, the film shows just how easily our blind faith in our identity and intellectual abilities can be shattered.
