My first impression of the "White Bear" production was that it seemed like a part of a horror movie. After seeing the whole thing, I finally realized that the woman was getting her memory erased and going through frightening experiences while everyone watched. Such was her punishment for being an accomplice in the kidnapping and murder of a little girl. Because the film started with her waking up after having her memory erased, I felt like I was also being tricked. I thought she was kidnapped and there was someone in her house who was really trying to hurt her.
Every day the woman woke up, she repeated everything the same way. One of these repetitions was when she walked downstairs and picked up a photo of the little girl that she and her fiance kidnapped and killed. Since she did not remembered what she did, she woke up every day thinking that the little girl could have been her daughter. In this situation, I do not think their form of punishment is useful. What is the point of putting her through the same torture every day for a month is she is not going to remember anything that happened the night before? This just seems very absurd to me.
Towards the end of the movie, she was put in a situation where she had the choice to shoot an "attacker" to save her life. She shot and confetti came out. This is where she found out she was being set up. I believe the point of her punishment was to make her feel similar to how the little girl felt- confused and afraid. However, I think they fell short in this goal. The little girl was confused and scared every day and did not have her memory erased; therefore, she remembered feeling confused and afraid the day before and so on. On the other hand, the woman only remembers being confused and afraid throughout the day. Then, it is like nothing happened to her because she has no memory of any feelings or experiences of her punishment.
Seeing how people were easily ready to agree on setting this woman up was frightening, It was frightening to me because a lot of people do exactly what they did in the film- record and take pictures. It made me think about how many videos are captured of people in life-threatening danger, and how many of those times the person behind the camera did absolutely nothing to help.
I think that in order for a punishment to be effective, the person should remember their punishment and what they are being punished for. Otherwise, you are punishing an innocent-minded person who does not recall doing anything wrong to deserve such torturous treatment.
3 comments:
I agree that the punishment was ineffective. She could not remember the torture she went through. The punishment was very manipulative as well. Punishing someone should not interfere with their memory while they continue to live in a place and position they do not identify with at all. Sometimes restarting is a waste of knowledge.
The scary part of this is that I feel like we are such a technologically advanced society, one in which people whip out their phones to take a picture or video to post to social media instead of helping, one in which we are only believed with "proof" from said devices. This advancement, though originally intended for good, is now almost dangerous. When we were watching this film, thinking about it afterward, I kept thinking how we as a society are not too far off from this frightening conclusion. Ultimately, if this does happen to our society, it will destroy us from the inside out. If we as "innocents" have to turn into the monsters we hate to punish them, how are we any better than them?
Thats an interesting connection, pointing out that the group is not only doing the same thing, but it is a form of organized entertainment at the expense of one person. Also, I agree that the punishment lost its point on the woman the moment the erased her memory. Now it turns into entertainment for others to do the same thing, yet since its a collective group its ok?
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