SSC Film Studies

Representation of women in Memento

The pleasures that memento grants to it's audience is often broken down by critics and investigated as if it contains a deeper underlining meaning. For example when Natalie is introduced into the film she is the first female in the film (besides Leonard's wife) that drives the plot forward and in doing so she is a dominant role in the narrative, also the fact that she manipulates Leonard and uses him for her own personal gain would give the audience pleasure in one way or another. This is because she is seen as the dominant character and would give female audience members some form of pleasure from her role because they may be able to relate to her. 

"create a gaze, a world, and an object … must be broken down before mainstream film and the pleasure it provides can be challenged." (Jane Gaines - women and representation. p.14) 

As said in the quote from and Gaines the pleasures provided to the audience can be challenged. One way in challenging the pleasures offered to the audience is to say that instead of the character being there to for the female audience to relate to she is simply there in order to portray a negative representation of women. Due to us not knowing the director's main purpose of the Natalie character it is hard for us to simply dismay that she is there to portray a negative representation of women as we have a lot of evidence that she is merely helping Leonard for her own personal gain and at one point disbelieves his 'condition' that much that she spits in his drink in front of him to see if he remembers, however he does not. These few scenes give the audience a negative view of Natalie.