Friday essay: memory loss, repetitive time cycles, and a fragmented reality – the fascinating ways TV plays with our minds

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With the rise of Netflix and other similar platforms, long-form drama series have largely transitioned from traditional broadcast television to on-demand streaming. The vast array of shows on streaming platforms is now chosen by an algorithm based on your personal interests and those of similar viewers. The content available on these platforms often falls into familiar genres, like murder mysteries, romantic comedies, legal dramas, sitcoms, and science fiction adventures. However, some shows deviate significantly from our reality, presenting scenarios unimaginable in our world.

We consider a show realistic if it stays within the boundaries of everyday life and adheres to rational rules. Crime dramas, even with their complex violent plots, usually remain grounded in a shared reality. Other shows, involving concepts like amnesia, time loops, or divided worlds, demonstrate that television is not always escapist in the traditional sense of offering simple fantasies that distance us from life’s intricacies. Such shows use drama to explore fundamental contradictions within our reality.

For example, in “Counterpart” (2017–19), a physicist in 1980s East Berlin inadvertently duplicates the universe during an experiment. He discovers this when he meets his duplicate in a tunnel he created. The story unfolds decades after this event, with the dual worlds, “Earth Alpha” and “Earth Prime,” existing in secrecy. Both worlds interact like superpowers in a cold war, with agents trying to steal secrets and disrupt the other side. The odd moments occur when agents encounter their counterparts, who look identical but have varying personalities.

Another show exploring the “split world” concept is “Severance” (2022– ). Here, a company develops a brain chip to address work-life balance issues. This device switches the user’s memories depending on their location: at home, they remember their personal life, but at work, all memory of their personal life is erased. This setup creates a parallel to “Counterpart,” with a single world split between two versions of the self unaware of each other. The “innies” (working selves) and “outies” (personal selves) live in separate mental realities, creating an internal split world.

This theme resonates with the amnesia plot, where characters suddenly lose memory of their past lives. This plot has been part of cinema since the silent era, as seen in films like “Spellbound” (1945), “Memento” (2000), “Mulholland Drive” (2001), and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004). In the streaming age, this plot is evident in shows like “Homecoming” (2018–20) and “I May Destroy You” (2020).

“Homecoming” centers on war veterans treated at a transitional support center with experimental drugs that erase traumatic memories, intending to send them back to the front lines. “I May Destroy You” features a young woman drugged and assaulted, who cannot remember the traumatic event, hindering her ability to move on and create.

These amnesia plots connect to another premise: the time loop. Popularized by “Groundhog Day” (1993), the protagonist repeatedly experiences the same day while others forget the previous day. This concept highlights the interplay between memory and repetition, suggesting that only memory can break the loop. Recent examples include “Palm Springs” (2020), “Source Code” (2011), “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014), “Doctor Strange” (2016), and the series “Russian Doll” (2019–22). In these stories, protagonists often learn crucial life lessons through these repetitions.

A variation of this theme appears in “The Rehearsal” (2022), where Nathan Fielder helps clients rehearse difficult encounters by creating elaborate replicas and simulations. Despite its documentary style, the show reaches absurd levels as clients practice their scenarios with actors and replicas.

Although these themes—split worlds, amnesia, time loops—predate the digital age, streaming has given them new dimensions. The digital era’s influence is visible in how these plots relate to digital memory, repetition, and the divide between online and offline lives. Dystopian genres, like “Squid Game” (2021) and “The Last of Us” (2023), also reflect digital-age elements, such as gamification.

Another continuity with broadcast television is the educational aspect. Just as traditional lifestyle programs teach viewers practical skills, these conceptual shows often involve characters learning important life lessons. This mirrors the educational journey seen in classic literature, like Jane Austen’s “Emma,” where characters must learn to navigate their social roles. In modern conceptual television, education often comes through confronting traumatic splits or repetitive cycles, ultimately serving the ancient directive to “know thyself.”

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