Memory Erasure in Media
Nine Years deals with a familiar science-fiction question: what would be the consequences of erasing one’s memories at will? And what happens when you want these memories back? Different stories have answered this question in different ways, and Nine Years exists in conversation with these other works. These are some notable entries in the long history of science-fiction memory erasure, and how they compare to Nine Years.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Perhaps the most significant entry into the memory erasure sub-genre, Eternal Sunshine follows Joel (Jim Carrey), who discovers his ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has undergone a procedure to erase all memories of Joel from her mind. Joel decides to get the same procedure done, and we experience the procedure through his eyes as his memories of her are erased, beginning with their final fight and ending with their first meeting. The structure is non-linear, reflecting how we remember things in real life. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was named as one of the best films of the 21st century by The New York Times in 2017, and has had a lasting influence on music in the years since, referenced by artists including Halsey (in the song “Ashley”) and Ariana Grande (in her album Eternal Sunshine). The film was written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry.
Severance (2022-Present)
Severance is a unique take on memory erasure. Instead of memories entirely being erased entirely, the characters in Severance have their minds and memories split in two: when they are at work at the mysterious and sinister Lumon corporation, they have no memory of anything outside of work. As soon as they leave the building, they can remember everything outside of work, but nothing inside. This effectively splits each character into two characters, the “innie” who only knows work, and the “outie” who knows everything else. The series uses this to comment on the idea of “work-life” balance, as well as explore the hold companies have over their employees. Ongoing conflicts include the Lumon employees trying to discover what the company is hiding from them, the journey to “reintigrate” both halves of their memories, and outside groups protesting the existence of the “severance” operation. Severance was widely acclaimed, having been nominated for 41 Primetime Emmy Awards across its two seasons. The series was created by Dan Erickson and directed primarily by Ben Stiller.
Men in Black (1997)
Men in Black is not strictly about memory erasure, but includes memory erasure as a large portion of its plot and world. In the world of Men in Black (based on the comic of the same name by Lowell Cunningham), extraterrestrials are real and live side-by-side with humans, and the Men in Black agents are tasked to keep this secret. In order to do this, the agents are equipped with “neuralyzers,” devices that use a flashing light to erase the recent memory of a subject. The subject then becomes suggestible, and the Men in Black feed them the government-approved version of events. Men in Black explores how memory erasure can be used as a means of control, but like Severance and Eternal Sunshine, also portrays elective memory erasure. At the end of the film, Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) uses the neuralizer on himself in order to quit the agency. That way, the secrets of the Men in Black remain safe, and Agent K can never be pulled back out of retirement (until Men in Black II, of course). Men in Black would go on to become a franchise, spawning three sequels and an animated series. The film was written by Ed Solomon and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld.
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Like Men in Black, the world of The Incredibles presents a government that is willing to erase people’s memories to protect state secrets. Only instead of extraterrestrial life, the secret the government is protecting is the identities of superheroes. Tony Rydinger (Michael Bird) is someone who gets his memory erased after he discovers the superhero identity of Violet Parr (Sarah Powell), his classmate who recently asked him on a date. The situation is complicated when it turns out that the government did not just erase Tony’s memory of Violet as a superhero, but all of his memories of Violet, causing him to forget their impending date. This plot is minor in the grand scheme of the film, and resolved rather easily by the end (Violet and Tony get to go on their date after all), but this movie really sits in the betrayal that would come with erasing an entire person from someone’s memory. Incredibles 2 was written and directed by Brad Bird.
The Sentry (2000)
The Sentry is a comic miniseries published by Marvel Knights. It follows Bob Reynolds, who begins to remember that he is a superhero with incredible power known as the Sentry. He goes on a journey to discover his lost memories and find out who took him. Throughout the series, he meets with several Marvel superheroes, including Mr. Fantastic and Spider-Man, whose memories of the Sentry have all also been erased, despite their history with the hero. Bob eventually discovers that he has an evil alter-ego known as the Void, and that in order to protect the world from the Void, Bob had used his power to erase the memory of the Sentry from everyone on Earth, including himself. This story shows a common aspect of memory erasure stories: the search to regain lost memories. Unlike some stories, such as Eternal Sunshine, Bob is eventually able to regain his memories. The character of Bob Reynolds would eventually be included in the 2025 film Thunderbolts*, though with the memory erasure plot omitted. The Sentry was written by Paul Jenkins with art by Jae Lee.
Nine Years (2026)
So, how does Nine Years fit into the canon of memory erasure stories? The memory-erasure procedure in Nine Years is called the ISMP, short for “Induced Selective Memory Procedure.” Like Eternal Sunshine, Severance, and the end of Men in Black, this procedure is elective. Like Severance, the ISMP is highly controversial in the world of the play. Like Eternal Sunshine and Incredibles 2, it is used to erase a specific person from the subject’s mind. And like The Sentry, we follow a character’s journey to regain their lost memories. However, Nine Years is unlike all of these, despite fitting in neatly. Nine Years is divided by the ISMP, showing the actual events before the procedure, before portraying the altered memories after. Nine Years also only has two characters, unlike probably every other memory erasure story. One of these two characters, Sophie, is a neurosurgeon who is liscensed to remove memories, and we see how her feelings on the subject develop throughout the play. A sub-genre, like memory erasure, continues on and is continually permutated on because new artists have something to say about it, whether it is a bombastic comic book story or a quiet character piece. Nine Years is written by Michael Combs, and will be directed by Isabel Ownby in its premiere in the BYU Black Box theatre on January 29-31.
