The Amnesia Cliche - Good or Bad?

I've seen this question posted on other entertainment forums and was wondering what reactions it would get here. Obviously we're all familiar with the dreaded "Amnesia Plotline," most often seen in Soap Operas or situation comedies (and Muppets Take Manhattan of course!). It's been utilized so much over the years that it's now largely regarded as a writing cliche to be avoided like the plague (Hey there's another cliche! ). Yet there are also fans who still love the concept of a beloved character suffering from amnesia, despite its overuse. Your thoughts?

Having actually suffered a (thankfully brief) bout of amnesia myself, I'd love to see something a little more realistic. Replace the usual spaced-out "Where am I? Who am I?" with a frightened "Holy crud, who am I? Why can't I remember who I am?!"

As for cartoon amnesia, it can make for a decent story, or it can be just another lame cliche. In "Boober Gorg," at least the writers used it as a way of blanking Boober's brain to allow him to become deluded, while still letting elements of his real personality shine through, and at least it wasn't cured by a second konk on the head, which always seemed especially lame to me.

Yeah I love how on Television the cure for a blow to the head is another blow to the head! Of course! Lol

Well as my Dad pointed out, when your TV goes on the fritz, you hit it, right? So it figures that all TV characters need to get better is a hit on the head as well, lol.

I agree with Slackbot, there are times when writing amnesia scenes are so unrealistic, that the cliche becomes a bad thing... like whenthe character comes to, not to ask who are they, or where are they, but when they awaken as a completely different person altogether... like, wasn't there an episode of The Flintstones where Fred had amnesia, and thought he was some kind of English gentleman? Also, I was once a part of an RPG at another forum where we used the amnesia cliche in a similar manner where one of the characters woke up thinking she was a princess being rescued from the tower she was locked in.

The only ime I remember the amnesia cliche being used in a creative/original way was with Sid & Marty Krofft actually: they were so over-budget and were losing so much money on H.R. Pufnstuf, that they couldn't afford to film the final episode, so they did an episode where Jimmy came down with amnesia, and both Pufnstuf and Witchiepoo are trying to get him to remember who he is: with a series of flashbacks of previous episodes.

I think, all things considered, I could go either way wirh the amnesia cliche... would I look for a chance to write it into my work sometime in the future? Probably not, but that's no guarantee that any character of mine may end up with amnesia at one point or another.

EDIT: heralde ziffeled me.

Oops, sorry about that! But I do agree with you guys, I think the Amnesia plotline actually has a lot of potential that is so rarely utilized. There's so much possibility for exploration of character traits, how much our past experiences shape our personalities, the pain loved ones might go through. But instead too often we get the usual "Who am I? Where am I?" which frankly never interests or moves me.

Did that actually happen multiple times? I remember Harvey Birdman openly mocking it with Fred turning into a Mafioso head, and curing him by giving him a blow to his.

Oh is THAT what happened? I never saw the whole episode, I was wondering, lol.

Actually the whole "amnesia turns character into proper English gentlemen" was done all the way back to Laurel & Hardy. Which people were really impressed by, seeing Stan Laurel go from playing this idiot to a sophisticated guy. So amnesia can used as a moment for actors to show off their talents.

The best use of amnesia, IMO, was the movie Memento. The main character was a man who was unable to create new memories due to brain damage. He could recall things that happened years ago, but had no idea what happened 5 minutes ago. The movie was told back to front, with the end at the beginning, and after playing out a scene you'd see what happened before that, then before that, and so on, until you discovered what was actually happening. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

This may not technically be amnesia as we're discussing it, but I think it at least touches on the subject of memory loss and storytelling. The main character is always trying to keep track of what he's doing, and develops ingenious ways of reminding himself about people and places. Amnesia is more than just a cliche plot contrivance here, it's the element that makes the story fascinating.

Yeah that definitely counts, it's a creative way of livening up a cliche. And it examines the complexities of the human mind and what it's capable of.

The movie Random Harvest (1942) was also a gorgeous story involving amnesia. I can't say too much about it without using spoilers, but the acting was just top notch, you really felt the main characters' pain and agony and joy throughout.

Oh, I hate when that happens... that episode of Seinfeld where they did that? Worst episode of the entire series! The only thing funny about it was at the end with the "15 Years Earlier" flashback where Jerry first moves into the building, and meets Kramer for the first time.

KRAMER: Hey.
JERRY: Hey, I'm Jerry. I saw your picture down in the lobby, you must be Kessler.
KRAMER: Uh, Kramer. You need any help?
JERRY: No, but I ordered a pizza, wants some?
KRAMER: Oh, no, I couldn't impose.
JERRY: Oh, come on, we're neighbors, what's mine is yours.
KRAMER: Ohh... *Saunters in and looks around* Really?

Kinda reminds me of a Stephen Sondheim musical called MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. It's about a team of songwriters but starts at the end of their career after they stopped speaking to each other. Then the end of the show starts when the songwriters meet each other. Then there's another musical called LAST 5 YEARS about a failed marriage and when the show starts, the wife is at the end of the marriage and the husband is at the beginning. But at the end of the show, the time periods are reversed: husband at the end, wife at the beginning. As you can imagine, these are both very depressing shows.

But back on-topic: The only TV series I can think of that did a passable amnesia episode was the 1960's "Addams Family".

Oh, I forgot, there's been a couple of episodes of M*A*S*H that did amnesia plotlines in peculiar ways...

One episode featured a casualty brought to the 4077th who had suffered a head injury, and everybody thought he was trying to act crazy to get a Section 8, but he believed he was Jesus Christ. Then another episode where a medic who could very well have made an excellent surgeon himself returned to camp, looking at his dogtags, not knowing if it' really his identity, or where he is, or anything, until Sidney Freedman the psychiatrist hypnotized him, and as it turned out, his amnesia was brought on by shock and trauma that his kid brother, whom he promised their mother he'd let nothing happen to him, was killed in his bunker.

Hey Arnold! handled this pretty well as the amnesia was treated more realistically.

Helga gets hit on the head with a baseball and gains amnesia (losing her memories, but not turning into a different person like in so many other shows) while Arnold helps her out with everything, but when she recovered it from the next day after waking up (rather than getting hit on the head again, which is more likely to cause further trauma), she unconvincingly fakes it after hearing from her mom that Arnold helped her, all while calling him names like "Archibald", "Arliss", and "Arlo".

Eventually, Helga finds out that this is taking up all of Arnold's time with his friends, so she sets him free... by slipping near a drinking fountain and conking herself on the head, Hollywood style.

Oh I forgot all about that Hey Arnold episode, such a funny show, Helga was a great character, lol.

A couple of super hero shows (Wonder Woman, Greatest American Hero, and possibly Batman) tried changing it up by having the characters not get complete amnesia, but just forget that they're super heroes (while the world is in great danger, naturally, lol).

Ha ha I remember that episode of HR Pufnstuf. Let me see other episodes with amnesia
Green Acres-Who's Lisa. Lisa is upset with Oliver for not taking her to the opera or something like that, and she later loses her memory and keeps asking Who's Lisa but remembers Hank Kimbel.
Fraggle Rock- Bobber Gorg. As we all probably know Boober loses his memory and believes he's a gorg.
I remember a Tom and Jerry cartoon where Tom loses his memory, but I forget the title.
One Mama's Family epsiode has Naomi losing her memory and Mama tricking her into household chores. Hope this helps!