Culture + Politics
How the Pandemic Briefly Resurrected “Amnesia Horror”
Three unrelated historical events produced an eerily similar horror trope related to memory loss, grief, and losing a loved one
As a rugby player, there was only one time I was late to a game.
I waited on the sidelines for a break in play so the coaches could put me in, standing next to one of our star players. I didn’t know why he was benched—he seemed fine, physically.
“Hey, how long ago did you get here?” he asked.
I frowned at him with mounting unease. I didn’t take issue with his question, or even that we were losing while one of our strongest players was on the sidelines.
It was the fact that he had asked me that exact question three times in the last five minutes.
Memory loss is a chilling thing to experience from the outside. I’ve had family members with dementia, so I’ve often braced myself for deep uneasiness whenever they spoke. Shared memories are what connect us to each other. When age and genetics detaches someone else from those shared memories, it’s akin to amputation.
Body horror, but for the body of shared family history—for the social body. For…
