If you go to the link there is a cartoon from the far side which exemplifies flashbulb memories. These are the memories that last forever as very vivid emotional events in ones life. Flashbulb memories include the direct link (ie. as if yourself was affected by the event) or if one was not directly affected (ie. when passing a car crash or witnessing a bicycle accident).
The cartoon illustrates forest animals all gathered around reconciling over Bambi's mothers death. The significance is that each one of them remembered where they were and what they were doing. On the bottom it says, "To this very day," is referencing the time that has past between the event and their gathering to talk about it.
This reminds me of certain events in history that every person remembers. From Princess Dianas Death, 9/11, and Obama's winning night for office, we all know exactly where we were and vividly remember what we were all doing and where we were. I even remember what I was wearing and who i was sitting next to for some events. These vivid memories that last forever are called flashbulb memories. Memories are experiences that we have gone through and therefore come up in conversation frequently. Does this enable the long lasting effect? Like the animals gathering around to chat, were they going to that particular spot for counseling or was it by coincidence that the topic of Bambi's Mother just come up?
2 comments:
The idea of flashbulb memories fascinate me. As I am sure everyone did when first learning about the flashbulb memories, I tried to remember if I could think of any flashbulb memories of my own. I see that I was thinking along the same lines as the author of this post, I remembered two dates specifically, and the author also thought of them, one, when Princess Diana died and when 9/11 happened.
Clearly September 11th was a huge deal, and even though I was younger (middle school), I understood at the time what a devastation it was, without anyone having to tell me. I knew that it affected a lot of people, and I'm sure that how the teacher were acting (I was in school) influenced how seriously
I took the situation. I think that the way people react to situations has a lot to do with the memory being flashbulb or not.
Before Princess Di died, I did not know who she was. I remember my mom bringing in the paper and being really upset, and I think that the memory was more influenced by my mom making it a big deal, rather than me realizing it was a big deal.
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