Identity Amnesia: Difference between revisions

m
clean up
m (clean up)
Line 23:
* [[Napoleon Delusion]] - The new "character" is a famous historical figure (insanity is a bigger factor here).
* [[Criminal Amnesiac]] - The character goes from his heroic or noble life to an evil or self-serving one.
* [[Amnesiacs Are Innocent]] -- the—the new character is child-like and innocent.
{{examples}}
 
Line 56:
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Happened in ''[[Justice League International]]''. One punch from [[Batman]] took down Guy Gardner. When he awoke, he was no longer an abrasive chauvinist. He was instead Sensitive Guy, who cared what women think, and was generally respectful and agreeable in every way that the true Guy wasn't. Random head bops (his powers protected him from -real- damage) switches him around for the [[Rule of Funny]]. Years later, in his own book, this was [[Retcon|retconnedretcon]]ned as tied in to his earliest appearances, where he'd been neither Chauvinist Guy nor Sensitive Guy before entering a coma. His [[Evil Counterpart]], Dementor, had apparently been taking advantage of these states of unconsciousness to alter Guy's personality for his own amusement.
** As for the Ring protection, it should be considered that Gardner took off the Ring to fight hand-to-hand, without using weapons. So, when Batman took him down, he was as vulnerable as any random burglar.
* [[Superman]] developed a trauma after executing 3 Kryptonian criminals, and had another identity known as "Gangbuster" who would tackle the underworld.
Line 93:
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''The Recognition of Shakuntala'', an episode from the [[Older Than You Think|Ancient]] [[Indian Languages|Sanskrit]] epic ''[[Mahabharata]]'' that was later [[Ascended Extra|Expanded]] into a theatrical drama by the Indian playwright Kalidasa around the 1st century BC, is probably the [[Ur Example]] of this trope. It's a [[Boy Meets Girl|Girl Meets Boy]] story about a woman named Shakuntala who meets Dushyanta and marries him, only for him to get cursed with [[Lase Guided Amnesia|Amnesia]] and completely forget her. The only way to lift the curse is to show him the ring that he gave her, but she loses the ring in a river. She eventually finds the ring by the end of the story, makes him remember, and then they live [[Happily Ever After]].
* Subverted in the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] novel ''Father Time''. It seems that the Eighth Doctor, of whom it was once said that "he [[Why We're Bummed Communism Fell|lives in hope]]" of a communist revolution, and reacts worse to accusations of being bourgeoisie<ref>the [[Gorgeous Period Dress]] is not helping your case, Doctor!</ref> than threats against his life, but now has amnesia, has become "[[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]]ism personified", and has a proper 9-to-5 job eliminating redundancies from companies, which is to say, getting people laid off.<ref>[[Karl Marx Hates Your Guts]] is not actually applicable, but he sure does</ref>. However, it is in short order revealed that he's doing it because he has [[Children Raise You|adopted a young girl]],<ref>a la [[Monster Is a Mommy]], if you, like him, would probably [[Why Don't You Marry It?|marry]] Karl Marx given the chance</ref>, and, [[Ditzy Genius]] that he is, doesn't see the full implications of what he's doing and merely sees it as a fun challenge. As in the rest of the novels in which he has amnesia, his personality remains fundamentally the same as before.
* In ''[[The Bourne Series (novel)|The Bourne Identity]],'' Bourne loses his memory and becomes convinced he was a freelance assassin. The book revolves around his search for the truth, which is much more complicated.
 
Line 108:
* In an episode of ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'', Rob Petrie was demonstrating a breakaway violin to Buddy and Sally, but accidentally smashed a real violin on his head. Later we discover that he was missing the whole evening, because he was hanging out at some party with a girl under the name "Strativarius".
* On ''[[Married... with Children]]'', Peg gets amnesia after being hit on the head, and Al molds her into his vision of the perfect housewife. In a subversion, Peg recovers her memory not from another blow to the head, but when Al starts liking the new Peg "too much" and has sex with her.
* In the episode "Slowly I Turn" of ''Dr. Shrinker'' (one of the features of the Krofft Supershow, 1976-771976–77), the fat loser character Gordie hits his head and is convinced by the bad guys that he is the mad scientist, Dr. Shrinker. Even numbered blows to the head revert him back to normal; additional odd-numbered blows turn him back into the Dr. Shrinker persona.
* This is pretty much the premise of ''[[Samantha Who]]''.
* Happens with Claire in ''[[Lost]]''.
Line 136:
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The Nameless One in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' has gone through this literally ''thousands'' of times, such is the nature of his existence -- heexistence—he never ages, and every time he dies (which is surprisingly often), he comes back to life with no memories of his prior existences and with a completely new and random personality. However, the Paranoid Incarnation managed to seek out an expert who was able to diagnose his condition and develop a temporary remedy for it. Unfortunately for the Paranoid Incarnation, the remedy would only kick in three deaths later, long after the Paranoid Incarnation had himself "died"... so the Paranoid Incarnation [[Murder Is the Best Solution|reacted the way he always does]], and in your current incarnation there's no one left in the planes who knows anything about how your head works.
* In ''[[Escape from Monkey Island]]'', you have to bonk Herman Toothrot of on the head not once, but ''three'' times to unravel his convoluted amnesia. Not only that, but you have to track down the specific items he was hit by in the first place if you want to cure him.
* In [[The Legend of Zelda]] game ''Twilight Princess'', your childhood friend/possible love interest Ilia loses her memory from getting hit with an arrow.
Line 150:
** ''[[Remember 11]]'': Satoru suffers partial identity anmesia. {{spoiler|His past self was responsible for the [[Freaky Friday Flip]] that he is undergoing during the story.}}
* In the "bad" ending of [[Shadow Hearts Covenant]], Yuri loses his memories due to the curse and lives with Roger thereafter.
* This happened to Zero before the ''[[Mega Man X]]'' series -- weseries—we learn in ''X4'' that he was an evil Maverick when Sigma first found him, and he lost his memory in the fight, waking up sane and sober. The [[Bad End]] of ''X5'' shows us what would happen if his Maverick self ever resurfaced, and it ain't pretty. There's been much debate over the years as to which one is the "real" Zero; [[Word of God]] has been less than conclusive and the revelations in [[Mega Man Zero|his own series]] just muddy the waters more. (He actually gets amnesia ''again'' in that series, but keeps the heroic personality.)
* ''[[Manhunt]] 2'' has Daniel Lamb, a scientist in prison with no memories of his life. He's been given help by Leo Kasper, an inmate. {{spoiler|In the end, it is revealed that the latter is a [[Split Personality]] implanted by Danny himself. By the time Danny woke up in his battle with Leo, he has no memories again of who he is, so Dr. Whyte gave him a new name and address so that no one would come after him again}}.
* Drek in [[Diver Down]] has this. He doesn't remember his name, his purpose, or why he's being chased, which drives most of the plot.
Line 178:
* One episode of ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' featured a trio of sirens hypnotizing Jack into thinking he was a waiter named Brent Worthington and spoke with a [[Keanu Reeves]] accent.
* In the [[Donald Duck]] cartoon ''Donald's Dilemma'' (1947), Donald is hit on the head by a flowerpot knocked off a high windowsill and instantly becomes a [[The Fifties|50's-era]] crooner, and goes on to become famous. But he forgets about and ignores poor Daisy, who eventually goes to a psychologist and explains the whole thing in flashback. He tells her to choose between the two Donalds, and she chooses to drop another flowerpot - complete with the flower from the original blow - on his head while he's onstage singing to cure him.
* Related to the above: An episode of ''[[DuckTales]]'' involved Uncle Scrooge coming down with [[Identity Amnesia]] after tripping over a skateboard and believing himself to be an unemployed blue-collar worker (even going so far as to lose his [[Just a Stupid Accent|accent]]); he goes on to get a low-paying job at his own factory and begins a crusade to improve working conditions.
* In an episode of ''[[A Pup Named Scooby Doo]]'', Shaggy loses his memory and believes that he's a fictional superhero, Commander Cool.
* A ''Pith Possum'' segment of ''[[The Schnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show]]'' was based around this.
10,856

edits