Monday, June 23, 2014

the gag reel



I know memory isn't a passive record of events.  It's more like an ongoing re-construction. When this happens, I consistently get the order of things wrong.  I often confuse what happened one time for something that happened another time.  Last night I was watching a gag reel from season five of Parks and Recreation. In an early scene, Andy asks his young wife April if she's pregnant. April responds saying: "Nooo, we've talked about this ..and what do I always tell you? We're going to wait till we're 50 to have children ..!" In another scene, Andy and April are giving Ben advice for a successful marriage. Andy asks April what other tips they can give him (that she heard from a friend). April replies: "She said 'don't pull out till I scream'!" Now, at the end of the reel, what do I remember?  In the first scene where they talk about having children ..I remember April saying: "Nooo, we've talked about this ..and what do I always tell you? 'Don't pull out till I scream'!" I put the dialogue from the other scene  here. It wasn't until I replayed the gag reel that I realized my mistake. Although my recollection didn't follow the actual order of events ..it made sense and even retained some of it's humor.  Perhaps we remember semantic-relationships better than chronological order.

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