The Poppy Fields

The Poppy Fields is a work of speculative fiction whose interest in memory manipulation places it squarely within a subgenre of texts and films that investigate memory erasure, both natural and forced. These works ask big-picture questions about how memory shapes identity and the role that memory plays in the human experience. This is a broad subcategory within science fiction and speculative fiction, and examples abound of films and texts that approach the issue of memory in different ways.

One noteworthy example of a book or film that depicts memory erasure as a way to accelerate the grieving or healing process is the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It follows the couple Joel and Clementine through their stormy relationship and its aftermath. In the wake of their breakup, Clementine decides to undergo an experimental memory-erasure procedure to rid herself of her memories of Joel. In surreal scenes that blur the boundary between dream and reality, Joel and Clementine meet somewhere in their unconscious: Their bond was strong enough to survive memory erasure, and they ultimately meet again in real life. They are still drawn to each other, and even when they find out that they have already dated and had their memories of each other erased, they choose to stay together. As in The Poppy Fields, memory is depicted as an emotional minefield. In the universe of The Poppy Fields, memory’s power to inflict pain on the individual is deadened during the period of the sleep treatment, while in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, memories are erased entirely. In each case, however, memories of former loved ones take a central role in the narrative.

The Poppy Fields also interrogates the unintended consequences of an experimental treatment that impacts grief and memories. Here, too, it is in dialogue with other examples of speculative fiction that depict the unintended consequences of memory loss and manipulation. The film Total Recall, first released in 1990 and remade in 2012, is based on a short story by classic sci-fi author Philip K. Dick called “We Can Remember It for You, Wholesale.” In the short story, a bored office worker in an unhappy marriage pays to have false memories of a trip to Mars implanted in his head. In the film versions, much of the focus of the narrative is on his realization that his entire life is actually a false memory. As in The Poppy Fields, the power that those performing experimental, memory-impacting procedures have on their patients is part of a broader interrogation about the ethics of treatments that manipulate the way that humans think, feel, and remember.

Another noteworthy example of sci-fi that engages with memory manipulation is Blake Crouch’s 2019 novel Recursion. In it, an entire population is afflicted with a condition called “false memory syndrome.” Like The Poppy Fields, the novel features the figure of a brilliant, female scientist whose work has produced an unintended side effect with the potential to adversely impact patients. In both books, the authors interrogate questions surrounding science and intellectual property that are firmly rooted in the present information age. Both novels also share an interest in the idea that loss, grief, and the complexity of the past are all part of the human condition and that humans must, even when it is difficult, accept the way that the past shapes the present.