On Repeat

Reading Summary

The first part of the podcast looks at a segment where two comedians engage in a ridiculous performance. They sing this song that is repetitive and very much toilet humor, but those in the audience enjoy it at first. As they continue in the song, the audience gets less and less amused with the song. Nonetheless, the performs persist and the audience begins laughing again. Neither the performers nor the audience understand how this pattern of behavior works, but it is very consistent across their shows

The second part of the podcast describes a woman with transient global amnesia, which is a temporary condition where an individual cannot form new memories. Every ninety seconds the memory of the individual resets, thus they are stuck in a constant loop of time, memory, and response. Despite this condition having no real causes nor long term effects, people engage in the same survival tactics of asking where and when they are as well as responding in identical loops. This leads doctors to believe that the brain takes away free will from the individual by trapping them in this loop because of an inability to escape. To escape, the “loop’s” time period extends longer and longer until the individual fully regains all of their memory from that time period.

Outside Example

The first thing that came to mind was the below scene from Dr. Strange. Strange knows he is overmatched against the Dark Dimension leader Dormammu. Originally in confronting the evil force, Strange attempts to compel him from taking over the Earth. Because of the Dark Dimension’s immense power and ability, Strange does not attempt to physically fight him. Instead, he forces a continued loop for eternity where he continually confronts Dormammu by resetting time through the power of the time stone.

Reading Connection

In this scene, the power of the loop is clear. Strange cannot fight Dormammu physically, as Dormammu easily kills him time and time again. However through the power of the time stone and the Eye of Agamotto, Strange is able to reset time for eternity to the moment he first encounters Dormammu. Strange enters with the same phrase every time, saying, “I’ve come to bargain,” but Dormammu kills him in various different ways. Both characters knows they’re in this loop, but Strange is hoping that Dormammu will be willing to leave Earth alone in exchange for escaping this eternal loop, and Strange is successful in the bargain. The tactic is forbidden by the sorcerers that Strange is apart of because of the dangers it presents, but the strategy worked.