This paper explores the idea that all Archival Memory inherently reflects its author's perceptions and goals.

1. Hannah Hester
WMST 3110
Dr. Jones
30 January 2015
The Effect that Coercive Memory has on Archival Memory
“There are three sides of any story: your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories
shared serve each differently.” –Robert Evans
Perception impacts the way that history and events are told and remembered. By
definition, all archival memory reflects the point of view by which it is recorded. Writers,
filmmakers, and the media can only pull memory from their own specific viewpoint. No matter
how objective a person can try to be, they can still offer only one side to a multi-faceted
experience. When reading, watching, or hearing about an event, it is important to consider the
effect that the narrator’s point of view has on the story. Some original sources can distort the
truth by oversimplifying or controlling the facts shared about an event in order to lead the
audience to form a specific opinion. This form of storytelling, through utilizing coercive
memory, affects archival memory through a conscious effort to move the audience toward an
intended conclusion.
In her book, Embodying American Slavery in Contemporary Culture, Lisa Woolfork
defines the process of manipulating an event or a story to support a specific goal as coercive
memory. She illuminates the utilization of coercive memory by examining the two similarly
themed films, Brother Future and The Quest for Freedom. In these films, black teenagers are
sent back in time to the slave past in order to reform their delinquent behavior. In both stories,
the boys undergo a positive attitude transformation, as “any complaints about their present-day
predicaments pale in comparison to the conditions of the slave past” (Woolfork 72). The films

2. employ coercive memory by only allowing the viewer to form one response to the past
manipulation and the selection of certain moments that support the filmmaker’s purpose. In order
to prove that their solutions are effective, the filmmakers must show that their characters are
positively influenced by the time traveling experience, and the public is quick to accept the
idealist ‘quick fix’. Woolfork explains that, “the combination of coercive memory and bodily
epistemology is part of the larger cultural desire to manage and control young black behavior.
The fantasy is motivated by [the public’s] need to quell anxiety about the things that the
emerging hip-hop generation had come to represent by the early 1990’s” (Woolfork 67). Society
wants to believe that this type of reforming punishment can effectively transform delinquent
behavior, so they easily accept the manipulated stories out of wishful thinking.
In the same way that Brother Future and The Quest for Freedom employ coercive
memory in telling their stories, the creators of a reform program Scared Straight! manipulate the
publicized responses to shine a positive light on the reformation method. Similar to the ideas
presented in the films, Scared Straight! relies on a shocking embodied experience in order to
reform disobedient adolescents, without the implication of time travel. Scared Straight! follows
the theory that if a teenager physically faces the consequences of bad behavior they will better
appreciate the advantages of, and work harder to preserve, their current position in society.
While lacking actual evidence for a positive outcome of the program, people continue to use the
method today. These proponents reference the few, yet exaggerated, stories of reformed teens,
and due to the, “conservative ideological culture, low cost,” and wishful thinking of the public,
these types of programs still receive support today (Woolfork 70). People believe in the program
because, in theory, it is a quick and easy solution to a serious issue. This quick acceptance
“represents what researchers call a panacea phenomenon in government policy, ‘the search for

3. simple cures for difficult social problems’” (Woolfork 70). The general public receptivity of
coercive memory is also witnessed within the public’s quick acceptance of their superior’s and
the media’s point of view, as Taylor explains in her chapter “Hemispheric Performances.”
Taylor begins the chapter by sharing a personal story concerning a run-in with the
NYPD. She had been viewing and video-recording the rumba in Central Park (a peaceful and
positive event, from her perspective), when the NYPD appeared and brought with them an
entirely new angle. They began by pointing out their ‘superiority’ to the members and viewers of
the performance, and made references to any broken rule or regulation that could validate their
own need to be present. Unlike many police encounters, however, the presence of Taylor’s video
camera added an extra dimension to the situation. Her camera forced the police to acknowledge
the objective form of archival memory documenting the event. Instead of relying on their
superiority to later manipulate the story through coercive memory, therefore highlighting or
manipulating facts to support their position, the police had to “perform” for the camera. They
attempted to include niceties and referenced laws specifically in front of Taylor and her objective
source. The camera represents a form of archival evidence that cannot be as easily affected in
terms of coercive memory as can an oral account. The cops knew that it was their own story
against the performers, now with the added neutrality of video evidence, so they made sure to do
everything in their power to push any blame and negative perceptions onto the crowd.
As a playwright can manipulate a play to enforce a certain point of view, the police
staged their own performance in order to enforce the perspective insinuating that they are
“solving a problem.” Taylor notes the sheer number of cops, jesting, “how many police officers
and police cars does it take to inquire about a permit?” (Taylor 268). The NYPD set up the
scenario in a way that made the gathering look threatening: in addition to the outrageous amount

4. of officers present, two had their hands on their pistols the entire time and others cautiously
watched the crowd from a distance. This ‘defensive’ staging was the design of coercive memory,
influencing the public to view the event and form the conclusion that the police desire, that the
performers are dangerous and the police are doing a public service. The police’s story overrode
the performers story, and the NYPD successfully banned the group from performing in the park.
As with Woolfork’s explanation of the Scared Straight! program, the public easily accepted the
policemen’s point of view, because it is easier for them to believe that the police are solving a
problem rather than consider the notion that the police may be overstepping their authority. That
would present a larger institutional problem that would be more complex to resolve.
The implications of coercive memory are woven into any story, performance, or form of
media told from a single point of view. As Taylor explains, “those who controlled writing gained
an inordinate amount of power” (Taylor 18). The creators of Brother Future and The Quest for
Freedom demonstrated this power by manipulating the stories to fit a desired outcome, the media
demonstrated this by manipulating public approval of Scared Straight!, and the police
demonstrated their power by influencing the media to accept their perception of the rumba
scenario. When faced with learning through archival knowledge, we must acknowledge its
perspective and the implications that point of view has on the historical accuracy of events.
Taylor recognizes that “the real advantage to experiencing something at first hand was not so
much knowing its details- who said or did what- but sensing the multiple meanings and
possibilities only to participants” (Woolfork 79). Though the undeniable impossibility of
experiencing every event first-hand presents a barrier to our understanding of the past, we must
acknowledge the consequences that a singular perspective has on the story we are told- it is not
the only one.