In the film Rashomon, four people (a bandit, a samurai, his wife, and a woodcutter) narrate the details of a crime differently. Their stories are plausible, yet contradictory. The film touches upon the unreliability of eyewitnesses and the subjective nature of truth, reality, and memory. This phenomenon is also known as the Rashomon effect. The traditional story of the elephant and six blind men is another instance of this. It’s good to remember this the next time we feel too confident in our beliefs, perceptions, and experiences. Ultimately, we all can be unreliable narrators.
Anu Garg, author, founder of Wordsmith.org, b. 1967
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