Benjamin Bennett-Carpenter, Ph.D. (2008), Catholic University of America, is Special Lecturer in Writing and Rhetoric and the Liberal Studies program at Oakland University in Michigan, USA. Recent publications appear in the Journal of Communication and Religion and the journal Mortality.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionBasics of Memento MoriFrom Art and Cultural History to Contemporary DocumentaryFeatures of Memento Mori and How Memento Mori FunctionsLevels at Which Memento Mori is Referenced by DocumentariesA Rhetorically-Oriented Phenomenology Applied to DocumentariesComposed Transformative Experience: Introducing Documentaries as Memento MoriThe Program Ahead1 Memento Mori in Art and Literature1.1 Memento Mori in Art: As Symbol and as Picture1.1.1 Memento Mori as Religious Image1.1.2 Memento Mori as Still Life and as Portraiture1.1.3 Memento Mori as Visual Quotation in Art, Including Photography1.2 Memento Mori in Literature: As Verbal, Literary, and Ideational1.2.1 Memento Mori as Picture Nomenclature and Verbal Instruction1.2.2 Memento Mori as Reference in Literature: Verbatim and Ideational1.3 Memento Mori in Film and Television2 Charles and Ray Eames’s Powers of Ten as Memento Mori2.1 The Eameses as Designers of Experiences that Communicate Ideas2.2 Levels at Which Memento Mori is Referenced by Powers2.2.1 Symbolic, Verbal, and Ideational Memento Mori in Powers2.2.2 Memento Mori as Mortality-Index in Powers2.2.3 Memento Mori as Convention and Experience in or Related to Powers2.3 The Intellectually Transformative Point of Memento Mori Experience, Referenced by Powers3 Memento Mori as “Consciousness of Mortality” and as a Cultural Phenomenon3.1 Memento Mori is an Index of Death3.1.1 Memento Mori (in Any Form) Refers to Death3.1.2 Memento Mori Relies upon Consciousness, Memory in Particular3.2 Memento Mori is Also an Artificial Convention3.2.1 Memento Mori is an Artifice with a History or Cultural Genealogy that Relies upon Particular Social Reception3.2.2 Memento Mori Relates to Various and Specific Genres, Media, and Materials3.3 Memento Mori as Composed Transformative Experience3.3.1 General Aspects of Memento Mori Experience3.3.2 Intellectually, Ethically, and Affectively Transformative Elements of Memento Mori Experience3.4 A Contemporary Form of Memento Mori: Documentaries4 Ethical Memento Mori: Wim Wenders’s Notebook on Cities and Clothes4.1 Wenders as Contemplative Documentarian of Mortals4.2 Levels at Which Memento Mori is Referenced by Notebook4.2.1 Memento Mori as Symbolic, Verbal, and Ideational in Notebook4.2.2 Memento Mori as Mortality-index in Notebook4.2.3 Memento Mori as Convention and Experience in or Related to Notebook4.3 The Ethically Transformative Point of Memento Mori Experience, Referenced by Notebook5 Documentaries as Contemporary Memento Mori5.1 Documentaries Index Death5.2 Documentaries Also Rely on Convention with a Particular History and Function5.3 Documentaries as Composed Transformative Experience5.3.1 Documentaries as Intellectually Transformative: Determining and Distinguishing the Real from Irreal5.3.2 Documentaries as Ethically Transformative: Contemplating Appropriate Responses to the Mortal Condition5.3.3 Documentaries as Affectively Transformative: Moving Individuals into Distinctive Human Experience5.4 Levels of Analysis by Which Memento Mori is Identified in Specific Documentaries6 Quintessential Memento Mori Experience: Derek Jarman’s Blue (1993)6.1 A Word on Jarman as Ecstatic Seer6.2 Levels at Which Memento Mori is Referenced by Blue6.2.1 Memento Mori as Verbal, Literary, and Ideational in Blue6.2.2 Memento Mori as Mortality-index and convention in or related to Blue6.3 The Affectively Transformative Point of Memento Mori Experience, Referenced by Blue7 Personal Memento Mori: The Iconic 9/11 Footage and the Threat of Death7.1 The Viewer as Contemplative Seer of the Threat of Death7.1.1 The 12th of September, 2001, Comet Burger Diner, usa7.1.2 When Memento Mori Strikes Close7.2 Levels at Which Memento Mori is Referenced by the 9/11 Footage7.2.1 Memento Mori as Symbolic, Ideational, and Composed in the 9/11 Footage7.2.2 Memento Mori as Mediated Mortality-index, Indicated by the 9/11 Footage7.3 Personally Transformative Points of Memento Mori Experience, Referenced by the 9/11 Footage7.3.1 Realizing One’s Place as a Mortal in a Vast Cosmos7.3.2 “Making one’s life” as a Mortal in 21st Century “glocal” Society7.3.3 Moving One’s Self into Distinctive Human Experience7.4 Counterpoint: Memento Mori as Death Threat in Extremist YouTube Videos8 Conclusion and Future Prospects8.1 After Death in Documentaries8.2 From Memento Mori to Memento Vivere?8.3 Memento Mori in New Media EnvironmentsReferencesBibliographyArchives and Special SitesFootageFilmography (Chronological)Index