Projected Memory: Hirsch compared to Princess Diana

Memories of “Our Princess”

Do you visualize a particular image when an event is brought up, that directly relates your thoughts to it? People often do not encounter the events they tell stories about. Usually their information comes from “pictures and stories that circulate from one generation to the next.” This memory is called postmemory and is what Marianne Hirsch used in “Projected Memory; Holocaust Photographs.” The pictures of horrific worldly events are put on covers of magazines and televise as special news alerts, and it is these pictures that people see when reflecting back. In relation to Hirsch’s idea of postmemory, the same concept applies to the life and death of Princess Diana. Her overwhelming life was taken at an early age, and though the world did not know her on a personal level, the images the media provide us with act as though we did. Many events and memories that people have recollections of are not directly related to them, but rather ind...