The Caretaker, an Interpretation of the video's perspective on dementia

                                     

                        The Caretaker - Everywhere At the End of Time - Stages 1-6, An Interpretation

When you plug in your earphones and hear the first clip, it's like one of those ribbons of continuous patterns, repeating itself over and over again. Of course though, it goes much deeper than that. The video I’m referring to is titled “The Caretaker” and it explores the depths of a terrifying disease - Dementia through a 6 hour long process.The stages are separated into segments, each about an hour long with their own elements that reflect the dementia patient's journey. The purpose of the video is to bring perspective of the frightfulness that dementia gives over the passing years of the patients. I would like to put a disclaimer that if you are sensitive to noise or anything unsettling, I would suggest not listening to the video. Before I begin to mention the overview of each stage, a little bit of context is needed.

Dementia, in short, is basically the slow deterioration of the brain, more specifically the neurons. What this means is that patients begin to lose basic functionality as the stages continue. It starts from forgetting the simple routines like where they put their keys at to not keeping track of their routines and doctors appointments and then forgetting their neighbors or grandchildren’s name and faces until finally their quality of life worsens until there is no identity left but a vessel for a life that once was. Dementia varies for different elderly people but at the end, it renders them helpless and completely dependent on others for assistance. it is a bit more complex than what I have previously described but that is the essence of it.

The video I am referring to is on youtube and it is titled “The Caretaker - Everywhere At the End of Time - Stages 1-6” (Complete) by the channel, vvmtest. Now, I believe that music can be considered a universal language. This video emphasizes that belief through the use of multiple segments of different audios that are from early eras, perhaps to give acknowledgement to the time of the elderly. Stage one starts with a  clean, vibrant, and nostalgic music track partly because dementia patients experience the initial spouts of minor disruptions but are still able to perform their tasks and live comfortably. As we progress to stage two, we begin to see the little sparks of the disease begin to interfere. Something is not right. The patient begins to feel a sense of looming darkness. The tone in the stage two segment is noticeably more dark and gloomy. Kinda like watching a sad movie, knowing that something is amiss. But we don’t want to accept it. 

Stage 3 is now the disease moving into their new home, pushing out any signs of memories and any old furniture it finds that doesn’t belong. We begin to see the confusion become more prominent and now memories are becoming relatively harder to grasp. What has become of the patient is now more confused, dazed. The tone of the music seems low, quiet, reflecting the dwindling of memories down into a long abyss of nothingness. 

What is awareness at stage 4? It's not there. It doesn’t belong. At this point, the patient is experiencing strings of incoherentness, of static, of a piano that has missing keys, of a drum that doesn’t beat, of a guitar with no strings. The loss of sense is so evident, it makes you question whether or not this was that same video with the colorful classical music. At this point, the patient is in post-awareness stage, according to the video. You can’t even connect the sounds together, it's as if they're clashing. The patient is slowly fading. The tone Is generally hopeless, unsettling, and feels off. 

At the very end of stage 4, the transition to stage 5 starts off with an unexpected start. I know when I first listened to this, I jumped out of my seat a little. What we have here is now the combined elements of horror and anxiety. Dementia patients in this stage become distressed when exposed to new routines because of the inability to process change and unfamiliarity. They are scared and restless. They have become more reliant on others for help. They begin to lose the sense of basic societal rules and begin to act in ways that may seem unreasonable to the rest of the world. They are basically transversing in unmarked territory but they do not know that. At this point, the sense of life is now fleeing ever so gently. The sounds jump from different frequencies from time to time and there is a small tiny bridge of coherency here and there. The tone is definitely unsettling and makes me feel as if at any moment, a jump-scare will appear. It keeps me on my toes and I guess that reflects the patient’s conditions of never feeling peace. 

The final stage is stage 6. It initially begins with silence. Then as we move forward, we can hear the different frequencies being introduced, albeit subtle. The interesting an incredibly amazing thing about this video is that the creator applies stamps that details this mournful journey that allows the viewer to have an understanding of the segments overview. Stage 6 feels empty. Alone. If a void had a theme song, I think this stage would perfectly embody it. When I mentioned a vessel in the earlier paragraphs, I mean that the patient is basically a body without a trace of life. Everything that we know to be inherent to us, our souls, our beliefs, our languages, and the roots that hold us down is something completely foreign to those with dementia. It's as if it was never there to begin with. The ending of stage 6 that sets it apart from other stages, besides it being the final one, are the last couple of minutes where there are angelic like voices appearing to offer some sort of cruel comfort for the ending of all that suffering. It's as if you’re walking on glass shards in the dark and finally see the ray of light glowing down at the shards, reflecting light and brightness. I would interpret it as the release from the cold hands of suffering and pain from dementia. People believe that it's the last  flicker of life before the patient fades away. Others say it's the last dance. 

This video is an incredible piece of art that illustrates the stages of dementia and how it slowly snowballs into something disconsolate. There were no words , but the notes spoke massive volumes that I think words could not appropriately describe or compete with. After watching it, I didn’t have an extreme emotional response. However, I did become more informed of this terrifying disease that I often overlooked as being typical for aging. I hope that one day, we collectively come together as a society to become more compassionate and aware of others with these kinds of heartbreaking diseases and finally appreciate life for how precious each and every moment of it is.