Dory is a fictional blue tang and a major character of the American animated film series Finding Nemo. She suffers from the disability short-term memory-loss, which often causes frustration to Marlin, especially while his son Nemo is in danger.
However, after swimming a few minutes, Dory completely forgets who Marlin is and why he has been following her and it quickly becomes apparent that Dory suffers from anterograde amnesia, or a problem in learning new information.
Many of the characters' humorous idiosyncrasies could be called "abnormalities." Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a lively blue tang who becomes Marlin's sidekick on the quest for Nemo's rescue, has chronic short-term memory loss.
Dory, a happy-go-lucky Regal Blue Tang, suffers from anterograde amnesia, or the inability to form new memories. It was well-established in Finding Nemo that Dory has this condition, which is more commonly known as short-term memory loss.
Short-term memory loss is a rare condition. It's also much more extreme than ADHD and executive functioning issues. Yet Dory's struggles will still feel very familiar to kids with attention issues. She's easily distracted.
Dory suffers from severe short-term memory loss, but a lot of what she goes through can be adapted to other contexts, such as the world, or ocean, of ADHD. Dory has trouble with multi-step directions, is easily distracted, and is very impulsive.
However, a few armchair experts have pointed out the similarities between Dory's symptoms and a condition called anterograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia can be caused by an injury or disease that damages the parts of the brain responsible for forming memories.
It's quite obvious that Dory has anterograde amnesia, which is the inability to form new memories. I also see many of the signs of ADHD within the character. I headcanon her as having an exaggerated version of ADHD because she gets distracted extremely easily and can't keep her attention on one thing.
Dory is the third female protagonist in a Pixar film, the first two being Merida and Joy. She is also Pixar's third titular character, the first two being Nemo and WALL-E, and the second titular character to be a protagonist overall, the first one being WALL-E.
The companionship that emerges is completely genuine. Nonetheless, Dory and Marlin's relationship is a complicated and interesting one. Some view Dory as Marlin's companion and speculate that the two are actually lovers.
Dory's scars from her travel through the jellyfish in Finding Nemo (2003) have disappeared. They may well have healed in the time between the two films.
On coral reefs, “Dory,” the small vibrant blue fish with black stripes and a yellow tail, is known by several other names: Hippo Tang, Royal Blue Tang, Regal Tang, Palette Surgeonfish and by the scientific name Paracanthurus hepatus.
In a flashback Dory hears her mother crying in fears of being relocated to another aquarium, so she left to retrieve a shell to cheer her up, to which she was pulled away by an undertow current out into the ocean.
Nemo hatches as an undifferentiated hermaphrodite (as all clownfish are born) while his father transforms into a female clownfish now that his female mate is dead. Since Nemo is the only other clownfish around, he becomes male and mates with his father (who is now female).
On the pursuit to find Nemo, Marlins come across Dory, a Pacific regal blue tang who becomes Marlin's sidekick on the voyage to find Nemo. Dory has chronic short term memory loss.
It is revealed in Finding Dory that Dory's ability to 'speak whale' in Finding Nemo was taught to her by her friend Destiny the whale shark. However, whale sharks aren't real whales and thus do not communicate like whales, so she never could have taught Dory in the first place.
Dory subsequently has flashbacks of life with her parents and struggles to recall details. She finally remembers how she was separated from her parents: she overheard her mother crying one night, left to retrieve a shell to cheer her up, and was pulled away by an undertow current out into the ocean.
The dad fish in Finding Nemo is named Marlin. Voiced by actor Albert Brooks, Marlin is a cautious and overprotective father who becomes determined to rescue his son after he is taken from their coral reef home and placed in a fish tank in a dentist's office.
