Analysis Of The Movie ' The Spotless Mind ' Essay

Have you ever wanted a bad memory erased? Is love erasable? These questions are attacked head on in the wonderfully complex drama Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. After working together on the film Human Nature, director Michael Gondry and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman discussed the possibility whether or not they would have their memory erased of a bad relationship should the opportunity present itself (dvdtalk). Out of that discussion a movie idea was formulated, pitched to a studio, and a film was created showing the potential impact of doing so. Through Kaufman’s brilliant and strange storytelling, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind takes its audience on a journey challenging us to ask: what would we do

The iconic coming-of-age movie The Breakfast Club, focuses on the development of five, seemingly very different high school students. In the movie we are presented with the five main characters all with stereotypes that they identify with. Claire is the princess or the beauty queen, John, often referred to by his last name “Bender,” is the criminal, Brian is the brain or the nerd, Andrew, is the athlete, a wrestler , and finally Allison is the basket case or the weirdo. The story is set in saturday detention where they are forced to spend eight hours with people from other cliques that they would normally never interact with. The day progresses and the characters interact with one another, smoke, dance, break rules, and reveal very personal parts of themselves with the others. The story ends with some of the characters making an attempt to change their identity with the realization that even with the boxes they have been put into they are not that different from one another.

‘When No One Would Listen’ is a based in part of the true story of a woman, named Jessica in the movie who is married to Gary, and endures years of abuse and only when she realizes that he has begun to abuse her children does she get the courage to leave. The movie is told from the perspective of both the victim and the abuser. The violence does not start immediately, just as in most relationships it comes when it is least expected. It is a progression from something simple as a name being called or an injury that is later described as an accident. Just like in the cycle of domestic abuse it is not something that either wants to repeat however it is a dance that they will continue until someone decides to stop the music. The movie starts out with a family moving into their new home. The picture should be that of domestic bliss husband, wife and two children boy and a girl. The American dream a home on a street that has other people like you, or so you think. Almost instantly you begin to see signs that something is different about this family. A wife who is unpacking pictures stops to admire a wedding picture, you assume she is remembering her special day only to jump when her husband comes up behind her. The jump is not because he startled her but because when he touched her, she had to process whether or not she needed to protect herself from the touch or enjoy the moment. It is perplexing to the viewer and they shrug it off as maybe they are newlyweds or they just

Despite the use of humor, the speaker of “Forgetfulness” establishes both a melancholic and deeply reflective tone in order to analyze both the inevitability of forgetfulness and the heartache that comes with it. Employing humor, Collins appeals to his audience and conveys the universal experience of forgetting memories as you grow older, “well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those / who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle” (18-19). The speaker humorously contradicts the old bicycle cliché that states that once you learn how to ride it, you never forget. According to the speaker, however, you do forget. And if you can forget how to ride a bicycle, you can certainly forget everything else. In no time, you will be blindly sinking into oblivion, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. On the surface, the speaker’s musings appear quite humorous. However, Collins’ words reveal an undeniable truth about the human condition -- that growing older and forgetfulness are inevitable. The speaker continues to emphasize this idea by comparing life itself to an individual trying to remember a book they once read:

American Psycho is a movie adaptation directed by Marry Harron released in the year 2000 that was based off of the 1991 novel of the same name authored by Bret Easton Ellis. The movie focuses on the main character Patrick Bateman who is an investment banker in New York in the era of the early 1980’s. Patrick is a perfectionist whose life by day seemingly rotates between his picture-perfect job, his superficial relationship with his fiancée Evelyn, and his shallow interaction with his co-workers and peers. By night, Patrick is a textbook Psychopath and a serial killer.

In the early 1900’s silent films amazed audiences with images, later talkies impressed with sound, today we have 3D. As technology continues to evolve so too will film genres. Genres, while having some shared characteristics, also differ in terms of stylistic devices used. For instance, the dramatic film “The Notebook” effectively uses color to reinforce theme and has plausible performers as the two main protagonists.

Daughters of the Dust, was a movie about traditions, and the history of the women in a black family carrying these traditions. The movie starts in 1902, in an island where a family has lived for generations, since the slavery times. Part of this family, wants to leave the Island, but another part wants to preserve the traditions staying in the island. So the whole movie is about the struggle of the members of this family, in relation to leaving or not leaving the Island. The oldest women of this family, is the wisest of that family; she carries the traditions deep in her heart. Another woman, she is in her forty or so, and has two daughters, she is the other side of the coin. She

Most of the movie is taken in Joel’s mind or his memory removal process. Starting from his nearest memory that they broke up till his last remaining memory of Clementine that they first met at a beach. I think the most possible reason the movie is called Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind is referring to the deepest memory (or say, soul) survived and reserved in their both minds that brought them back to the beach and met each other again. This title quotes entirely from Alexander Pope’s poem which know as describing a very contradictory mood from the unattainable love. So does it, the movie shows Joel wants to remove all memory of Clementine while he still loves her, but then during the process he changes mind and want to try his best to keep these memory which is the “spotless mind”. In my mind, the soul theory is the personal identity that the movie most engage. According to the soul theory, to have a same identical, it’s not necessary to have a same memory, but it’s necessary and sufficient to have the same soul. In the movie, though Joel erased his memory, he still has his soul which makes him fall in love with Clementine again, even in theory he can never love her then. On the other hand, this movie seems to intensely against Loke’s memory theory that sharing a memory of an experience is necessary and sufficient to be a same person. And I think the movie also presents its own personal identity that for one person to be identical to the other person, they should have

“Inside Man” was released in 2006 and would later become the highest grossing film for the director Spike Lee. The film is a crime-drama, located primarily in a bank in New York City run by multi billionaire Arthur Case. Although the film is a thriller and contains bits of action and suspense, the movie focuses heavily on the difference between good and evil. The movie begins with a shot in medias res of Clive Owen’s character Dalton Russell explaining the difference between being stuck in a tiny cell and being in prison while he moves around a small room

Naturally, life is a continuous cycle of experience and learning. Yet often times so much is buried in our lives that we fail to remember or recall what we have learned. Memories that range from miniscule facts to important emotions can often leave unknowingly from our mind. Billy Collin’s “Forgetfulness” shows how memories are delicate and fragile, and that the process of forgetting is one that is nonchalant. Billy Collins effectively blends subtle humor and irony with a dramatic tone shift to explain that ideas and facts that people think are important flee the mind, showing that nothing good can last. Although he refers to memories in a lighthearted, thoughtful manner, the poem gradually shifts (just

Movies and other forms of popular entertainment sources have often presented varied information and as well as misinformation about schizophrenia, most specifically in regard to its negative portrayals, which can lead to confused public opinion. In summary, majority of movies and popular entrainment media sources portrays people with schizophrenia as violent and with homicidal and suicide thoughts. In addition, most characters in these media sources are portrayed as Caucasians, males, and with supernatural abilities (Gaebel, 2011).

In Michael Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the connections between people and memories become the focal point of a very unique romance. Through the use of new technology, the possibility of erasing memories makes painful relationships disappear like they never happened. The tale of Joel and Clementine allows the audience to rethink and question the process they undergo as beneficial or destructive. Though the process might be helpful in eliminating the pain caused from another person, four key scenes show how the lessons learned through relationship experiences are important.

At the beginning of the movie trailer you have Wes Bentley who plays William a 30-40 year old man asking a 6 to 7 year old girl questions in a dark room with just a table. I almost get the impression of a police station interrogation room. William then states that he will be training her for a job that most people can’t handle. The trailer then cuts to 4 boys around 17-18 years of age in An older style diner with yellow walls. One of the guys walks over to the waitress and gets her number while one of his friends mentions he has on obsession with blondes. It goes on to describe each guy as a stereotype. One is described as “The Mastermind” another as “The Hipster” the third as “The Heavy-Hitter” and the last as “The ladies man”. It then shows the four boys chasing the waitress through the woods as one of the boys

Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry found the perfect, fragmented form to simulate memories in the non-linear storyline of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). The thematic elements of the film helps this simplistic story of love found, lost, and found again develop into a complex pattern, much like the workings of the brain. Each character is everything you would expect them to be in real life – down to earth, imperfect, and hopelessly searching for the love someone can only dream of. We can relate to them because we all long for more than we are, and want the best of us to be shown to someone else. Memories make up who we are, they define us. Life teaches us lessons which shape our memories, and in turn, we learn from them. What if those memories were gone? Are we still destined to be the same person? The protagonist of the movie is Joel, and the story surrounds his relationship with Clementine. The antagonist can be seen as Patrick, who tries to destroy their relationship, or Lacuna Inc., whose purpose is to make them forget their relationship. Charlie Kaufman has created a beautiful story that incorporates so many valuable forms in cinema, and leaves viewers on the edge of their seat until the very end. My goal is the show the class concepts of this narrative, as well as demonstrate how the way the film’s story is told

Many other people have been in similar situations which have taught them a ‘life lesson’. In Gondry and Kaufman’s Eternal Sunshine, Dr Howard Mierzwiak knew of the power of memories. He went about erasing people’s memories without telling them the full consciences of their actions; like Joel who midway through the erasing process realised he wanted to keep them, his life afterwards was different as he didn’t have his memories of Clementine to remind him of what love felt like.