Bianca Rincon ENGL 300: Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, immerses viewers in a space of artistic expression from one scene to the next. Manipulating light and color in its filmic style, it stamps the viewer’s ticket and takes them on an emotional roller coaster ride, capturing the same distortion that Joel feels in his life and mind as he undergoes a procedure and loses his memory. Deftly, the film captures the effects of the memory erasing procedure by drawing readers into the subjective world held in Joel’s mind. Cinematography, editing, and mise-en-scene work together to create a space where the audience can feel the emotion provoked by the characters and narrative in an incredibly genuine way, hand-held cameras used to further highlight this effect. The film follows Joel Barish and his relationship with Clementine Kruczynski, passionate but highly dysfunctional in nature. The film stretches over a couple of years, showing both its peak and nadir, leading to the end of their relationship. Joel, hurt and perplexed, realizes that Clementine has undergone a memory erasing procedure at Lacuna in an endeavor to erase any trace or memory of Joel. Upset, he finds the doctor and demands the same operations. Trapped in his mind, he relives memories as they are erased and realizes the importance of his past, his relationship with Clementine, and what that means to him. Joel
The Flashbacks are used to recount the events that happened before the opening sequence of the film where Joel awakes and has no memory of Clementine, the flashbacks fill in the crucial backstory for us the viewer, The story is told from the most recent occurrences, then through past memory’s and pivotal moments of the relationship then back to the first day Joel and Clementine met.
Through Nolan’s application of editing, such as flashbacks, in Memento, the story of Sammy Jankis can be linked back to Leonard’s past as well as the central theme of the fragility and unreliability of memory. Leonard’s unreliable memory is clearly conveyed as the sequence rhythmically displays scenes showing that the protagonist’s wife survived the assault, which is evident as she removes the shower curtain from her head in a flashback. This indicates the unreliability of Leonard’s memory and the devastating result of ‘Conditioning [himself] to remember, learning through repetition’. Nolan’s employment of flashbacks within the sequence expresses Leonards desperate attempt to escape guilt through the fragility of his memory. This is exemplified in the flashback when Leonard’s memory of pinching his wife adjusts to him injecting insulin into her. Nolan’s utilisation of editing illustrates the fragility and unreliability of Leonard’s memory, specifically when he learns that he
Nearly two years after they meet, Joel goes to the library where Clementine works, and he is struck that she doesn’t appear to remember who he is, and she is now dating another guy. A saddened Joel discovers that Clementine had him erased from her mind at Lacuna Inc., a firm people use if they would like a relationship erased from their mind. Grief stricken, Joel in return schedules an appointment to have Clementine erased from his mind. For the procedure Joel must gather any item that refers back to Clementine, such as books, pictures, journals, gifts etc. The procedure works by having the patient focus on the items they bring in, the technicians find the memory in his/her brain and erase it.
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
For centuries, man has dreamt of constructing pristine simulated worlds , existing in a separate sphere from our imperfect reality. From the town of Pullman, a company town south of Chicago to Disney World, attempts to force Utopia have failed, falling prey to the complications of people’s personal desires. The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir, tells us the story of The Truman Show, an elaborate reality show built around the control of one man’s life. Christof, the director, has created an entire living city for Truman, the star of his show, and the only one not in on this whole elaborate fakery. Essentially, Truman is living his life in the simulation of a flawless, archetypal American town, for the entertainment of millions of viewers around the world. Christof, along with countless others obsessed with the idea of controlling part of the world to fit their visions of an ideal reality, have deluded themselves into thinking fictional utopias can exist apart from the undeniable constraints of reality. Their fundamental flaw lies in relying on the assumptions of psychological behaviorism, and the belief that they could perfectly condition the behavior of the inhabitants follow the goals of the community.
Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski were a couple in love. Everything changed when Clementine woke up one day and just decided to have Joel erased from her memory. He was “boring” and she wasn’t happy and wanted to move on. Joel then decided he wanted to also remove Clementine from his memory. This was all possible due to Lacuna Inc. who asked those wishing to remove a particular person from their memories to remove anything from their homes that could possibly be associated with that person. They sit the patient down, map out where memories are located that are associated with each object. Then, the company sends a couple of their scientists/psychologists to the home at night after they’ve fallen asleep. They then track down any remaining memories as they appear while asleep
The world is far from a uniform system. Each and every individual is placed in a different situation depending on everything from location, race, beliefs, and economic status. Psychology looks at how individuals come out of these specific environments and how they transform into an adult through the trials and tribulations of their growth. In The Blind Side, director John Lee Hancock focuses on an athletically skilled African-American teen, Michael Oher, who is transformed from a homeless orphan from the projects into a highly sought after college football prospect through a positive change in family, school, and supportive surroundings.
A Beautiful Mind, is a movie that was produced in the year 2002 by Universal Pictures. This film is about a man named John Nash who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, paranoid type. Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder with key features including delusions, hallucinations, difficulty concentrating, and other negative symptoms (Parekh, 2017). Paranoid schizophrenia specifically, is “characterized mainly by the presence of delusions of persecution or grandeur” (Sadock and Sadock, 2005). The typical age for the onset of schizophrenia is in late adolescence or early adulthood, and is seen in men and women equally (Sadock and Sadock, 2005).
“Our primary concern right now – my primary concern – is the stability of our financial system, the orderliness of the markets, and that’s where our focus is.”3 – Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury
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
‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (Wes Anderson, 2014) combines a perfect mix of nostalgia and history. The film explores the themes of war as it recreates history through mise-en-scene. Anderson also incorporates other themes such as racism and elitism during pre-war Europe. The film widely explores Europe from many viewpoints, one of which is of Mr Moustafa. His nostalgia is seen through flashbacks of when he was a lobby boy that went by the name of Zero. As an audience the depth of his nostalgia is seen through mise-en-scene. With the help of cinematography and props we see can see the time and place that Moustafa acknowledges. Anderson shows how history is reimagined through ones nostalgia. Mr Moustafa recalls events, which he was not present in yet he explains them as if he were there. This also shows how one reimagines history from another due to emotions and personal attachment. Despite the outcome being the same there are many viewpoints it can be seen from.
No Exit, a play written by Jean-Paul Sartre that debuted in 1944, has many similar themes to the movie The Breakfast Club, written and directed by John Hughes. The play No Exit is perceived as taking place in literal Hell and describes the interactions between those who have died and have been placed in a room together. In The Breakfast Club, students have been put in a metaphorical “hell,” detention, and spend a full day together in the school’s library. For characters in No Exit, trying to deal with other creates a living hell and ends with each of the characters hating one another because they do not help each other; while in The Breakfast Club the characters end up accepting each other after going through the same “hell” because they learn and accept each other.
In the Film The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski. We witness a scene where Szpilman is injured, filthy and starving he rummages around looking for anything to sustain himself. He finds a can of gherkins which he struggles to open he finds some fire stoking equipment and begins opening the can however due to the state of Szpilman he drops the can and the contents falls and drains at the soldier 's feet. In the Hosenfeld scene Points which will be covered are the visual aspects, the aural elements, the mise en scene aspects and post production elements and how all these elements relate to the “big Idea” of having something or someone to hold onto can make you stay focussed and not give up.
Michael Gondry’s Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (2004) is not your typical Hollywood rom-com. Its cinematic style is very original and by far out of the ordinary for its genre. The use of techniques and the way the film is produced is the reason why it is so memorable. The non-linear narrative is based around a middle-aged guy who falls in love with a woman, who, after a while into their relationship decides to erase every single memory and feeling towards him. The story is told in flashbacks that slowly reveal the time and space the couple spent together and all the events that made
Annie Hall is a romantic comedy directed by Woody Allan in 1977. The film is not any everyday movie but rather a film that revolves around the life of the main actor, Alvy Singer played by Woody Allen himself and his relationship with Annie Hall, cast by Diane Keaton.