Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless mind, in my opinion, is more about how memory does or does not
affect us, than it is about time. This movie is about a couple, Joel and
clementine, and their relationship. However, their relationship is different. They
meet on a train and instantly click, even before they start talking
there is this chemistry between them. their first meeting is actually their
second. There is an agency that erases memories for people. Clementine got her
memory of Joel erased because of a fight. When Joel discovers this, he has his
memories of clementine erased as well. When he is getting his memory erased of
all things Clementine, the movie takes place inside of his head. We experience
his memories with him as the memories are erased. Joel tries to outrun the
memories because he realizes that they are important and so he tries to hide
from the eraser people and drags clementine with him. She comes up with the
idea to hide in his deepest hidden memories from childhood. But in actuality,
it was Joel’s idea. He just thought, “what would Clementine do?”. This idea came from her wanting him to be
intimate and share with her, who he used to be.
In the end, they are unable to outrun the erasers and all of the
memories are gone. However, someone that worked for the company that erases
memories, was affected by the process and so she sent a letter to people
letting them know that their memories have been erased and what was erased. This messed up Joel and Clementine’s new
relationship but in the end, they give it another try. I think this is sweet,
like they were meant to be together. Not remembering each other did not truly
affect them in the way that was intended. The feelings that they felt did not
go away, just the recollection of them. I
don’t see how time played as much of a role in this movie. There was no time
travel. The closest thing to time travel was him running through his memories
but that was just him thinking about the past, not really going there. Even
though the memories did not exist, the feelings that the memories created still
existed. Having a spotless mind, does not create and eternal sunshine.
I've always believed that memories are a form of time travel. Although we cannot physically travel to a different time, we can mentally through recalling events that are stored in our brains. Our memories can certainly become warped or damaged, many times in a bad relationship we begin to forget all the good memories and focus on the bad, which is what happened to Joel and Clementine. But when Joel was having his memories of Clementine erased, he was made to recall moments he had forgotten, some bad, but many good ones that led him to change his mind and attempt to stop the erasure.
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