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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Analysis
John Locke theorized that memory is a repeated process of self-identification, and that it is not defined by the physical body or the "soul." In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Joel Barish (Jim Carey) and Clementine Kruzynski (Kate Winslet) have had their memories erased (Gondry (dir), motion picture), and it is possible to use the fictional theme of this movie as a basis to consider Locke's theory. In the film, Joel has his mind erased of his relationship and love for Clementine, but only after discovering that she herself has used a new procedure to erase him from her mind. In the film, there is a procedure that makes erasure of memories possible, and Joel is assured by the doctor (Tom Wilkinson), that the procedure is harmless because it is erasing non-essential memories devoted to something which is relatively unimportant for a human to function: memories of a lost love.
Joel undergoes the procedure, but he is left with a physical sense of something lost. He has, not feelings, as much as he has the sense of someone, but he is not quite sure who, but understands, too, that it is a person about whom he might care. It appears that Joel's subconscious has disagreed with the doctor's position that Joel's memory of Clementine is not necessary, and his subconscious mind resists letting go of his memories of Clementine. Joel is haunted by snippets, surreal images of his self and Clementine in bonding moments. It is the bonding that the subconscious holds onto, and the viewer begins to realize that it is a bonding that Joel's entire cellular structure recalls and responds to, and clings to.
It is as if the memories of Clementine, though he cannot recall her by name, have become implanted in his DNA, which cannot be erased. The film definitely conveys the message that without the memory of Clementine, Joel and Clementine are not a whole as individual persons, because memories help to build the person we are, and becomes a part of our life evolutionary pattern imbedded in the mind and physical person. In this film, Locke is proven wrong, because Joel is not his self, his true self, absent the memory, no matter how the relationship played out.
Reference List
Gondry, M. (2004). Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, motion picture, Anonymous Content, USA.
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