Genre Analysis Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The genre of a movie is the label that is supposed to be applied to that film. For example, a mystery movie is labeled in that genre because it has certain characteristics which fit in with what comes to mind with the word "mystery." Genre labels are also applied to comedies, dramas, musicals, horror films, and children's movies. Some movies however do not fit neatly into one particular category over another. These films which cross genre boundaries are more interesting, but also much more difficult to classify. The movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is partly a romance, partly a comedy, and also has a lot of elements of science fiction and fantasy.

The story of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is at first a romance. It is about a man named Joel (Jim Carrey) who purchases a treatment wherein all his memories of ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) will be eradicated. He loves Clementine very much and they have split up. The pain of the ending of the relationship is too much to bear. One of the reasons he has chosen to have this procedure done is because Clementine has already had her own memories erased. Their romance is shown to the audience through moments illustrated through Joel's memories. The pair meet and slowly fall in love. Although they fight constantly and have some very unpleasant conversations, the audience cannot help but relate to the couple and want them to unite. While the company Lacuna systematically enters Joel's mind and erases each individual recollection of Clementine, he realizes how important those memories are and attempts to cling to them. Towards the end of the film, Joel has hidden in all his old memories, even those where he had to unnaturally include Clem in order to shield her from Lacuna, to no avail. In Nietzsche's words, no one can really hide from their memories, nor can they be completely eradicated. "Does nature not conceal most things from him -- even concerning his own body -- in order to confine and lock him within a proud, deceptive consciousness, aloof from the coils of the bowels, the rapid flow of the blood stream, and the intricate quivering of the fibers!" (Nietzsche 1-2). The woman he loved has been removed piece by piece from his memories and the last flutter of Clementine's existence within Joel's person is when she whispers to him "Meet me in Montauk." Montauk was where the couple met for the first time and it is also where he re-meets Clementine after they have removed one another from their memories. Something stronger than the actual knowledge of one another has drawn Joel and Clementine together again, proving the film's thesis which is that the human mind is so complex that even a systematic removal of our memories cannot prevent us from recalling the things that are truly important to us.

This romance story is complicated by the subgenre of science fiction. Eternal Sunshine takes place in some near future where science has progressed to the point where unpleasant memories can be removed and the person can go on with their life with no recollection of these things. So the film is a science fiction story about the potential misuses and abuses of technology. When Joel and Clementine give in and use the invention, it completely changes them as people. What a person has experienced is what makes the person who he or she is. Therefore, it is the memories that define them. Without the memories of one another, neither Joel nor Clementine is a complete person. This indicates exactly what some of the dangers are with regard to the progress of technology.