Friday, May 17, 2013

Moviphanies: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

A Moviphany
is an idea or thought born from watching movies.  Mainstream or art house, it does not matter what kind of movie it is, here at The Lightning Bulb we will watch anything and if we love the film or, better yet, get a light bulb moment from watching it we will share the experience with you!


A recent struggle prompted me to watch the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for the second time. This movie examines the dual nature of memory and the complexity of human relationships through the relationship struggles of Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet). 

The emotionally withdrawn and quiet Joel is the exact opposite of chatty and impulsive Clementine. Despite their differences in personality the two strike up a romance. Eventually, though, their differences get the better of them, their relationship becomes turbulent, they have a bitter argument and soon separate. 

Joel is hopeful that they can reconcile but when he visits Clementine in her workplace not long after the breakup, she acts as though she does not know him. Even worse he sees that she is already dating someone else. 

Joel soon finds out that Clementine had her entire memory of him and their relationship erased hence her behavior. Angry at what she has done, he pays a visit to Lacuna, Inc., the clinic responsible for erasing Clementine’s memory, and asks that they perform the same procedure to him. 

While Joel’s memories are getting erased, he comes across one old memory where he and Clementine are hiding under the covers just talking. That recollection was his wakeup call; it reminded him that their relationship did have its beautiful moments—moments of warmth and vulnerability that truly connected the two of them. That was his wakeup call. He realized he didn’t want to erase Clementine or their happy moments even though it meant keeping the negative memories as well.

I guess at some point in our lives we become like Clementine and Joel. We as humans have the tendency to long for something pure and perfect yet sadly we may never find it. We have a concept of what love should be like, what our partners should be like, what the relationship should be like. Then when they fail to meet our expectations, we become jaded and just wish we could just start over with a clean slate. But I wonder if a 'clean slate' will really change anything or if it's even possible in the first place.

We are not perfect, the world is not perfect, our lives are not perfect, our memory is probably tainted with something we wish we could just forget. We all have the tendency to fuck everything up but we also have the capacity to make beautiful things and beautiful memories and perhaps these rare moments of light, beauty and happiness are the “something pure” that most people spend their lives looking for. 


{favorite lines from the movie}
Clementine: This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon.
Joel: I know.
Clementine: What do we do?
Joel: Enjoy it.
Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.
Clementine: Too many guys think I'm a concept, or I complete them, or I'm gonna make them alive. But I'm just a fucked-up girl who's lookin' for my own peace of mind; don't assign me yours. 

 Have you seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? What did you think of it?



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