Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

So, last week my Psychology teacher had us watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in class, then for our homework we were supposed to write a short review.  But, by way of the Secret Arts of Procrastination, I find myself just now sitting down to write this review...

...only to find that my computer battery is dead and I didn't bring the charger with me today.

So, instead of leaving the glorious privacy of the empty classroom I'm currently situated in, I'm going to write my review here (since I can access Blogger from my phone).  Besides, it is media related, so why not share my thoughts with the rest of you as well.

So, here we go:

Psychology: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The story begins with an apathetic man who skips work and ends up running into an enthusiastic woman with blue hair.  They end up hitting it off and soon commit to some kind of a relationship.  But as the film progresses, we discover that they were both previously in a relationship, but broke up and decided to have their memories erased so as to avoid the painful memories.  As the man undergoes the memory wiping procedure, however, he realizes that the good memories of his former girlfriend are being attacked as well.  Panicked, he goes to extraordinary lengths to keep her (or the memory of her, anyway) from being completely erased. 

Fighting back from the outside are a doctor, his lab assistant and office clerk (who are secretly in love with each other and engage in sex over their patient's sleeping form).  Also there to complicate matters further is the lab assistant's assistant who has developed a crush on the main character's former girlfriend and is using the main character's memories to woo her.

Yup, quite the complicated storyline.

Since this is for a psychology class, I'm assuming I need to spend some time discussing the psychology interwoven into the movie as well as the psychological effects it had on me (or my response to it), so here we go.

It's interesting how much we wish we could forget sometimes, and I think the movie does a good job of comforting that desire head-on.  Yes, some memories can be painful and we may think that the only liberation we can get is if we rid ourselves of those memories.  But those bad memories contribute to our growth and maturity.  If we were to retrace our steps, we would find that those painful memories had just as much influence in making us who we are today as the good memories.

For example, my Mom dying of cancer is a bad memory of a difficult time in our family.  But as much as I wish it hadn't happened or that I could forget it, I know for a fact that I would not be the woman I am today.  I wouldn't be driving myself, I wouldn't know the meaning of the word "independent thought", I wouldn't be this close to publishing my book, I wouldn't be attending the Art Institute, and I probably wouldn't have started this blog.  And I definitely wouldn't have seen The Force Awakens seven times in the theatre  (my Mom was a bit controlling).  Because of her death, I'm more independent than I probably could have been if she was still alive.  Do I still get sad when I think about her?  Heck, yes!  I still break down whenever someone sings her favorite hymn.  Do I wish I could forget her?  No.

Back to the movie.

Overall, this wasn't my favorite movie.  Believe it or not, it was a little too weird for me (and that's saying something coming from the girl who loves Roald Dahl and The Series of Unfortunate Events).  But I did like how it touched on mankind's desire to be rid of pain.

As humans, we don't like to be in pain or discomfort.  It's our natural inclination to make pain go away (unless you're a sadist, but that's a whole different beast in and of itself).  If there's a cactus prickle in our feet, we're naturally inclined to want to pull it at as soon as possible.  I think it's the same with memories.  It's our natural inclination to make the pain stop by getting rid of the source, but we have to realize memories don't work that way.  Depending on the functionality of our minds, memories can be stuck with us for the rest of our lives.  If we could have them physically removed, I think we would.  I think Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tackles that desire and says, "Yes, we all want to live a pain-free life, but if given the choice of losing all the memories of a person, place, or event, would we really choose to lose the good memories to?" 

It's certainly something worth pondering.

Okay, my cell phone is about to die, so I better go now.

Go watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind if you get a chance.  It's certainly very thought provoking and could start some interesting discussions.