Key Discourses in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Movie Review Example

Key Dis s in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a romantic fantasy film released in the year of 2004. Directed by Michel Gondry, this movie has in it elements of science fiction and, to a large extent, neo-surrealism, serving the purpose of exploring the nature of memory, especially in relation to love and emotions. However, this movie has often been widely considered to be typically characterized by its nonlinear narration. Though there have been a number of movies that took special thematic interest in matters related to memory, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind stands out as an exception by dint of the subtle artistic touches. In this movie memory is something more than just a theme. But, the most essential thing to mention about this movie scripted by Charlie Kaufman is its discourses. The purpose of this paper is to explore the key discourses in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It will discuss how the different discourses in the movie are socially constructed, find out how the myths related to the discourses, examine the formal, informal and coercive practices, and also analyze the effects of these discourses on the strength of the movie and the message that it has to convey. In bid to discuss the key discourses in a movie, the most important thing is to understand what discourse means, especially when it is in reference to a film, and not a novel, drama or short story. ‘Discourse’ generally gives the idea of a verbal expression through writing or speech. Such verbal communication has a purpose of establishing a communication in order to convey a message(s) from particular views. However, such idea is not enough for exploring the discourses in a movie, since this is apart of an empirical study. Michel Foucault gave a special notion about discourse, and his idea of a discourse was accepted by the school of social theorists who were inspired by him. In his opinion, a discourse is “an entity of sequences of signs in that they are enouncements" (Foucault, M., 1969: 141). What Foucault means to refer to by ‘enouncements’ is statement in the form of an abstract matter that makes the signs relevant to different objects as well as subjects in a work – a film or a fictional writing. The most important thing to mention while discussing discourses in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the use of mediatized memory that refers to the idea of a collective, mediated memory narrative that serves the purpose of helping in re-experiencing what has already happened in the past. In his bid to describe mediatized memory in Welcome to the Desert of the Real Zizek says that it mediatized memory is “the authentic twentieth-century passion for penetrating the Real Thing (ultimately, the destructive Void) through the cobweb of semblances which constitute our reality thus culminates in the thrill of the Real as the ultimate "effect", sought after from digitalized special effects, through reality TV and amateur photography, up to snuff movies” (ZiZek, S., 2002: 12). Let us now explore the different discourses in the movie. Set with an ideological background in the aftermath of 9/11, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has a message to convey, which is a comment on the memory being accelerated by the media, by trying to show that the barriers between the past and the present can be blurred by the absence of temporal distance. The concept of the popular culture memory is also very relevant here. The popular cultural memory characterized by its accurate or partial re-producibility in the spaces, so far as the media is concerned. The post 9/11 social, cultural as well as media background clearly indicates “a shift in contemporary memory discourses towards the remembering of memory itself” (Jess-Cooke, C., 2010). One of the key discourses in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the narration of Joel Barish one of the central characters in the movie. The narration of Joel is not only by speeches or by expressions in the movie. Majority, rather the most important part, of it consists of the visualized form of his subconscious effort to preserve his memories of Clelentine – his love. The narrativization in this movie is significantly dependent on the notion of narrative memory narrative. The narratives of the two central characters - Joel and Clementine are in the form of memory narrative to a considerable amount. The most significant parts of the discourses in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind consist of the series of memory narratives of Joel and those of Clementine in parts. It is their narrative memories that serve the purpose of building a relationship between past and the present. Joel meets Clementine for the first time, at least, as Joel remembers consciously, in Montauk. Though they met for the first time, as it appeared, their behaviors were not like as if they were two strangers who did not have anything to do with each other. Rather, the way they reacted at seeing each other – either avoidance or an approach, is remarkable. The relationship begins with Clementine saying, “Do I know you?” following a ‘hi’ to which Joel fumbled to answer. It takes 17 minutes after the movie commences, when the secondary narrative begins. (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004) This secondary narrative, namely, the narrative memory of Joel, speaks of the events that happened earlier. It is thought this narrative discourse that the audience comes to know about the fact that Clementine had got rid of memories of Joel by erasing them from her brain. This is what makes Joel decide that he also would erase from his mind memories of Clementine. And when Joel is undergoing the process of memory erasing, comes up Joel’s narrative memory which reflects the notion of the mediatized memory. Each narrative, especially when it is a major part of the discourse in the movie, intrigues the audience about something. What does, Joel’s memory narrative tell us? Each of t he group of Joe’s memories unveil some part of his life or mind or the other. We come to know about his humiliation by his group of peers when he was a child. The memory narratives also show how he got caught by his mother while masturbating. It is through one of these narrative memories that we come to know about how he was humiliated by Clementine in the flea market in more recent times. “The film suggests a "starting point" for each of Joels memories that begins within a previous memory, or an "original" memory that is revised by each subsequent relational memory. The process of re-remembering, then, is suggested as the continual revision or re-telling of a core memory.” (Jess-Cooke, C., 2010). A new life devoid of some particular past events or experiences has been a mythical idea since long. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind explores this discourse very efficiently. Joel’s reprisal of the relationship between him and Clementine after the operations of their erasure procedure are done is well suggested through the thread of the narrative memories of Joel. The sense of afterwardness is also very prevalent in the narrative discourses. Afterwardness, as the Freudian concept goes, includes the refreshment of memories or revision of memories is necessary “to fit in with fresh experiences or with the attainment of a new stage of development" (Laplanche and Pontalis, 1988: 112). So far as the discourse in this film is concerned, it is very much evident that the memories can be erased, implying loss of the collection of the related memories, which is very much possible to happen to an individual. But it is not quite possible to erase or blur the subconscious layer of the mind as well as the impulses. Therefore, the repetition of the past is most likely, or rather inevitable, especially when the conscious memories of the past have been erased. This notion is quite well reflected in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as the events show. Both of Joel and Clementine visit the Montauk beach as well as the frozen Charles River in Boston. It is to be remembered that both these places are very important and significant, so far as the relationship between Joel and Clementine is concerned. Both of them visit these places not because some ‘memory’ has remained, but because the places stir their impulses. They visit these places as they visit their homes, though in a different time frame. Therefore, it is very natural that they would feel attracted to each other when they meet. This is prompted by a psychic impulse that cannot be subjected to the erasure process since it is not a conscious memory but a very spontaneous feeling or sensation. The way the memories of Joel have been narrativised is remarkable. In this regard it is necessary to refer to those parts of the narrative memories, which show Clementine helping and guiding Joel in re-remembering. This process of re-remembering virtually narrates those memories or emotions that are not quite related to Clementine or his relationship with her. It may be that the combination of desire and memory has brought Clementine into the past experiences of Joel as a child, while in reality Clementine was not in Joel’s life at that stage in life. It has been caused by Joel’s strong desire to have Clementine even in that part of life, where she was not there in reality. There can also be another explanation to this. The suggestion is that the image of Clementine as viewed by Joel is his own secondary subjectivity. Clementine at this stage is not a character. What Clementine says is what Joel tells to himself in his memories. The interaction between Joel and Clementine in these memory narratives may indicate at the interaction between the erased memories and those that still exist. The erased memory having the power to interact might have been caused by Joel’s latent but strong subconscious refusal to erase memories of Clementine. Discourses in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind also include the minor but significant characters like Mary, Patrick, Stan and Dr. Howard. Now that we are talking about the memory narratives of Joel concerning Clementine, it is also relevant to refer to Patrick. Clementine’s presence in Joel’s childhood memories as narrativised is quite obvious. So is Patrick. Patrick is not present in those memory narratives that include the childhood experiences. But the name ‘Pat’ very clearly and very spontaneously brings to mind the name Patrick, especially when by then the name Patrick has become very important in the movie. Patrick is the one who along with his colleague Stan is attending to the memory erasure procedure on Joel. What makes the name of Patrick is even more significant is the fact that he happens to be Clementine’s new boyfriend. Patrick starts imitating Joel in his words and actions with Clementine. When they visit Charles River at Boston, he says to Clementine exactly the same words that Joel had told her two years back. Patrick comes to know these words from Joel’s diary which Joel brought along with other materials to the memory erasure clinic since he was asked by Dr. Howard to get rid of everything that represents any memory of Clementine. Let us now come to the narrative discourses of Clementine. So far as the primary narrative of Clementine is concerned, she suffers the emotional pains due to the break up with Joel. But she fails to understand the reason of such emotional suffering since, the memories of Joel have already been erased. The reason why she experiences the post break-up sufferings is that, as it can be figured from the movie, though her psychic memories have been erased, the emotional as well as bodily responses to the break-up have not been erased. Since the memories are gone, but the impulses are still there, Clementine repeats what she had done earlier. It is necessary to mention in this relevance that Clementine once told Joel that she is very impulsive. So, with memories lost, Clementine impulsively goes to Montauk, visits the frozen Charles River at Boston. As to her relationship, she just replaces Joel with Patrick. But she is shocked to hear Patrick say things he copied from Joel’s diary. The most interesting part in this relevance is when Clementine calls up Patrick and says, "Im lost, Im scared, I feel like Im disappearing, my skin is coming off, Im getting old, nothing makes any sense to me". It is to be remembered that When Clementine says this to Patrick, he was attending to Joel’s memory erasure procedure. As it has been said, the discourses in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind include the idea that memories can be erased but not the impulses or the emotional or bodily responses. Apart from Clementine and Joel, Mary also testifies to this notion. She had an emotional crush on Dr. Howard. Though she erased her memories of her relationship with Dr. Howard, she could not escape from her impulses that make her like him, in a state where she is forgetful but Dr. Howard is not. So far as other discourses in the movie is concerned, it very aptly demonstrates mediatized memory in the form of collective thread of memories with the experiential touches. The events have been modulated into spectatorial experiences “that shape and inform the subjectivity of the individual viewer” (Burgoyne, 2003: 225). Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind also appears to reflect LaCapra’s view that "memory is always secondary since what occurs is not integrated into experience or directly remembered, and the event must be reconstructed from its effects and traces" and is accessible "through the reliving or acting-out be supplemented by secondary memory and related processes (for example, narration, analysis, bodily gesture, or song)." (LaCapra, D., 1998) One very significant purpose of the discourses in a movie is to cater to the narrative content. There is no doubt that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is characterized by such discourses. The use of narrative memories refers to the concept of mediatized memories enriches the narrative content of the movie. Treating such a theme, demonstrating the experiences by creating spectatorial forms of them, and conveying the messages to the audience might not have been possible without such artistic use of narrative memories. The discourses not only facilitate the plot in the movie but also gives a power to the language of the movie. The narratives have been designed with utmost artisticity. What needs special mention that the linking among the narratives has made the plot perfectly neat. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind also conveys a message about the impact of the mediatizing technology on memory, particularly when it is treated as a spectacle viewable to the public. The audience is influenced to give it is thought as to what if memories were thus available for editing and reproduction by creating a map of the brain and exercising technological devices. The audience becomes aware of the risk of memories being erased while the impulses remain the same. The discourses in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind really help people with a unique and acceptable way for understanding of the past responding. Sources: 1. Foucault, M., 1969: 141, ‘The Archaeology of Knowledge’ 2. Zizek, S., 2002: 11, ‘Welcome to the Desert of the Real’. London and New York: Routledge 3. Jess-Cooke, C., 2010: ‘Narrative and Mediatized Memory in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’. Scope, Institute of Film and Television Studies, University of Nottingham 4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004 5. Laplanche and Pontalis, 1988: 112. ‘The Language of Psycho-Analysis’, London, H. Karnic (Books) Ltd. (First Published 1973 by Hogarth Press Ltd.) 6. Burgoyne, R. 2003: ‘Memory, History and Digital Imagery in Contemporary Film’, Paul Grainge (ed.), ‘Memory and Popular Film’ Manchester 7. LaCapra, D., 1998. ‘History and Memory after Auschwitz’. London, Cornell Read More