You Winslet, you Loselet

'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' written and directed by Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry, is a film that relies on philosophical theories and concepts to convey the psychological struggles of the characters. As such, it is a movie that 'people tend either love or hate' (Grau 119), its confusion or a person's lack of interest being the main complaints. The cinematography does much to reflect the philosophy behind it, Fredrick Nietzsche's and Immanuel Kant's theories and concepts being the foundation on which this film was built. The most prominent are that of Nietzsche's eternal reoccurrence, clearly referenced to in the title of the film, and Immanuel Kant's concept of self-respect, particularly aversion to self-mutilation, which is bent and broken.
The memory erasure technology that is available in the film is something that may not be too far off in reality, but the havoc that it reeks on those who undergo it is made clear by the experiences of the two main characters; Clementine (Kate Winslet), and Joel (Jim Carrey). Clementine springs for the procedure on a whim, her 'impulsive nature' to blame, after she decides it is the best way out of her downhill relationship with Joel. Having the procedure pushes Clementine into Nietzsche's theory of eternal reoccurrence, peculiar that without any recollection of these past events she falls victim to committing almost all of them over again. While all memories of the ended relationship are gone, she repeats nearly everything, and experiences an almost constant sense of d?j? vu. The idea of an eternal reoccurrence holds that the universe is infinite, and has been moving and acting forever, but that our own actions are finite, what we do being limited to only so many different variations. What the audience sees with Clementine is that with these memories now gone she loops back to the beginning of them, rather than moving forward or moving on. The ability to learn from experience has been stripped of her in regards to the experiences with Joel, thereby leaving her to make the same mistakes all over again, the dilemma that the two come to realize in the final scene of the film.
One questions Nietzsche's eternal recurrence based on the concept of learning, that a person's conscious recollection and knowledge of past events will prevent them from committing the same mistakes or making the same decisions in the future. If Clementine were to recognize the reoccurrence, that she has already experienced these things in the past, the challenge is presented that she might not fall victim to repetition of her behaviors and experiences. Would she be able to thereby avert eternal reoccurrence, moving forward and in a different direction because she is consciously aware of the past? With the presentation of Clementine and Joel's relationship in the film, even after he undergoes the procedure out of spite, the two meet again, a factor that also adds weight to Nietzsche's idea. It is as if an invisible force has brought them back together, a force that can be explained as eternal recurrence. The two are drawn together once more, eventually discovering exactly what had happened between them in the past, which is where they come to a crossroads. They now have the choice of giving it one more go despite the knowledge that the possibility of failure might be inevitable, in the final scene saying 'But you will (find something you don't like about me), and I'll get bored with you and feel trapped, because that's what happens with me,' or to go their separate ways now and forever. Their decision that a life with one another is worth the fighting and the possibility of failure leads he viewer to question their futures, if the same end will result or if the knowledge of their pasts is able to change their paths.
The fact that they both Clementine and Joel undergo the procedure hoping to improve their lives, to find happiness and well being, brings into view Kant's ideas and the
theories of utilitarianism. The empiricist and rationalist ideas of Kant state that a person has certain moral duties to themselves, that one should act in such a way as to respect his- or herself and be averse to things such as suicide and self-mutilation. With the memory erasure procedure, it is made clear that it is self-mutilation in some regard, both Clementine and Joel experience enormous harm as a direct result of it. While Clementine's actual experiences during the procedure are not seen by the viewer, Joel's suffering is loud and clear as he doggedly tries to hold onto his positive memories, a discrimination that the procedure does not make. If having one's memory erased did in fact increase their future happiness, if they had come psychological harm as a result of something that had occurred in their past then having these memories erased would be beneficial, but not if the same problems and kinks in Clementine's and Joel's experiences had occurred. This case is only for the better if any lessons learned from these memories would be able to be learned elsewhere in the future, so as not to fall into a spiral of eternal reoccurrence. If there were a 'safe' way to conduct such a treatment, then Kant's ideas would theoretically be in support of it.
In a similar manner, utilitarian teachings proclaim that a person is to act so as to obtain the greatest level of happiness, that whichever actions he or she chooses should be done so only in consideration of this fact, and that their actions and achieved happiness are morally right. Falling in line with the high importance that Kant places on self-respect, the individual acts out of their own interests, for the sake of their personal happiness. One significant difference however is that utilitarian ideas may actually support things such as suicide and self-mutilation that Kant is so opposed to, because in certain cases this may be what produces the greatest happiness in an individual.
The concepts presented in this movie, while confusing to some, nevertheless illustrate philosophical concepts filling the lives of the characters. The purpose of the memory erasure procedure was, in theory, aligned with Kant's concept of self-respect and of utilitarian teachings, the intent being to better their lives and increase their happiness. The harm that came to each as a result of undergoing the procedure was phenomenal, essentially boiled down to as self-mutilation. If the technology to make the procedure safe had been available, the case would have been different, allowing both Clementine and Joel to continue on with their lives with no recollection of the past but a much happier future in reach. Even with this fairy tale ending however, Nietzsche's concepts still creep into one's thoughts, for even with the results going according to what one wants, without knowledge of the past we are prey to falling victims of the future. A memory without certain experiences could cause tremendous damage to the future, a person committing the same mistakes over and over for the first time, with no way to protect themselves or prevent it from happening once more. The picture that the film's ending presents is hopeful and hopeless all at once, while Clementine and Joel choose to love one another all over again, the audience wonders if the dismal picture of their past will soon be all too familiar to them, the 'eternal sunshine' of the title being unattainable in reality.






Works Cited


Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Screenplay by Michel Gondry, Charlie
Kaufman. Director Michel Gondry. Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet. Focus
Features., Copyright 200

Grau, Christopher. 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the Morality of Memory.'
Thinking Through Cinema: Film as Philosophy. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Volume 64 Issue 1. Winter 2006.