Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind begins when a reserved, soft-spoken Joel Barrish develops a relationship with Clementine Kruczynski, an extroverted girl who he meets on a train leaving Montauk. The two are undeniably drawn to each other, but unaware that they were previously lovers before separating after a particularly nasty fight. Subsequent to their breakup, Clementine paid a neurological firm called Lacuna, Inc. to remove all her memories of Joel so that she could move on without dejection. After discovering this, Joel resolves to do the same.
The principal portion of the film takes place in Joel’s mind during the procedure. Initially, reexperiencing the events that led to the depreciation of his relationship makes Joel angry and glad to be rid of Clementine. However, as the procedure penetrates deeper into his recollections, Joel wistfully tries to preserve the positive memories that led him to love Clementine. …show more content…
It was met with tremendous praise from critics and fans for its cast, score, and cerebral subject matter. The film developed a cult following post-release, and is regarded by many reviewers as one of the best films of the 21st century. The premise of the movie propagated much discussion about long standing philosophical debates concerning normative ethics and personal identity. Perhaps the most salient question the film asks is whether or not there is value in suffering, and how exactly we should attempt to find happiness.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind can be viewed as a critique of utilitarianism, the ethical doctrine that actions are right insofar as they promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Traditional utilitarians would argue in favor of memory destruction, as its premise for existence is to relieve people of memories that are intrusive or otherwise associated with negative
The principal portion of the film takes place in Joel’s mind during the procedure. Initially, reexperiencing the events that led to the depreciation of his relationship makes Joel angry and glad to be rid of Clementine. However, as the procedure penetrates deeper into his recollections, Joel wistfully tries to preserve the positive memories that led him to love Clementine. …show more content…
It was met with tremendous praise from critics and fans for its cast, score, and cerebral subject matter. The film developed a cult following post-release, and is regarded by many reviewers as one of the best films of the 21st century. The premise of the movie propagated much discussion about long standing philosophical debates concerning normative ethics and personal identity. Perhaps the most salient question the film asks is whether or not there is value in suffering, and how exactly we should attempt to find happiness.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind can be viewed as a critique of utilitarianism, the ethical doctrine that actions are right insofar as they promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Traditional utilitarians would argue in favor of memory destruction, as its premise for existence is to relieve people of memories that are intrusive or otherwise associated with negative