Movie Club: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[shred]

Aug 18, 2010 12:10:44 GMT 10 Beck said:

But him doing a totally not him thing and jumping on the train, makes me feel fate They may never have met again otherwise.

That's what I thought when I first watched the movie but when I saw it again, I realised that Clementine whispered to him in one of his memories to meet him in Montauk and I think that's why he jumped on that train.

So it makes me think twice whether it's fate or not.

[Beck]

Everything about her was erased though, but maybe that bit got through somehow.

[shred]

Well, she did tell him that when he was hiding her in his other memories so maybe that stuck with him.

[Beck]

His other memories made me laugh.

[Bre]

I loved his childhood memories. When he's hiding under the table or in the sink. You see some of the comedian Jim Carrey in those parts.

[Beck]

Yeah but they weren't cartoony and goofball comedy they most of his movies. I liked the memory of when they first met in the house. I would have left like he did too.

What did everyone think of the minor characters in it?

[shred]

I don't mind the minor characters. Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to them.

Didn't like Patrick AT ALL!

[Beck]

I found him very creepy, stealing Joel's things and his lines. Ick.

[shred]

Same. I especially hated him when he gave her the necklace that Joel bought just before the breakup.

[Beck]

I found the stealing of all the stuff he wrote about her worse. I was biased because I don't like Elijah Wood but the character was icky too

[shred]

To answer Bre's essay qus:

Aug 14, 2010 13:49:32 GMT 10 Bre said:

OK. I haven't re-watched it, but I will say it is one of my, I don't know, top 20 favorite movies. It gave me a LOT more respect for Jim Carrey and just reinforced my love for Kate Winslet. To hold things over until someone else posts, I attached my essay I was talking about earlier in the thread.

If you don't want to read it, a couple of the questions I asked were:

After the characters’ memories are erased, has their personal identity changed?

No, it didn't. It's the main reason why Joel and Clementine were attracted to each other again.

They decide to have their memories erased. Is this justified? When things go wrong in life, is it OK for someone, given the technology is available, to have bits of the brains erased?

I think it's ok and completely justified. It's their memories so it's up to them what they do with it.

After a bad breakup, some stay in their PJs and pig out on chocolate and ice cream. Erasing their memories is their version of staying their PJs and pigging out, in my opinion.

Would you choose to have your memory erased?? (It's kind of similar to the "Dollhouse" discussions, I think)

I personally wouldn't do it. It's similar to what I said in the DH thread. If those bad memories were erased, I wouldn't have learned from that experience. I wouldn't have grown as a person from that experience.

[Beck]

Aug 24, 2010 12:51:03 GMT 10 shred said:

I think it's ok and completely justified. It's their memories so it's up to them what they do with it.

After a bad breakup, some stay in their PJs and pig out on chocolate and ice cream. Erasing their memories is their version of staying their PJs and pigging out, in my opinion.

Wow.... seriously? I completely disagree with you here. Erasing something and grieving are completely different things. When someone dies you don't erase that pain, you deal with it. The same goes with the death of a relationship. It isn't just your memories, you are tampering with the lives of the people you know and love. If didn't just effect Clementine for example, look at how much pain it caused Joel. Look at the discomfort of their friends at knowing, and which would have been much worse had they had more closer mutual friends. You aren't just erasing the bad memories, but the good. And memories both bad and good are still important, as ultimately it is all we have of anyone. I think it is wrong to erase them.

[shred]

In their view (like that lady with her dead pet), isn't it a form of grieving?

I don't agree with their decision to do it and I personally wouldn't do it but I wouldn't stop them from doing it. It's their memory. Ultimately, it's up to them on how they deal with their pain.

Yes, I think it's wrong to erase your memories but the question isn't whether it's right or wrong. If the technology is available and someone feels strongly about erasing their memories, I wouldn't stop them. I wouldn't understand their reasons to do so but as long as they understand what they are doing and the consequences of it, I wouldn't stand in their way.