Existentialism In Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

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In Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a couple, Joel Barrish and Clementine Kruzynski, relationship has taken a turn for the worst decides to undergo a memory erasing surgery and later end up dating each other again. Throughout this movie, one of the partners regrets their decision after realizing he still loves his partner and desperately tries to stop the surgery but fails. Due to the Joel and Clementine failure to reverse the procedure, they fall in love again. As due to their decision to erase their relationship history don’t actually change who they are. This process was theorized by Friedrich Nietzsche a German philosopher in the late nineteenth century that believed the universe is never ending and it will continue to occur identically over and over. This 2004 movie is a romantic science fiction that is filled with comedy and drama. It also utilizes psychological thriller elements to help analyze the essence of romance and memory. This film …show more content…

His position as a playwriter, novelist, journalist, and literacy critic helped him do so. One of his popular works Existentialism (1945) has significant points that are reflected in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In his lecture Existentialism (1945), he says that one can't be defined by any concept; that man is what he makes himself out to be but also only by his will. Jean-Paul believed that we are what we choose to be, and we hold onto anguish (the overwhelming burden of total responsibility). This is evident in the film. In one scene Clementine Kruczynski says, "I'm not a concept. Too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to make them alive, but I'm just a fucked up girl who is looking for my own peace of mind" This shows that people try to make external things as what defines them, but in reality you have to find your own purpose is in