Reflections on The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Reflecting on Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, I've come to two conclusions: 1. What we we know about the mind and memory is rather small in comparison to the vastness of it and the landscape that it takes the shape of. 2. The length or shortness of a relationship has nothing to do with what is felt or how it's remembered. Spoilers ahead. First point. The protagonist in the story clings so dearly to his memories of Clementine. He clings to them, because despite all of the bad or all the pain he still finds the good in the bad . He navigates the deepest of his consciousness and subconsciousness to find a place, a small tiny little place that he can store just one tiny memory of her, so that he can justify his relationship as not being a waste. He can say that what happened happened for a reason and despite it happening, he doesn't regret it. He goes to places like his humiliation or early childhood brings her there to hide her away for later. He's altering his view of the past to keep her alive in her mind. He does all of this why? Because despite all of the pain he still loved her and he'd rather live with the pain than forget that she existed. This brings me to my next point. No matter if you dated for a month or were married for 50 years. There will always be good times that are worth remembering. Too often when it's over we focus on the bad, or focus on the mean, so much that we forget to look at what happened as a whole and what was learned and what was felt and what occurred. You forget your terrible but laughable attempts at flirting or the stupid tactics you used as an excuse to stay just a little longer and be in their presence just a little bit longer. You forget the nervousness you felt when you try to kiss them for the first time. You forget the way they hum when they chew or the radiance of their cerulean blue eyes in the morning spotlight or the smile they give first thing in the morning. You forget the face they make when they're confused, like a little puppy trying to figure out a thought. You forget all of that and what This movie teaches us is that you must NEVER forget those things. You mustn't because once you do they're gone forever and then truly then the relationship was a waste.
