The mind is a complex entity. It is simultaneously seen as a part of the brain and as an independent faculty. The mind enables a person to be aware of the world, their experiences, and their memories. On the other hand, the brain functions as the coordinating center of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity. Both play a significant role with memory. Memory enables a person to instantly recall and learn information. It also holds precious and insignificant moments in one’s lifetime. In Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind (2004), Gondry explores memory and its effect on the mind and brain. In the film, Gondry uses light and color to indicate manipulation and decay of memories.
Michel Gondry is an independent French
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Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind is based on Eloisa to Abelard, a poem written by Edgar Allen Poe. The film resolves around the relationship between Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski. Joel is a soft-spoken introvert, while Clementine is free and uninhibited. …show more content…
In her article, “Head Over Heels in Love”, she describes Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind as “a dizzying plunge through love, loss and, finally, consciousness itself’(Hornaday). Hornaday summarizes the film, focusing on what makes a relationship. She also praises Gondry for his portrayal of Joel’s and Clementine’s relationship and use of visual effects. Hornaday begins her summary describing the procedure Joel and Clementine underwent. After breaking up with Joel, Clementine decided to visit Lacuna, a firm known for erasing memories. To begin, the doctors have their patients “bring in every memento that reminds them of the soon-to-be-forgotten” (Hornaday). The patients are then hooked up to a computer to create a map of the brain. The doctors use the map to erase “every offending memory while they sleep” (Hornaday). In the article, Hornaday describes the procedure as outrageous, but easily believable. She continues to summarize Joel’s experience with the procedure and his efforts to keep his memories with Clementine. Hornaday describes the process as “a journey through ever-opening doors of perception that Joel experiences as if in a waking dream” (Hornaday). Hornaday goes on to praise Gondry on his portrayal of Joel’s journey through his mind. Gondry uses low tech visuals, sound design, and staging to dramatize the film. Hornaday states, “in one of the film 's most powerful scenes, Joel enters another realm of
In a nation brimming with discrimination, violence and fear, a multitudinous number of hearts will become malevolent and unemotional. However, people will rebel. In the eye-opening novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns written by Khaled Hosseini, the country of Afghanistan is exposed to possess cruel, treacherous and sexist law and people. The women are classified as something lower than human, and men have the jurisdiction over the women. At the same time, the most horrible treatment can bring out some of the best traits in victims, such as consideration, boldness, and protectiveness. Although, living in an inconsiderate world, women can still carry aspiration and benevolence. Mariam and Laila (the main characters of A Thousand Splendid Suns) are able to retain their consideration, boldness and protectiveness, as sufferers in their atrocious world.
The Fountainhead is a novel about the ideals of four characters: Howard Roark, Peter Keating, Ellsworth Toohey, and Gail Wynand, all brought together to play different roles in the architecture industry. Ayn Rand introduces confusing concepts in her novel The Fountainhead; her characters do not fit the status quo and therefore they do things that the reader does not understand. They are caught up in the world of architecture and deciding between acts of selfishness and selflessness. Howard Roark had an unusual definition of selfishness opposed to the reader; he believed selfishness is was staying true to ones ideals and goals no matter what people might say. As for Peter Keating his definition of selfishness is doing everything for oneself and not worrying about who they are hurting or using.
For my final I have selected Omer Fast - CNN Concatenated and Gary Hill – Incidence of Catastrophe from the videos screened in class this semester. The experience from watching both Fast & Hill video was very interesting in the way how memory was mediated. These two videos used personal, and recollection of memory, but both very far apart in how memory is conceived in their work. I will give my views on how each video artist applied their problem of memory in the following.
V for Vendetta is a rather graphic novel written by Alan Moore in the late 1980's. The novel takes place in an alternate-reality; one in which Britain is ruled by a fascist government rules over Britain, and the rest of the world is believed to be in ruins due to nuclear war. The main protagonist/villain, depending on your viewpoint, of the story is a man simply called "V", He is a mysterious man and a self-described anarchist who survived a government experiment of a compound called Batch 5. Although his face is never shown in the book, V still draws the reader’s attention by being such a dark presence.
"A Clockwork Orange", directed by the immeasurable Stanley Kubrick, starring Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Adirenne Corri, Aubrey Morris and James Marcus and produced by Stanley Kubrick in 1971, is, in my opinion, one of the greatest morality plays ever captured on film. It leads viewer in to many different pathways of thought about the time we live in, and about the validity of the concepts of law and morality, and the applications of the two in general society.
The film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind focuses on the interesting topic of memory. The film follows two main characters, Joel and Clementine, who have both chosen to erase part of their memory. What both characters, and other characters in the movie, find out though is that our memory is complex and very flexible to what we make of it. The film reflects the tendency that we have as humans, to think that we are in control of our memory. The truth is that our memory is not like a video tape of the events in our lives nor is it a library of the knowledge we have collected. As I watched the movie, I couldn’t help but think; our memory is more like a ball of clay. Our minds can take the clay and make it into a shape and we can stare at that shape and know that shape but our minds will play with that clay and mold it into something different eventually. The idea portrayed in the movie is that no memory is safe from our meddling minds.
Most people are very convinced that they have memories of past experiences because of the event itself or the bigger picture of the experience. According to Ulric Neisser, memories focus on the fact that the events outlined at one level of analysis may be components of other, larger events (Rubin 1). For instance, one will only remember receiving the letter of admission as their memory of being accepted into the University of Virginia. However, people do not realize that it is actually the small details that make up their memories. What make up the memory of being accepted into the University of Virginia are the hours spent on writing essays, the anxiety faced due to fear of not making into the university and the happiness upon hearing your admission into the school; these small details are very important in creating memories of this experience. If people’s minds are preset on merely thinking that memories are the general idea of their experiences, memories become very superficial and people will miss out on what matters most in life. Therefore, in “The Amityville Horror”, Jay Anson deliberately includes small details that are unnecessary in the story to prove that only memory can give meaning to life.
Breathless is in many ways the antithesis of the classical Hollywood cinema; the changes have a direct effect on the relationship the film has with the viewer. Classical Hollywood cinema includes standards such as continuity editing, highly motivated, character-driven stories and a coherent narrative structure. Breathless defies these elements of traditional filmmaking, instead defining what we know as French New Wave.
The first issue that needs to be addressed however is what exactly is memory? “ Without memory we would be servants of the moment, with nothing but our innate reflexes to help us deal with the world. There would be no language, no art, no science, no culture. Civilization itself is the distillation of human memory” (Blakemore 1988). The simple interpretation of Blakemore’s theory on what memory is that a person’s memory is at least one of the most important things in their life and without it civilization itself could not exist.
“A Beautiful Mind” is a remarkable movie that sheds light on a complicated and debilitating disorder, in which the person seems to have no control over. It is enlightening and heart warming, I would highly recommend this movie. I must admit, the first time I watch the movie, I went into it not knowing anything about schizophrenia and when it was over, I still felt like I didn’t fully understand the disorder; however, the second time I watched with the knowledge of what schizophrenia is and all of the various symptoms and I find it astonishing that Nash was able to overcome the disorder by sheer willpower over his own mind, as he chose to ignore the voices in his head.
Within the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind there are many characters that have a fair sharing of mystery. From the doctors, to the main characters. They all have a story of their own and events in their lives that made them who the are. With the powerful ability for people to forget their memories, it shows true struggles and feelings all the characters went through. The best way to display the amount of information the film showed of the character's minds are through Joel and Clementine.
In Idoru, by William Gibson, the idoru is more human than Laney. Rei Toei, the idoru, is a completely virtual media star, a synthespian. Laney is a quantitative analyst with a concentration deficit that he can adjust "into a state of pathological hyperfocus," thus enabling him to be "an extremely good researcher" (Gibson 30). Growing up in the Gainesville Federal Orphanage, Laney inadvertently restricted control over his future identity. Only considering the program's rewards, he voluntarily participated in a series of experimental drug tests. Many of the tests included the substance 5-SB, which "tends to turn males into fixated homicidal stalkers" (Gibson 174). Laney doesn't feel he has a choice to change his situation and simply follows whatever path is given to him. Although Rei Toei, the idoru, doesn't always understand the consequences of actions, she nevertheless consciously shapes her own identity.
Fine, C. (2008). The Britannica guide to the brain: A guided tour of the brain – Mind, memory and intelligence. London, UK: Robinson.
Memory is the tool we use to learn and think. We all use memory in our everyday lives. Memory is the mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experiences. We all reassure ourselves that our memories are accurate and precise. Many people believe that they would be able to remember anything from the event and the different features of the situation. Yet, people don’t realize the fact that the more you think about a situation the more likely the story will change. Our memories are not a camcorder or a camera. Our memory tends to be very selective and reconstructive.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind dramatizes the destruction of a relationship through personality differences. The director, Michel Gondry, alludes to relationship struggles, by stitching together a not so spotless tale of the mind searching for love and ultimately eternal happiness. Clementine Kruczynski first meet’s Joel Barish at a friend’s party, seemingly the only two awkward people eating separately from the bunch. Joel instantly notices Ms. Kruczynski for her tangerine colored hoodie. Gondry thus indicates that color, especially when related to Clementine, plays an intimate role in her personality structure, and her relationship Joel. At the party conversation strangely flows between Joel