Can memory be erased? Unconscious and escapism thinking

Rating: Null/10 (8 November 2008)

The film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, gives the audience a brand-new view of the blended style in representing memories through film-making. Although it seems that the film is made out of order, actually it follows a structure, that is the stream of consciousness. The non-linear representation, the irregularity of narrative, and the subversion of the normal impression of space and time are all vivid embodiment of human's dreams and memories. According to Freud's psychoanalysis theory, "Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious". He argues that dreams are wish-fulfillments, and those wishes are the result of repressed or frustrated desires( to him, mainly sexual desires). Dreams can be the deep, profound memories in people's life which they purposely hide behind or intendedly forget with the help of certain medicines. However the question is, can memory be effectively erased, or does it be turned into unconscious? In the movie, when Patrick exposes his feelings to Clementine with the words he steals from Joel, it's very strange that Clementine reacts to it in an uneasy way, it seems that she senses something wrong, that sense can be explained as coming from the unconscious. The major themes in the film are, of course, about love and memory. There is still the big theme in American culture, escapism or flightism. People tend to escape from the reality whenever they confront with difficulties and frustrations. In the movie, we see the characters, Clementine, Joel and Mary, escape from the unfruitful love experiences by erasing all their memories related through medical treatments. Escape does no help in solving problems, but is simply self-deception. When the unhappy memory comes back and presents itself in front of you, it becomes more unbearable and crueler. Mary resigns her position. Out of revenge or responsibility, we can not ascertain, she mails all the clients' records, forcing them to face their obsessing memories. It is interesting that the ending is designed in an open way. The two lovers seem to be ready to reunite, but have they learned any lesson from their previous experiences? Are they going to escape again if they have any problems? There are uncertainty and indeterminacy left behind.