Love is strange. And unless you’re a princess in a fairytale, it is anything but perfect. It isn’t always love at first sight—people fight, and say the wrong things. Charlie Kaufman’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind shows that imperfect people can create imperfect love, which in turn is a recipe for their own perfection. Charlie Kaufman uses multiple literary devices such as, characterization, climax, and personification in order to covey this message.
Kaufman created characters that were not perfect by any means, in order to portray real people and communicate that you don’t have to be perfect to find love. Joel Barish is characterized as a shy guy that keeps to himself. He is unable to look at women, let alone have a conversation with them. Joel is contrasted by Clementine Kruczynski a free spirited woman who cannot seem to keep a steady relationship and holds nothing back when it comes to her opinions. Yet, Kaufman created a dynamic between them that allowed for them to work together. He gave each of them characteristics that the other did not possess. Clementine brought Joel out of his shell when she invited Joel to go the lake with her. Joel is not one to go out or change his routine, yet he goes out of his comfort zone for her. Right away we see that there is a form of attraction between these two through the adventure on the ice and spending the night together. Through this Kaufman explores the idea that love is not instantaneous like a princess and a prince, instead it is developed overtime through adventure and memories.
The climax is shown relatively early in the movie. Joel learns that Clementine, his now ex-girlfriend, has received a procedure in which Joel was completely erased from her memory. That event started the development of Joel and Clementine’s love and relationship. Kaufman uses the climax to not only explore the effects of Joel realizing his former lover erased him from her memory, but to see what would happen when Joel tried the same thing.
Once Joel decides to have his memory of Clementine erased, the movie becomes centered around Joel trying to keep Clementine’s memory alive. Kaufman plays with personification as Joel’s mind becomes a character itself. As a viewer I saw the memories that Joel possessed with Clementine, both bad and good. Through the manifestation of Joel’s mind I was let in on the private and personal memories Joel had obtained. Once again we are brought back to the realization that their love is anything but perfect. When Joel says he does not want to talk about having a baby, Clementine tells him, “I can’t hear. I can never understand what you’re saying.” With that, Kaufman allowed the audience to see what flaw Clementine saw in Joel. In that particular moment it was his quietness. Again I saw that love is not perfect. Nor are people. We can all find flaws within each other and in this case, it was taken too far.
Joel’s outburst and brutal honesty towards Clementine not only provides another climatic moment, but a development of character. Joel’s true feelings come out in a moment of heat. We learn what he has thought about Clementine. As an audience member I felt that he what he said was unlike his usual character. But his time around Clementine had influenced him to become more outspoken. Kaufman placed Clementine’s trait of honesty into Joel, however Joel did not know how to handle his new found voice. He told Clementine, “I assume you [expletive] someone tonight. Isn’t that how you get people to like you?” Kaufman was showing that Joel was not only angry at this instance but also from past resentments. In relationships, fights are often times much larger than need be because they stem from previous annoyances and anger and come out at one particular time.
However, Kaufman explores the reliving of memories in order teach the characters that if you have love, you must hold onto it. Though they both said things they shouldn’t have, there were also memories filled with love, from them walking down the beach to sneaking into an abandanded house. The memories showed Joel what Clementine meant to him.
His realization that people will fight and yell and regret what they say but still love each other, pushed him towards trying again with Clementine. Though they were not perfect, they were in love. And when you are in love, you will do anything to get that person back. Even if you have to erase them from your memory to figure it out.
His realization that people will fight and yell and regret what they say but still love each other, pushed him towards trying again with Clementine. Though they were not perfect, they were in love. And when you are in love, you will do anything to get that person back. Even if you have to erase them from your memory to figure it out.
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