If you had the choice to erase an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend from your mind, the would you do? That's the decision Joel Barrish faces in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Would erasing all of a person's memories be worth it in the long run? There are complications to erasing memories, as losing someone's bad memories would mean you would have to lose the good ones as well. Perhaps there are lessons that this person has taught you throughout your relationship and without those lessons, you would not be the person you are today. We are the sum of our experiences and our memories. It can be argued that Joel and Clementine decided to date again because they preferred having memories of each other, good and bad, rather than having no memories of each other; through the theories of Freud and Nietzsche this can be proven. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay When you watch the film, you seem to see the couple's first meeting. We discover towards the end of the film that this is the second time they have met, without knowing each other beforehand because it is post-procedure. Mary, the receptionist at Lacuna Corporation, the company that performs the memory wipe procedure. Mary ends up acting on the feelings she has for her boss, Dr. Mierzwiak, due to a previous affair whose memory was erased. This leads her to tell him that she had the procedure done to erase him from her memory. His response after discovering this information is to mail back any pre-procedure tapes that reveal personal information about why the patient wants a certain person erased. Joël and Clémentine receive their cassettes by mail and listen to them. These tapes contain each other's worst traits and habits. They decide even after listening to the tapes that their relationship will be worth renewing. The way the brain is analyzed and presented in the film is similar to Freud's theories of the mind. In the first half of the 20th century, Sigmund Freud explored the psychoanalytic approach to the mind. The psychoanalytic approach is the theory that people may suffer from an unconscious idea, emotion, or charged memory of which they are not aware and that these repressed memories can be relieved by bringing them to consciousness . The tripartite division of the mind is attributed to Freud. He viewed the mind as composed of three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. This theory of mind explains the levels of organization of consciousness. These levels of consciousness are related to behavior, traits, motivations, control, socialization, and dynamic personality energy. The id is the instinctive drive that seeks immediate gratification. A small child is an example of this because small children focus on pleasure and what benefits them. The ego or “I” is the perception of self with conscious mental states that can be articulated. Perceptions of the real world and decisions about how to act fall into this category. The ego is governed by the reality principle; all that comes out is ego. The Superego contains the person's conscience derived from morals and norms learned in childhood. It confronts the ego with rules and prohibitions like a strict parent, causing feelings of guilt or anxiety. Repression is caused unconsciously by the ego and the superego. Freud's theories are found in manyscenes from the film. The only scene in particular that displays identity is the scene with Joel as a four year old. He hides under the table because he wanted his mother to find him. She mentions that he is always near her. He then starts to panic saying that she (his mother) doesn't look at him and she never looks at him. Perhaps this is why Joel is very insecure and clingy as an adult. Joel asks Clementine if she was sleeping with other men when she came home late one night. His trust issues in this matter could also stem from his mother. Mary's identity, or her subconscious, slips away when she kisses Dr. Mierzwiak. She says she has loved him for a very long time. At the time, she was unaware of this past affinity with Dr. Mierzwiak and their affair which had been erased from her memory with the same procedure that Joel underwent. Both Joel and Clementine go through the emotions "I feel", "I want", and "I think" throughout the film. This represents the ego of their personality. The superego comes from childhood repression and can cause outbursts in adulthood. Guilt and anxiety can result. Joel is reserved and insecure while Clementine is free-spirited and impulsive. Their personalities are the result of their childhood. Similar to Frued, Nietzsche also questioned why humans do what they do. Nietzsche believed that our human lives were driven by a desire for power. We crave power. We also crave hunger, sex and the instinct for survival. The will to power is an authentic form of self-expression. It means you accept who you are. The choices you make shape who you are and who you become. We have the desire to assert ourselves in the world. Becoming something better than yourself is one of the motivations and it is the one that stands out the most in this film. We develop personal strength from the struggles and challenges of life. Before being burdened by the misfortunes of life, we are a free spirit. Nietzsche believed that a true free spirit appeared in the child at play. Children are generally not burdened by grief, periods, or injury. They play without a care in the world; it's because they haven't experienced a lot of bad things yet. They essentially have an “impeccable mind.” The characters' traits come from their childhood. In flashback scenes from Joel's youth, he was made fun of quite frequently. This could be the reason why Joel is a very reserved and introverted person as an adult. In another scene, Clémentine asks Joël if she is ugly. She said that as a child she thought she was ugly. She starts to cry then says she doesn't think people understand how lonely it is to be a kid. She said it was like you didn't matter. She recalls a memory from when she was eight years old and had a lot of dolls. Her favorite was an ugly doll named Clementine. She kept shouting at the doll: "You can't be ugly, be pretty." » It was as if she could transform the doll, and then transform herself. This childhood memory shaped how Clementine saw herself and how she wishes she could see herself. Deep down, she is insecure about her appearance but covers it up with her outgoing personality. Children are born with “impeccable minds” and as they grow, their minds become stained with many memories. Good and bad memories are created and shape the child's behaviors, character traits, and desire for power. The title of this film is taken from a poem by Éloisa.