Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Meanings

Submitted by: Donald
Added: 2007-03-13 15:38:40     Rating:

Great film, but after viewing it, there is no real solid interpretion, or at least I don't think, the plot and what happens throughout the film pretty much sums it up for us.

The movie is about Fate. Fate binds two people together, and no matter how hard they struggle against it, they will never fully overcome it.

Even after erasing each other from their memories, they still meet each other again. Then, even after getting the tapes in the mail and knowing how unhappy they were at the end of the erased relationship, they STILL choose to be together.

Sometimes two people are meant for each other, and Fate will always bring them together.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-11-03 22:32:49     Rating:

I believe that this is a film that shows that mistakes make us. As painful as some memories may be,we learn from them. To erase them is just making your life more of a pain.

Submitted by: moviedude108
Added: 2007-11-09 17:49:29     Rating:

This movie is about the futility of trying to make everything perfect.

In this movie people have the ability to erase bad memories, but end up making things worse by denying flaws and mistakes instead of learning from them and dealing with them.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind shows how it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all and how fate will bring two people together. At first Jim Carey wishes to erase Kate Winslet from his memory but as he relives every single moment with her, he realizes that he doesn't want to lose what he had even if it is painful because what they had was beautiful. Even after having their memories erased, they still walk right back into the same situation they were in before it. The tapes kind of show how you live and you learn from your mistakes and how they were willing to try to overcome them.

Submitted by: timmy420
Added: 2008-06-12 10:15:41     Rating:

In my opinion, I took it as... You cannot change or relive the past; We all try to hold on to fond memories, instead we should be thankful for those memories and look forward to making more.

Submitted by: blarney
Added: 2009-01-20 23:55:48     Rating:

Movie about the battle between science and the existence of the soul. Didn't the pope say science was evil? Well this movie says that he was right, the soul's battle to its limitless end.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2009-07-07 02:30:36     Rating:

I think the most simplistic interpretation is about love and relationships. At the end everything is F#@ked up, you hate this person, every little detail annoys you and you think that if you never see this person again you'd be better off.

In Joel's case he gets to relive his relationship in a retrospective manner, in which he realizes that it wasn't all bad, I did feel something at this point in time, i do feel that this (or some memories) are worth keeping, this might explain why in the middle of the procedure he decides to stop it.

When you strip it down to the core the question would be "are you better off erasing a past relationship?" i think the movie answers it by saying a big NO. You steal a bit of your significant other in every relationship and you make part of yourself (introjection). If you are blinded by the pain your going through at the moment you won't be able to see that you'd actually be killing a part of yourself it would be the emotional equivalent of committing (at least partial) suicide.

The end is very unclear, I'd like to think that they got back together (instead of the final scene being a flashback) not because of fate, not because they were destined to, but because the ride was worth it, even though chances are they'll eventually fall out of love again

Submitted by: kryptonelf
Added: 2009-07-28 18:57:21     Rating:

This movie is based on the epic poem by Alexander Pope. I think this movie is about how even though it may seem like our lives would be happier without certain memories it can end up destroying our good memories that we had in the process. Just like there can be no light without the dark, there can be no good memories without the bad. Plus memories make us who we are and allow us to experience life for what it really is.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2009-12-10 19:50:17     Rating:

In my opinion this film deals with how our society has the ability to manipulate our thoughts. The clinic which erased people's memories could represent college in a sense that our opinions change and we begin to form our own perspective on the world. The clinic in this sense could represent either technology or community or both and Clementine would represent nature because Joel is naturally drawn towards her and it is not until the end when he realizes that he need and is drawn towards Clementine that his world is balanced. In other words Joel is relying on this clinic(technology and nature) to do all the work for him but without Clementine(nature) it just isn't working out, so you need a balance of all three. I just believe it is about manipulation of mind and losing touch of nature.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2010-02-23 15:38:25     Rating:

Bouncing off another person's idea, the clinic is a metaphor for people not dealing with their mistakes or pasts. Joel falls in the exact same kind of love the second time around with the same exact girl, but only can *deal* with his mistake once he knows what mistake he has done, by listening to the tape. If the clinic stayed open and Kirsten Dunst didn't send out the tapes, they would've hated each other again and dealt with it the same way again. The clinic closing is like closing down the possibility of hiding from your past, forcing people to confront what they have tried to forget. This goes along with the song from the credits, "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" by Beck.

Submitted by: ilfrums
Added: 2010-05-26 02:56:25     Rating:

Joel and Clementine must make a choice (the poignant scene at the end of the film in the hallway after they have both listened to the tapes). Do they embark on what they know will most likely be a doomed love affair, or do they avoid future pain by saying goodbye? It's a metaphor for life. In other words, will the knowledge - all good things come to an end - stop us embracing life.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2010-06-06 19:09:26     Rating:

(same guy from 2010-2-23)

After watching this again: In response to the last post, I believe they still go on to see each other. The movie might be teaching us to take in all moments, good and bad, for you cannot have one without the other, just like in the scene with Joel in bed crawling, trying to get Clem back the very first time. There, he says something like "Please, let me have this one memory" or something like that.

They have each heard what the other one complains about when they listen to each other's tape, and they know how things can turn out. In the end of the movie, they know they'll have a good time with each other despite what bad may happen, and they choose to go on anyway.

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