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Essay / Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind in Prisms of Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche
The film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tells the story of Joel Barish and his girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski. The film begins on Valentine's Day and Joel is about to go to work, but suddenly runs to another train heading to Montauk. He meets Clementine on the train, but they don't know it, it's not the first time they've met. Both Joel and Clementine underwent a procedure to erase their memories of each other. However, as Joël sees Clementine's memory erased, he realizes that he still loves her deeply and does not want to forget her. In an attempt to preserve his memory, he runs from memory to memory to try to prevent it from leaving his mind. The film focuses on the mind of Joël and his attempt to fight for the preservation of Clementine's memory. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Neurologist Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalytic theory. This theory stated that people could suffer from an unconscious idea or emotionally charged memory that they were not aware of, but which could be revealed by bringing it into awareness. Using this theory, Freud developed the theory of human nature. The three parts of this theory contain the id, the ego and the superego. The id, or pleasure principle, contains the instinctive drives that seek immediate satisfaction like a small child. The ego, or reality principle, is closest to our ordinary conception of self with our conscious mental states that we express as “I think/feel/want.” This includes perceptions of the real world and decisions about how to act. The Superego contains a person's conscience derived from moral standards learned in childhood. It confronts the ego with rules and prohibitions, like a strict parent – this provokes feelings of anxiety or guilt, causing a repression between the ego and the superego. Through these three principles, Freud asserts that there are unknown causes that govern our choices. Mental states, such as memories, exist, but we are not always aware of them – they can be brought to mind when relevant. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Joel easily recalls memories from his childhood. He does this in an attempt to prevent Clementine from being completely erased from his memory. Joel was able to use these memories because they were relevant to the situation. Clementine told him to "go somewhere where they won't find us", so he dove into his childhood memories, thinking they would be safe there. Freud explained that the existence of emotionally charged ideas in the unconscious parts of the mind actively influences what a person thinks, feels, says, and does. This explains why Joel and Clementine decided to reunite because Joel most likely had unconscious memories of Clementine. If this were true, these memories would not have been erased from Joel's brain because they would not have appeared on the brain map because he would not be actively remembering them. Therefore, if Joel and Clementine had both repressed memories of each other, they would have an influence on their emotions towards each other. Indeed, even though they could not actively remember, the emotions they felt for each other were familiar to them, because they had felt them before. Even though their relationship was doomed to failure, Joël and Clémentine chose to reunite. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche explored the effects of modernity on human life. Modernity has defined thegeopolitics, cultural conditions and beliefs dominated by Enlightenment ideals, including faith in science, objective truth, urbanization and secularization. He believed that traditional belief systems made no sense in the modern world and, therefore, “God is dead.” Through this idea, Nietzsche came up with a new idea, called our "will to power", and it was a new way for people to assert meaning in their lives. He believed that the solution to our weaknesses was what is called tragic optimism - the feeling of joy and vitality of a person who neither diminishes because of struggle nor strives blindly, and who is willing to fighting for your own weaknesses and fears to embrace the fight for yourself. -determinism. Nietzsche believed that "the herd" consisted of people who couldn't think for themselves, so they allowed others to tell them the truth, like religion. The will to power was Nietzsche's argument against the herd, stating that we must all learn to think for ourselves, understand that everyone's point of view is valid, understand that each individual is unique and that the truth cannot not be the same for everyone because of our differences. perspectives and singularity. The will to power says that we all have power over our lives, that we all want to express who we are, and that we all want recognition for who we are. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind explores the idea of will to power. For example, when Mary quotes, “Blessed are those who forget, for they manage to overcome even their mistakes,” she is saying that people who forget things will have a better experience in the world. Spending too much time dwelling on past memories of pain, regret, or unhappiness serves no purpose in anyone's life. People who forget are blessed because even if they mess up or regret something, they will forget it and quickly move on. Being forgetful is ultimately a blessing. This leads to the idea that "ignorance is bliss" because the forgetful do not remember the bad things they have done; therefore, how can they learn from their mistakes? Of course, Joël and Clémentine will eventually meet again, because they had forgotten each other at the start. They both chose to erase themselves from their minds. They no longer realize that they will not last together. Until they found the tapes. After listening to their tapes, they realize that maybe it's not the best idea to be together. Joel says, “I don’t see anything I don’t like about you.” Clementine responds, “But you will.” You will think about things. And I'm going to miss you and feel trapped because that's what's happening to me. Although their relationship is doomed, they decide to come together and accept the imperfections of their relationship so that they can satisfy their unconscious desires. Joel also expresses his will to power in the film when his memory is erased. Joël quickly realizes that he does not want to erase Clementine from his memory. His solution to this problem is to go through his mind and find different memories to "hide" in. He wants to regain power over his mind and runs with Clementine, jumping through his memories, praying that they are safe. Clementine tells him to "take me somewhere else until morning" and to "remember me, do your best, maybe we can do this." Despite how things ended between them, Joel wanted to keep her memory alive because he loved her. He had no control over his mind while he was being erased, because no matter where they 'hid', the memory erasers always found them and erased that memory. Even.