In Michael Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the connections between people and memories become the focal point of a very unique romance. Through the use of new technology, the possibility of erasing memories makes painful relationships disappear like they never happened. The tale of Joel and Clementine allows the audience to rethink and question the process they undergo as beneficial or destructive. Though the process might be helpful in eliminating the pain caused from another person, four key scenes show how the lessons learned through relationship experiences are important. At the start of the film, Joel Barish (Jim Carey) finds himself waking up in the morning from what appears to have been a deep sleep. With a …show more content…

Dealing with these feelings is an experience to learn from and one to avoid. Although the outcome isn’t always the same, it provides knowledge to handle future situations and make situations and disputes better when they go bad. While undergoing the memory erasing procedure, Joel begins wanting to preserve his memories of Clementine after he slowly starts realizing how happy he was with her. In doing so, he attempts to hide memories of her where they don’t belong, such as in his childhood, in hopes of saving her memory. In one of Joel’s childhood memories, his mother is bathing him in the kitchen sink alongside Clementine. While being bathed, Joel comments on how secure he feels as he is shown being very relaxed and happy. Shortly afterward, his memory is erased which causes a great deal of sadness. The effect of having his childhood memories erased could have great effects on him after the fact. A relationship between a young child and his mother is very crucial in the development of the child. This relationship is among the first and provides social development of how the child will grow up and act. With the positive childhood memory erased, he is not only losing a special moment shared with his mother, but some of the experiences he had that help shape him the way he is. “It’s as if the loss of a potent childhood memory has resulted in the loss