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    Eternal Sunshine and Non Linear Storytelling

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    Odette Brown
    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tells the story of Joel and Clementine's relationship through Joel's memories as he undergoes a procedure to erase Clementine from his memory. The film uses nonlinear storytelling such as opening with a scene from the end and jumping around in time through Joel's memories. This allows the audience to learn about the characters and their past relationship out of order. It generates sympathy for Joel and Clementine's relationship and interest in how their story unfolds. By the end, the film concludes with a linear retelling that gives the audience a new understanding of the characters and their past together.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Eternal Sunshine and Non Linear Storytelling

    Uploaded by

    Odette Brown
    450 views3 pages
    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tells the story of Joel and Clementine's relationship through Joel's memories as he undergoes a procedure to erase Clementine from his memory. The film uses nonlinear storytelling such as opening with a scene from the end and jumping around in time through Joel's memories. This allows the audience to learn about the characters and their past relationship out of order. It generates sympathy for Joel and Clementine's relationship and interest in how their story unfolds. By the end, the film concludes with a linear retelling that gives the audience a new understanding of the characters and their past together.

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    Eternal Sunshine and Non Linear Storytelling

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    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tells the story of Joel and Clementine's relationship through Joel's memories as he undergoes a procedure to erase Clementine from his memory. The film uses nonlinear storytelling such as opening with a scene from the end and jumping around in time through Joel's memories. This allows the audience to learn about the characters and their past relationship out of order. It generates sympathy for Joel and Clementine's relationship and interest in how their story unfolds. By the end, the film concludes with a linear retelling that gives the audience a new understanding of the characters and their past together.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    450 views3 pages

    Eternal Sunshine and Non Linear Storytelling

    Uploaded by

    Odette Brown
    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tells the story of Joel and Clementine's relationship through Joel's memories as he undergoes a procedure to erase Clementine from his memory. The film uses nonlinear storytelling such as opening with a scene from the end and jumping around in time through Joel's memories. This allows the audience to learn about the characters and their past relationship out of order. It generates sympathy for Joel and Clementine's relationship and interest in how their story unfolds. By the end, the film concludes with a linear retelling that gives the audience a new understanding of the characters and their past together.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3
    At a glance
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    The film uses techniques like flashforwards, jumping between past and present memories, and interweaving the stories of multiple characters to tell its story in a nonlinear way and keep the audience engaged.

    It uses flashforwards at the beginning and end, jumps between Joel's past and present memories as he undergoes the procedure, and shows the stories of the technicians performing the procedure alongside Joel's memories.

    It shows their relationship develop through Joel's memories to make the audience understand his feelings for her. It also shows them interact outside the constraints of his memories to reveal his true care and emotions for her.

    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Non Linear Storytelling

    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind is a (2004) film directed by


    Michael Gondry and tells the story of Joel and his introduction, long
    relationship and eventual breakup with a woman named Clementine
    through his memories as he tries to get them erased so he can move
    on with his life. The film itself, although story wise is quite traditional,
    see its premise in a number of ways to tell its plot in a unique way,
    using Joels memories and time as a way to confuse and entice the
    audience into their relationship and wonder how it’s going to end or
    how it began in the first place.

    The first way Gondry plays with non linear storytelling is through its
    introduction, as the film first opens up with, what the audience will later
    discover is a flash forward towards the end of the film, so the audience
    is introduced to Joel in media res, as he has undertaken the treatment
    and so has no idea when he eventually gets to the beach who
    Clementine or Patrick are, just like
    the audience, creating a sense of Fig 1, Eternal Sunshine of the
    confusion and also intrigue for the Spotless Mind, (2004).
    audience as the film moves forward,
    introducing characters briefly and
    showing how Joels life works without Clementine. The flash
    forward in this sense act as an interesting opening and also a
    closing point for the audience, once the film pulls back to Joel
    getting the procedure it becomes a focus point for the film to
    try and reach and for the audience to try and figure out how it
    gets there eventually, creating a sense of misery and
    Fig 2, Movies That Everyone Should See: “Eternal investment despite the audience not knowing who Joel is.

    Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, (2012).


    The second is the middle portion of the film, which mostly takes
    place in Joels mind and uses the dream layout as a way to jump
    back a forth between the past and present for Joel, as he tries to grapple to retain his memories
    of Clementine while the people performing the procedure in the real world are trying to keep his
    treatment on track, which in itself is another form of non linear storytelling as we the audience are
    seeing their story unravel and co-inside with Joels story while he’s still un-conscience. But within
    Joels memories, Gondry uses a zig zag form of storytelling as a way to create empathy for Joel to
    the audience, as he visually and orally shows his love and struggled with Clementine, creating
    sympathy and emotion for their relationship and gives the audience something to root for against
    the looming loss of his memories. The film also creates sympathy for their relationship by showing
    the audience how Joel and Clementine interact outside
    the restrictions of the memories, allowing them too see
    how Joel cares and feels for her outside of his anger
    and naivety for their relationship in his memories, as he
    comments on his actions and gives the audience an
    outside look on how he feels and how the framing of
    the situation doesn’t show the real emotion behind it,
    giving the audience an inside look through another
    form of storytelling; combining past and future Joel
    gives a more rounded view of how the relationship
    works and how Joel where Clementine went wrong in
    the end.

    Fig 3, What Are the Best Comedies of the 21st Century? An In-
    Also while we are seeing Joels relationship unfold, the
    Depth Look Into Critical and Audience Ratings » Eternal sunshine
    film also tells the liner story of the people performing table, [Unknown].
    the procedure in conjunction with Joels memories. This
    happens as we see Joel fight to reagin conscienceless
    in hopes to retain his memories, we are allowed to see the people who are performing the
    procedure and understand their own lives and stories as well, creating sympathy for them as we
    see them interact with each other, but also intertwine with Joel and Clementine and create a
    sense of tension for their relationship despite the fact they have broken up.

    The film then ends by telling the story in a linear formation once the procedure is complete and
    Joel no longer remembers his relationship, as it starts from the initial flash forward at the
    beginning of the film, allowing the audience to see it now supported by the knowledge that they
    have gathered from the rest of the film, giving the scene now a more different and charged
    meaning as Joel and Clementine meet again and we are re-introduced to Patrick. At this point the
    storyline with the people performing the procedure also combined with the present, as Mary
    releases the tapes and files on the patients and we the audience get to see how Joel and
    Clementine without their memories react and interact as new people. This style of storytelling
    gives the audience a sense of leverage over the characters, as
    we know how Clementine and Joel interact as a couple and
    work with and against each other while also knowing how it
    will eventually end, the characters even getting the chance
    to understand it as they hear how they will eventually grow
    to hate and dislike each other. But by doing this, it allows
    the audience to see another layer to their characters and
    understand them better, as they interact and fight without
    any prior understanding or baggage of each other, allowing
    their core personalities to shine through and for the
    audiences to see them as individuals and understand how
    they grow and change together under each others influence.

    Fig 4, We close this column with Eternal Sunshine and its


    ending about endings, (2017).
    In conclusion, Gondry uses the non linear storytelling of
    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to show the
    personalities of its two protagonists to create sympathy for
    the audience and allow them to get invested in their relationship, through flash forwards and a zig
    zag style of storytelling that presents past memorise like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle that the
    audience must put together. The style puts the characters first, allowing the audience to grow to
    love Clementine through Joel and understand him better as the story progresses, as we see how
    his relationship ended and from their and how its built up, while also simultaneously allowing Joel
    himself to grow and change as he sees how good his relationship was, which causes him to fight
    for it and the audience to therefore root for him more as he becomes a more sympathetic
    character.

    Illustrative Bibliography

    Fig 1, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, (2004), [Film Poster], URL: https://www.imdb.com/
    title/tt0338013/, (Accessed: 04/11/19)

    Fig 2, Movies That Everyone Should See: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, (2012), [Online
    Image], URL: https://fogsmoviereviews.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/movies-that-everyone-
    should-see-eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind/, (Accessed: 04/11/19)

    Fig 3, What Are the Best Comedies of the 21st Century? An In-Depth Look Into Critical and
    Audience Ratings » Eternal sunshine table, [Unknown], [Online Image], URL: https://
    moviesfilmsandflix.com/2016/01/07/comedies/eternal-sunshine-table/, (Accessed: 04/11/19)

    Fig 4, We close this column with Eternal Sunshine and its ending about endings, (2017), [Online
    Image], URL: https://film.avclub.com/we-close-this-column-with-eternal-sunshine-and-its-
    endi-1798258720, (Accessed: 04/11/19)

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