Memory and Identity in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Movie Review Example

The film had mostly viewed in a subconscious mind of Joel as he is struggling to resist erasing his memories of Clementine. This took place when he was undergoing the procedure of the Lacunar amnesia. Upon reliving in his mind the memories of him and the estranged wife, he suddenly realized that he wanted to keep the memories of her instead. As the doctors and technicians of Lacuna were busy on the procedures to him through mind-mapping, he was resisting the unexplainable changes that were happening in his subconscious mind.

Human Identity and Memory. The film does set a debate on the ground whether identity and memory are connected to one another. It provided open-ended analysis for the viewers of the theoretical issue of identity being embedded in human memory. It appears so in distinctive results of the Lacunar amnesia to the main characters, Joel and Clementine. Clementine had her memories of Joel erased, thus her attitude changed toward her new friendship with Joel, much different from the time she still has a memory of him.

It can be assumed in the given case that if a person lost his memory, his identity about the established personality within that memory will eventually be lost as well. However, it will be a chance for the person who lost the memory to recreate a new personality as his identity as a person. A new identity in personality could alter the forgotten one of the memory got totally lost as well - complete amnesia. However, it is different in the case of Clementine, as she only had a portion in her memory erased.

Thus, her identity about herself has not totally altered or forgotten. Joel almost falls similarly to Clementine's case, but his procedure deviated as he opted to retain his memories about her. Although they went to such a procedure, their identity is not completely at lost as it's only a part of their memories being erased. They retained the memories of their own self previously before they met each other, at least with Clementine's case. In a recent study, it was discerned that human identity is synonymous with personality.

Personality is described by neurobiologists and psychologists as "a collection of behaviors, emotions, and thoughts that are not controlled by the I-function" (Trinh 2005). Personality has relevance or a significant connection with human memory. It was discovered that memory is being "controlled and regulated by the I-function of the neocortex" (Trinh 2005). In Psychological study, the collection of thoughts and behaviors that make a person distinct from others, which is called personality, is actually restored in memory.

The maturity or development of thought and self-concept is being reinstated in the memory (Trinh 2005). A man's personality or identity was established and developed through the help of memory, or rather within the memory. In a direct sense, without a memory, man has no idea of his established identity or previous personality. The significance of the memory towards human identity is also affirmed by neuroscientists of University College London.