Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Essay Example

Thesis The movie reflects modern cultural and social phenomena through the lens of gender constructed along sexuality and gender inequalities. In the essays, Susan Bordo (2003) proposes a unique vision and interpretation of modern culture and gender relations between opposite sexes. She criticizes a "material" and gendered body supposing that sexualized images of women make them victims of male oppression and violence, and "sex objects". Also, the author talks about such things as "standardized visual images' and gender stereotypes, "complex crystallizations of culture" which have a significant influence on modern audience.

The prestige of the individual self-reached an all-time high when new social arrangements and events dramatized the relative powerlessness of the individual leading to a devaluation of the self. The movie takes place at the beginning of 21st century in New York. It vividly reflects modern culture and values, human relations and hopes. During this period of time, gender roles and sexual relations have a great influence on the society as it is often designed to add psychological value to its existence; it plays a more important communications role in every day life than any another activity: politics or economics.

It is possible to say that sexual relations (depicted between Joel and Clementine, Stan and Mary) control the circulation of ideas in modern culture. The movie is based on the idea that new gender roles and new wave of feminist movement has changed identity and the role of women in the society. New ideas and values are inherent in modern culture based on technological innovations and the Internet, globalization and the popular global culture (Jarvis, 2000).The historical context of the movie has a great impact on production and perception of its context reflected in circulation of ideas and values.

Viewers understand that through a complex interaction of identification processes such as love and fear, pain and haltered between the main characters, gender differences are produced--typically in the form of a dichotomy that not only opposes masculinity to femininity but also translates these oppositional differences into gender hierarchy, the privileging of traits and activities defined as masculine over those defined as feminine (Bordo, 2003).Through a gender-sensitive lens, the storyteller portrays how constructions of masculinity (agency, control, aggression) are not independent of, but rely upon, contrasting constructions of femininity (dependence, vulnerability, passivity) of Clementine and Mary.

The whole span of development, from the explosive emotions of his youth to the skeptical mysticism of his middle age, is encompassed by the desire to play a game with his life and death. Joel fits very closely in with these ideas; he is a man trapped by a conventional notion of what is 'right' and 'wrong'. The composition of the movie supports its unique interpretation of events and gender roles creating a circle of events which forces viewers to rethink and re-interpret them time and again. The film employs reverse chronology structure that depicts relationships between Joel and Clementine in reverse order, from the most painful moments to happier times.

This structure helps audience to focus on the memories and emotions of the heroes and understand the essence of their relations. It is possible to assume that such chronology is used to