Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-a Fantastical Journey to Empathy
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-A Fantastical Journey to Empathy
Joel Barish sits in a propped up examination-type chair with a large off-white saucer shaped ring positioned perfectly around his head with a silver metal tray resting right in front of him. Stan Fink, one of “most experienced and skilled technicians” at ABC, and Dr. Howard Mierzwiak engage in what seems to be preparatory procedures across from Joel. “Comfortable?” Stan asks Joel. “What we’re doing here Mr. Barish is actually creating a map of your brain. I want you to react to these objects Mr. Barish, if you will.” Stan then reaches over and places a small snow globe onto the silver tray in front of him. The camera quickly switches to a close-up of the small Christmas time staple. It reads “BOSTON” on the front while artificial snowflakes trickle down slowly through the thick gel-like liquid that surrounds a Christmas tree and snowy mountain. The shot shoots to look at Joel. “There’s a good story behind this we—”. “Ah, you know actually Mr. Barish I’ll actually get a much better emotional read if you refrain from any sort of verbal description of the items, just try to focus on the memories,” Stan says. Joel, taken back, remains quiet, allowing only his mind to speak. The shot jumps to Stan, who begins examining what appears to be a diagram of Joel’s brain on a computer screen. Similar to your seventh grade science book, the outline of Joel’s brain appears grayish-white, with small green spots dancing in the body of his brain. We see Joel, whose face now reflects a panicked fright, quivering as he looks at his brain on the screen across from him. Gears change into a full throttle chaos of Joel’s emotional reactions to each object. Stan places the next object on the silver inmate-like tray: a big stuffed pillow then two knick-knacky potato-head miniature statues. Joel is shaking, he is scared. The shot repeats yet this time from Joel’s perspective, the camera mimicking his
Joel Barish sits in a propped up examination-type chair with a large off-white saucer shaped ring positioned perfectly around his head with a silver metal tray resting right in front of him. Stan Fink, one of “most experienced and skilled technicians” at ABC, and Dr. Howard Mierzwiak engage in what seems to be preparatory procedures across from Joel. “Comfortable?” Stan asks Joel. “What we’re doing here Mr. Barish is actually creating a map of your brain. I want you to react to these objects Mr. Barish, if you will.” Stan then reaches over and places a small snow globe onto the silver tray in front of him. The camera quickly switches to a close-up of the small Christmas time staple. It reads “BOSTON” on the front while artificial snowflakes trickle down slowly through the thick gel-like liquid that surrounds a Christmas tree and snowy mountain. The shot shoots to look at Joel. “There’s a good story behind this we—”. “Ah, you know actually Mr. Barish I’ll actually get a much better emotional read if you refrain from any sort of verbal description of the items, just try to focus on the memories,” Stan says. Joel, taken back, remains quiet, allowing only his mind to speak. The shot jumps to Stan, who begins examining what appears to be a diagram of Joel’s brain on a computer screen. Similar to your seventh grade science book, the outline of Joel’s brain appears grayish-white, with small green spots dancing in the body of his brain. We see Joel, whose face now reflects a panicked fright, quivering as he looks at his brain on the screen across from him. Gears change into a full throttle chaos of Joel’s emotional reactions to each object. Stan places the next object on the silver inmate-like tray: a big stuffed pillow then two knick-knacky potato-head miniature statues. Joel is shaking, he is scared. The shot repeats yet this time from Joel’s perspective, the camera mimicking his
Cited: Gondry, Michel. Interview with Michael Martin. The Nerve. 19 Mar. 2004. <http://www.nerve.com/screeningroom/film/interview_gondry/>. Human Behaviour. Dir. Michel Gondry. Perf. Bjork. 1999. Youtube. <http://youtube.com/watch?v=EOepheinkCM>. Mitchell, Elvis. "Washing That Girl Right Out of His Head." Rev. of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. New York Times 19 Mar. 2004.