Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

      In "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" the main character, Joel, decides to have all memory of his former girlfriend, Clementine, erased through a special medical process.  The majority of the movie takes place going through Joel's episodic memories, where we learn what occurred in his relationship.  As the movie continues, Joel realizes that he does not want to forget about Clementine, and most of the movie is spent trying to avoid the parts of his memory that are being erased.  Memory plays an incredibly large role in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind".
    The psychological procedure used in the movie is not very accurate, you cannot fully remove a memory by following a 'map' of the mind.  Memories are located all over the brain and certain memories trigger multiple areas of the brain at the same time. In order for all of the memories that are shown to be removed, a significant part of Joel's brain would have to be removed.  Such a substantial amount that he would probably end up dead.  While the procedure is very unrealistic, there is still some slivers of truth.  At one point in the movie they have Joel remove all things that he associates with Clementine from his apartment.   This is to prevent him from seeing these objects and using them as retrieval cues, which would allow his brain to remember.  That part is very accurate, as retrieval cues are a proven psychological process.
       The most important cognitive understanding that I gained from this movie was a decent comprehension of retrieval cues.  I learned that almost every object can have a strong attachment to a memory and that many memories are interconnected.  I also gained an important emotional understanding of the value of memories.  Memories help you to understand who you are as a person and why you are like that.  They also allow you to explain your feelings for another.  If you did not have memories of someone, you would base your opinion of them entirely on their current mood.  This could be both confusing and emotionally stressful.  "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" while not an entirely psychologically accurate movie, it still provides great emotional insight into the effects of memory.