THE CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN FILM IN GONDRY’S “ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND”: A FILM STUDY

Abstract

This study is under a postmodernism theory. The purpose of this study is to analyze Gondry’s

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind film using postmodern film theory. This study has two objectives;

1) to analyze the characteristics of postmodernism and postmodern film in Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; and 2) to explain how the characteristics of postmodern film are presented in Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

This study employed a descriptive qualitative method since it emphasized on describing the characteristics of postmodern film that are presented in Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Moreover, the findings were presented in narrative or textual description. However, figures were also used to support the analysis of the data. Some steps in analyzing the data were: scrutinizing the cinematography of the film, the dialogue, and the scenes of the film; comparing the cinematography, the dialogue,  the  scene,  and  the  plot  of  the  film  to  the  concept  of  postmodern  theory  and  Denzin’s postmodern film theory, making a data sheet based to categorize the data based on the classification, analyzing and interpreting the data.

This study reveals two findings. First, of Denzin’s six characteristics of postmodern film, only five characteristics found in Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. They are an effacement of the boundaries between past and present, terrorizing the nostalgia for the past; present the unpresentable, femme fatale as female character, and the using of violence and wild sexuality. The absent characteristic is to locate violent margins into everyday society. Second, how the characteristics of postmodern film are presented  in Gondry’s  Eternal  Sunshine  of  the  Spotless  Mind.  Through  the  using  of  mise-en-scene including setting of place, time, and lighting, and the using of cinematography including the editing technique, lens, motion, and sound, this study found that Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind can be included in postmodern film based on the characteristics.

Key words: postmodernism, postmodern film, mise-en-scene, cinematography, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.