day 2 - Bruce Almighty, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Yes Man

Ok, since my first post was a diatribe extolling the virtues of a little seen movie that was focused on the entire breadth of human life I thought today we would look a combination of lighthearted comedies and how they too are more ambitious than meets the eye.

I am a huge fan of Jim Carrey, his career and life in general are well documented, as they should be in light of his success and the struggles he has overcome. In light of his life story I find three of his films to be very interesting in regards to what they have to say about how we make choices in life.

Let’s look at the films Bruce Almighty, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Yes Man in conjunction. Now, despite having different writers, directors and story lines, all three films essentially share a common topic, free will.

Free will is a common topic in films and is such an all encompassing idea that it can be explored from many different angles, from comedies to dramas, from Groundhog Day to Citizen Kane. Bruce Almighty takes us right to one of the oldest arguments: free will vs God. Bruce is given the power to act as God but instructed that he cannot change free will. Not surprisingly every decision Bruce makes backfires and leaves him feeling more angry, confused and alone than he was to begin with. Why? Free will! He can change the circumstances of his life, his clothes, his car and the behavior of his lavatory challenged dog (who apparently has no free will because he is an animal), but not the reactions and desires of others.

By trying to force his way into his dream job as an anchorman, he ruins his relationship with his long suffering girlfriend Grace and plummets the city into riots with his combination of correct lotto numbers for all and a Stanley Cup win for his home town. His experiment a failure, he acquiesces to the will of God. He has discovered the truth in getting what you want not always being what’s best for you and realized that even when you get what you want there's a price to pay for it, and sometimes it's paid for by others.

Carrey’s very next film, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, wears its heart on its sleeve and is easily the most ambitious of the three films. Written by the one, two punch of Charlie Kaufman (yes, I know we just talked about him, get used to it!) and Michael Gondry, this film goes after the very futility of understanding how and why we choose who we love. We’ll go into this amazing film in greater detail later down the road on another detour, but for now let’s look at where free will pops up in the film. Carrey’s character, Joel Barrish, has fallen for a quirky, spunky, sullen and boozy girl named Clementine (Kate Winslett). Upon discovering that she’s had him permanently removed from her memory, Joel decides to follow suit.

The funny thing is his subconscious, despite the conscious mind being racked with pain from the recent breakup, doesn’t want to let her go. And as it turns out, Clementine’s subconscious mind is on the same track. That love sometimes disregards our free will is one of the morals of the story and to drive the point home we get a subplot with a nice twist towards the end of the film. We learn that another character has had her memory erased of a failed love only to start down the same path yet again. As she reveals her feelings, for what she thinks is the first time, she find out she has been rebuked once before. If free will equals conscious thought then it is evident here that love is subconscious and really doesn’t care what we think.

The final film in our trifecta is Yes Man. While not as outwardly ambitious as Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, it has a simple message and it wants to make sure you understand its power. The title here pretty much gives it away. Carrey’s character, Carl, has become a hermit in his righteously decorated man cave. He is divorced, passed over for promotions in his job and even his friends are beginning to tire of his disengagement. (As a side note, I will admit to this description bearing a shockingly close resemblance to my own life and as such is part of my motivation for this post. Free will has been something I have taken for granted and I’m just now starting to realize its power.) Carl’s life is stuck in a rut until he runs into an old friend that sees his lethargy and invites him to a seminar. At the seminar Carl has a moment of clarity and agrees to say yes to all opportunities that come his way, whether he wants to or not.

Carl opens up to the possibilities in life, just as all self-help authors will tell you to do, and discovers things he enjoys and hates. Most importantly, he discovers himself and what he has to offer others who say yes to him. Of course, here is where free will pops up to remind Carl that it’s not that easy. Saying no to everything shuts you off from the world and its endless possibilities. Conversely, saying yes to everything indiscriminately may bring opportunities to you but, it keeps those around you from learning who you are and what you really want. Without those ingredients intimate relationships are impossible.

Free will is a slippery slope. If you read a little about Jim Carrey you'll find he often talks about the many ways he literally willed himself into a successful career in film. His will was focused and unwavering despite the many obstacles in front of him. It seems as though he enjoys returning to this well for rejuvenation from time to time and I look forward to his next visit.

The beauty of these films is that each in their own way reminds us that we must make our own choices, realize we cannot force ours onto others and understand that sometimes, even the choice we thought we made of our own free will was never really our choice at all.