Comparing and Contrasting Two Movies (Essay Sample)

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Comparing and Contrasting Two Movies
Introduction
Two movies: “In the cut” and “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” have interesting stories. It is notable that Michel Gondry produced “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” while Jane Campion’s produced “In the cut.” They both are love stories, which impress their viewers because of the creativity and excellent expertise demonstrated by their producers. The fact that both stories are love stories implies that the movies have elements of similarities. However, they also have differences because different producers did not only produce the two movies, but they also use different styles. Additionally, the movies in question have different plots. It follows that astute scholars in literature would want to understand the differences and similarities between the two movies. Consequently, this paper compares and contrasts the film “In the cut” to the film “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” on the grounds of themes, genres, and plots.
The Two Movies
To begin with, “In the Cut” involves Frannie Avery, who is an English teacher and has a half-sister called Pauline. Frannie is bored with her love life because she wishes that she could have sex from different men (the men she was involved with were obsessive). It is notable that the two sisters are sex deprived because they constantly talk about a man who Frannie should pursue. It happens that the man who was discussed by the two sisters was a homicide detective called James Malloy. Malloy’s career connected Frannie and Malloy when he was investigating a case that occurred in Frannie’s premises. Additionally, Malloy, who was a horny man, was the type of man Frannie required because the two had a sexual encounter that resulted in a causal relationship. In fact, the relationship between Frannie and Malloy existed because of Malloy’s sexual ability. However, both Malloy and Frannie spent most of their time in their careers and little time on their relationship.
“External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” involves a lonely Joel, who remains single for a long time before meeting Clementine. The two built a one-year relationship before clementine decides to end the relationship by erasing Joel’s memory. As a result, Clementine approaches Doctor Howard, who is the owner of the Lacuna business organization to erase Joel’s memory. In turn, Joel contacts the doctor who erased his lover’s memory for help. In response, Dr. Howard solves Joel’s problem by erasing Clementine’s memory from his brain. However, Joel and Clementine meet and fall in love a second time. It is notable that even though Joel and Clementine fell in love the second time, both of them lacked their memories. It follows that it was as though they were falling in love a fresh. However, Joel realizes that his memory was erased implying that even though technology can erase memories it cannot erase feelings. This results in painful experiences between the lovers, which breaks up their relationship.
Main Themes
It is crucial to highlight that both “In the Cut” and “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” are romantic stories. This owes to the reality that the latter movie discusses a relationship between Frannie and Malloy while the second story discusses the story of Joel and Clement. Further, both stories begin by indicating that one of the major characters was single and lonely. As evidence, “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” begins by portraying Joel as a lonely and an unhappy man. Similarly, “In the Cut” begins by portraying Frannie as a single an unhappy woman. Additionally, both movies progress by introducing love partners for the lonely and single main characters. For instance, “In the Cut” introduces Malloy to Frannie’s life while “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” introduced Clementine to Joel’s life. Moreover, the stories proceed to indicate that love relationships result in happiness for previously single and lonely people.
It is undeniable that both movies under discussion focused on love as major themes for the movies. However, “In the Cut” had a lustful theme while “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” focused exclusively on love and romance. It is highlighted by the fact that “In the Cut” included a scene where Frannie and Pauline discussed their sexual fantasies. For instance, the movie revealed that Pauline stalked successful men. Additionally, “In the Cut” has a scene where Frannie is watching a sexual act between tattooed man and a woman with blue fingernails. The movie is also full of scenes with sexual activity. On the contrary, “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” focused on the love relationship between Joel and Clement. Therefore, both the “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “In the cut” movies had a theme of love. Nonetheless, the latter movie focused exclusively on romance while the former included lust.
Genres
The film industry has several genres that appeal to different audiences. Some of the renowned genres include action, dram, horror, science fiction, romance, fantasy, and adventure. Each of the aforementioned genres has unique traits that separate them by appealing to different people. At this point, it is clear that both Michel Gondry and Jane Campion produced romantic films. This owes to the reality that romantic movies portray elements such as emotion, passion, courtship, marriage, and the entire romantic journey. Moreover, romantic movies involve relationship obstacles such as finances, discrimination, illness, and competition. They could also portray elements such as search for love, obsession, tragic love, spiritual love, and sexual love. It follows that the movies in question qualify as romantic movies because they portray some elements of romantic movies.
Both stories focus on sexual relationships between men and women. It is clear that both movies included love relationships between different characters as demonstrated above. Further, they include ideas like the search for love. As evidence, the production by Michael Gondry demonstrated that both Pauline and Frannie were searching for love. Analogously, Jane’s production also portrayed that Joel was searching for love. It is also clear that relationships in both movies faced different obstacles. For instance, Gondry’s production highlighted that Frannie and Malloy’s relationship had difficulties because the two lovers committed their time to their careers. Similarly, the relationship between Joel and Clementine experienced obstacles because the two lovers used technology to erase their memories. It is also clear that both productions discussed the entire love relationship from the first meeting. Considering that both movies have traits of romantic movies, they both fall in the romantic genre.
It is notable that “In the Cut” also qualifies as a detective and mystery film. Such films have characteristics such as unsolved crimes, or have a bright detective who solves crimes by trying to identify the criminal. It follows that detectives use techniques like interrogation, evidence, and personal instincts to identify the villain in the events of the movie. As a result, detectives of detective and mystery films always possess traits such attentiveness, confidence, and insight. Evidently, “In the Cut” has traits of detective and mystery movie because it includes a detective who tries to solve a murder case. Additionally, Malloy interrogates Frannie with an aim of identifying a killer in the story. For example, Malloy interrogates Frannie by asking her about the actions of her attacker. It is also crucial to highlight that the detective of the story was confident, and diligent because of his actions. For instance, we learn of Malloy’s confidence when he talks about his sexual ability.
It is crucial to highlight that “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” also has elements of a science fiction movie. Science fiction movies portray elements such as the use of technology to perform actions considered impossible in a society. They also focus on speculative and empirical methods that convince the audience of the possibility of certain events. Such movies could also discuss the negative of positive effects of science to the society. Clearly, the production by Gondry qualifies as science fiction because Doctor Howard uses technology to erase memories. Such an event is impossible in the current society, but the producers cleverly manipulate scientific facts to convince the audience of the possibility. It follows that “External Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” qualifies as science fiction movie.
At this point, it is undeniable that both movies under discussion have elements of romantic movies. However, evidence from the movies suggests that each of the movies have characteristics of other genres. For instance, “In the Cut” has additional elements of detective and mystery f...