What Clementine’s Orange Sweatshirt Means in ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’

The Big Picture

• Clementine’s orange sweatshirt is a symbol of her eccentricity and a defense mechanism against her insecurities.
• The sweatshirt, like construction worker attire, draws attention but also protects the wearer.
• The sweatshirt enhances Clementine’s tough and stubborn character, contrasting with Joel’s passivity.

Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was released in 2004, but the film becomes more renowned as it gets older. Put simply, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has a fragmented storyline that depicts the complicated relationship between Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) and Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet). But the film is far more deeply layered than that. It is filled with absurdities and truth about what it means to fall in love and break up and fall in love all over again. But one particular absurdity in the film is the over-sized orange sweater that Clementine wears. Although there doesn’t seem much else to the sweater other than its eye-catching color, like most things in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the orange sweater has a deeper meaning.

Clementine’s orange sweatshirt was an extension of her oddball and eccentric self, much like her vibrant hair colors. The loudness of Clementine’s hair and her sweatshirt was her way of telling society she was different and unapologetic for going against the grain. But as the movie unfolds, we learn that Clementine’s vibrant and impulsive nature is a compensation for her inability to settle, and her inability to settle comes from her fear of being heartbroken. Interestingly, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind costume designer Melissa Toth describes Clementine’s orange sweatshirt as a garment of protection.

Clementine Wore an Orange Sweatshirt as a Defense Mechanism

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Toth quotes that the sweatshirt is “like an industrial or safety sweatshirt, like a construction worker might wear.” The neon colors that construction workers wear equally draw attention but also protect the wearer. This is exactly what Clementine’s orange sweatshirt does. She wears it because she likes to draw attention to herself, but only to show off her quirkiness, never her insecurities or fears. So she protects herself with her physical appearance in hopes that it will hide her inner shortcomings. Her loud and whimsical outward appearance is used to distract others from what is really going on inside.

Furthermore, Toth quotes that Clementine’s orange sweatshirt “kind of stood up on its own. It had its own life. It really took up a lot of the frame in the camera. It kind of wore her a little bit, but that was okay for that moment. Because we wanted to see that she was wearing something that matched her hair. The sweatshirt kind of stands up to the hair. It doesn’t disappear on her body; it has its own muscularity.” Clementine’s sweatshirt does enhance the stubbornness of her character. She is outwardly tough. She possesses far more masculinity than Joel, whose shyness and insecurities stop him from fighting for what he wants. One of Joel’s biggest flaws is his passivity. Even though Clementine tries to push Joel away to save herself from potential heartache, she really wants him to fight for her, she wants him to chase her. This is evident when Clementine says to Joel: “I wish you’d stayed,” to which Joel replies: “I wish I’d stayed, too.”

Clementine and Joel’s Self-Sabotaging Behaviors Were More Painful Than Their Heartbreak

But the beauty of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind comes from the fact that Clementine and Joel shared a magnetism that proved to be stronger than their efforts to sabotage their relationship. Clementine and Joel were two very unlikely people to fall in love, but they couldn’t resist being drawn to one another. In this way, their predestined love is also their inescapable downfall. They run away from each other to avoid being hurt, only to inevitably get together and hurt themselves more.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime in the U.S.

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