Reading Summary
This article from Chuck Klosterman was written as somewhat of a response to a movie review of Tom Cruise’s Vanilla Sky, which received a rather poor rating and was criticized for it’s use of the “What is reality?” theme. Klosterman writes this article in support of the movie and of the theme itself, arguing that it is one of the most, if not the only, culturally significant question that film can still ask. Klosterman explained that the reasoning for this was due to the fact that movies from previous decades like the 1970’s created a “present tense that was just around the corner,” while movies coming out currently can no longer effectively do so, because while we still have some idea of the direction in which society is heading, we don’t know the specific details as to how we are going to arrive there.
Outside Connection
When reading this article and the explanations of works such as Vanilla Sky, Momento, and The Matrix, the first connection I made in mind was with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a movie in which the main characters undergo a procedure to erase all memories of each other after a painful breakup. The movie plays with the theme asking “What is reality?” by having the characters revisit the memories they shared with the other person as they were being destroyed. https://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/v22vodart/33409/p33409_v_v8_af.jpg
Reading Connection
Much like the plots of the movies mentioned in the article, such as Vanilla Sky and The Matrix, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind uses the concept of the alternate reality to ask the question of “What is reality?” In the movie, Jim Carrey’s character struggles with the decision of whether to live with these memories in a sort of “alternate reality” or to erase them and continue a much more depressing life with no memory or trace of his former love. Much like the examples from the text, the character here chooses the harsher reality over reliving the joyous memories he had made.
Comm 2302 Spring 20 
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