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118 Chris Dzialo[T]he great asymmetries of our existence – past and future, birth and death– arise from a deep asymmetry in being itself. The land of possible things hasone absolute end, where it abuts onto mere nothing, but it is unboundedthe other way, for there is no limit to the richness of being. (p. 55)Might the shift in the scientific paradigm, in which time is forsaken forspace, have something to do with our popular frustration with time?The most apparent spatial-temporal conflation in the script for EternalSunshine takes place through the constant referencing of Joel’s brain as a“map” of memories by Dr Mierzwiak, Patrick and Stan of the Lacuna Corporation,whom Joel has enlisted to erase his memories of Clementine. Stan,at the keyboard of his computer next to an unconscious Joel, exclaims suchthings as “He’s off the screen” (p. 69) and “He’s disappeared from the map.I can’t find him anywhere” (p. 71). Implicit military and tactical spatialmetaphors also abound in the description/action sections as well:Mierzwiak locates a light hidden very deep in the map of Joel’s brain. Hetargets it. (p. 88)The Lacuna Corporation views this map as an ideal representation ofchronological time and memory, around which to pattern the actualchronology and memory. Responding to Joel’s question about whetheror not he is “in my head already,” Dr Mierzwiak looks around and says“I suppose so, yes. [. . .] This is what it would look like” to which Stan replies“we’re getting healthy read-outs” (p. 39). Such representations and readoutsstart to stand in for the real thing, prompting the film’s existentialcrisis. They also parallel the way in which Stephen Mamber (2003) arguesnarrative maps may operate:[Maps] can stand in for, even replace, that which they seek to model.Particularly with complex instances of narrative structure, they can do whatall good maps do – offer a visually readable opportunity to see both grandcontours and areas of specific interest. A narrative map, as it seeks to providea visual theory of the work (or the event) subsequently vies with theoriginal (and other possible mappings). (p. 146)Dr Mierzwiak and the Lacuna Corporation are attempting to do somethinganalogous to this; not only to map but to replace the actual, flawed, complexnarrative of Joel’s consciousness with a new, ideal, simpler one, in theform of an easy-to-read computerized map. Here, we have a bittersweet