Useful Notes Existentialism Discussion

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Frank75 Since: Jan, 2001

Jul 27th 2012 at 5:34:59 AM •••

Someone added examples without explanation. I suspect they were shoehorned in. I doubt that every atheist or nihilist work is existentialist. And if we allowed every work where a character suffers and (w)angsts, it's People Sit On Chairs.

If you can find good proof that these works are exi (like Word of God), you can put them back.

Anime & Manga

Cowboy Bebop
Ghost In The Shell
- In particular the two Mamoru Oishii movies deal with machine intelligence determining its own fate and nature against the will of its creators.
Gurren Lagann
Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Several of the involved factions strugle for the power to redefine what it means to be human, but even more so the original series concludes with protagonist Shinji coming to terms with his nihilistic self-loathing.
  - Also the AT-Fields that are ultimately the source of the supernatural powers of all the Angels and the EVAs. They are actually the boundaries of each individual soul, keeping them separate from others, and their name stands for "Absolute Terror", which is what keeps the souls apart. "Hell is other people" indeed.
Sora No Woto

Comic Books

Watchmen
- The comic makes it clear that human morality is flawed and subjective, and those who make their own meaning aren't necessarily the nicest of people, but isn't it incredible that we exist in the first place?

Being There
- "Life is a state of mind."
Donnie Darko
Fight Club
La Jetee
- Which has probably one of the most beautiful quotes ever to describe this philosophy: "Time builds itself painlessly around them. Their only landmarks are the flavour of the moment they are living and the markings on the walls."
Love
Monty Pythons The Meaning Of Life
- On a darkly humorous note (well, this is Monty Python), there's one scene featuring a French waiter who at first looks like an Anti-Nihilist... turns out he's just parroting what his mother taught him, devoid of conviction.
Rango
- "No man can walk out of his own story."
Synecdoche New York
- Not to mention every other script by Charlie Kaufman.
The Matrix
- "There is no spoon."
The Tree Of Life
Candide
- Generally considered to be one of the forerunners.
Crime And Punishment
Discworld
Steppenwolf
Lost

Music

The Pink Floyd album The Dark Side Of The Moon.

Hamlet
- Generally considered to be one of the forerunners.

Tabletop Games

Planescape
- Living next door to angels and demons and being able to visit gods and meet them in person, the people of Sigil have long given up on religion and the city is dominated by several philosophical factions that seek to find meaning in existence.

Video Games

Assassins Creed
- "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted."
Final Fantasy
- Existentialist themes appear over almost the entire series, but most notably in Final Fantasy VII.
Legacy Of Kain
- To the extent that the series literally ends with you having to fight against God.
Mass Effect:
- While rarely directly concerning itself with philosophy, the solution to basically every problem Shepard helps solve is to teach the involved parties to determine their own fates and overcomming prejudices that prevented a peaceful compromise.
Metal Gear Solid:
- The motivation for basically all the heroes and villains is to find a way to cope with the reality of being soldiers in a world where their kind is considered expendable and none of the people who make the descisions care what happens to those who have to carry them out. Filled to the brim with Nietzsche Wannabes, the series pretty much breaks the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism.

Fuhrmann, es kostet dir noch dein Leben Hide / Show Replies

Frank75 Since: Jan, 2001

Aug 21st 2012 at 8:39:47 AM •••

This too:

One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich

Fuhrmann, es kostet dir noch dein Leben

eedwardgrey3 Since: Jun, 2011

Dec 11th 2012 at 11:26:27 AM •••

Edited by eedwardgrey3


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Discussion UsefulNotes / Existentialism