America is often considered the land of dreams and possibilities. Along with this optimism, visceral existential concerns have also surfaced in the spiritual topography of America. Even though this philosophy of existentialism emerged in Europe, “America already had heirs to a rich tradition of thinkers- who had wrestled with the problems of existence and the contingency of the world long before Satre and his colleagues.”(Cotkin). This philosophy has impacted not only the American literary scene but has also exercised considerable influence on the American cinematic vision. As an “identifiable philosophical position”, it has been explored in films across genres. Therefore, permeating into the popular imagination of America. This paper aims
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In addition to this, The Truman Show, functions as a critique of the media and the consumer culture in America. Similarly, the American Beauty (1999) we see a protagonist who is experiencing an existential crisis. Moreover, this movie is a grim portrayal of the alienation felt by most people during their midlife transition years. Thus, in the aforementioned films, we see existential and conflicted characters that are a product of the shallowness of the failed American dream. Existentialism finds “undemocratic arbitrary actions objectionable, that is, when society tries to impose or demand that it’s beliefs, values, or rules be faithfully accepted and obeyed.” Existentialists believe this destroys individualism and makes a person become whatever the people in power desire. Thus, they are dehumanized and reduced to being an object. Existentialism then stresses that a person's judgment is the determining factor for what is to be believed rather than the arbitrary social values. This eventually leads to the questioning and re-evaluation of one’s actions, in order to recognize one’s role in the construction of …show more content…
The new global empire was believed to be idealistic, benevolent and magnanimous. However, this started to change with the advent of the 1950's, an era when the benign tranquility was disrupted. During this time period, America suffered a great existential crisis. It suffered its first loss to Vietnam, and years earlier Nixon betrayed the American people through the Watergate scandal. In 1972, Nixon’s Watergate Scandal caused an intense uproar because the betrayal came directly from the top of the political system: the President. At the same time while Americans were initially gung ho about the Vietnam War and expected an easy victory against the ostensibly weaker opponent, the brutality employed by the American soldier’s eventually turned the people against this war. As a direct result of these events, the nations faith in its government was wavering. The American idealism had been debased and there was a realization that the society was in a precarious position. This led to the disenchantment with the optimism that had defined the American ideal for generations. As a result, existential themes became much more popular in the American cinematic vision. Even though, bleak subject matter had been dealt with in Film noir (1940-1950), it did not represent existentialism per se. It was more concerned with the “dark, the absurd and disturbing, the amoral and
In addition to this, The Truman Show, functions as a critique of the media and the consumer culture in America. Similarly, the American Beauty (1999) we see a protagonist who is experiencing an existential crisis. Moreover, this movie is a grim portrayal of the alienation felt by most people during their midlife transition years. Thus, in the aforementioned films, we see existential and conflicted characters that are a product of the shallowness of the failed American dream. Existentialism finds “undemocratic arbitrary actions objectionable, that is, when society tries to impose or demand that it’s beliefs, values, or rules be faithfully accepted and obeyed.” Existentialists believe this destroys individualism and makes a person become whatever the people in power desire. Thus, they are dehumanized and reduced to being an object. Existentialism then stresses that a person's judgment is the determining factor for what is to be believed rather than the arbitrary social values. This eventually leads to the questioning and re-evaluation of one’s actions, in order to recognize one’s role in the construction of …show more content…
The new global empire was believed to be idealistic, benevolent and magnanimous. However, this started to change with the advent of the 1950's, an era when the benign tranquility was disrupted. During this time period, America suffered a great existential crisis. It suffered its first loss to Vietnam, and years earlier Nixon betrayed the American people through the Watergate scandal. In 1972, Nixon’s Watergate Scandal caused an intense uproar because the betrayal came directly from the top of the political system: the President. At the same time while Americans were initially gung ho about the Vietnam War and expected an easy victory against the ostensibly weaker opponent, the brutality employed by the American soldier’s eventually turned the people against this war. As a direct result of these events, the nations faith in its government was wavering. The American idealism had been debased and there was a realization that the society was in a precarious position. This led to the disenchantment with the optimism that had defined the American ideal for generations. As a result, existential themes became much more popular in the American cinematic vision. Even though, bleak subject matter had been dealt with in Film noir (1940-1950), it did not represent existentialism per se. It was more concerned with the “dark, the absurd and disturbing, the amoral and