PHIL 149 STUDY GUIDE

Existentialism
 Human condition: conflict between body and soul (dualism)
 How does one have an authentic existence

Significant Philosophers
 Kierkegaard (Religious and Individual)
o Knight of Faith vs. Knight of Resignation
o Rejects asceticism
o Unconditional commitment
o Teleological suspension of the ethical to believe in the strength of the absurd
 Sacrifices temporal to gain the eternal but regains temporal
 Believes in living in the temporal moment in a passionate way
o The story of Abraham (Knight of Faith) and Isaac
o Disagrees with Descartes and Hegel of using reason to prove God’s existence
o Lower immediacy (temporal) vs. higher immediacy (eternal)
o Arch Christian vs. Nietzsche the Arch Atheist
 View the artist as a return to lower immediacy
o Values life defining purpose
o Concern for others is foolish because one does not need a singular ultimate
commitment
 Dostoevsky (Religious and Social)
o Believes connection with others will help us find salvation
o Rejects ascetism
o Redeeming power of love
o Public confessions
o Miracles result from faith and not vise versa
o Christ as a guide to navigate life and hell is being cut off from humanity and love
o Our world is a paradise now
 Redemption now over salvation in the afterlife
o Worldly saint values social connectedness
 Sartre (Natural and Individual)
o People have a moral responsibility for their freedoms
 Humans are condemned to be free
o Humans are defined by their actions
 Meaning is just the sum of one’s life events
o “Hell is other people”
 Objectification by others through judgement and condemnation
o Death cannot escape scrutiny
o Sartrean despair = “bad faith”
  Inability to live up to an action and exercise freedom (ex. Chidi)
 Cannot take responsibility for one’s freedom; made into an object by other
subjects (ex. Tahani)
o Cycle of misery based on the desire of acknowledgement
o Salvation is dependent on acknowledgement from other people
 More realistic interpretation of Dostoevskian philosophy
 Nietzsche (Natural and Individual)
o Free spirit/Artist/Ubermensch
 Overcomes self-hatred and external obstacles
 Have agency over one’s life
 Amor fati = love of fate
 Learn from mistakes
 Live dangerously
 Yes-sayer
o Nihilism = life has no meaning/purpose/end/goal
 1st thesis = no absolute meaning exists (Nietzsche)
 2nd thesis = no meaning exists at all (radical nihilism)
 Active vs. passive mirrors health vs. sickness
 Active = nihilism as a sign of the increasing power of the spirit
o Does not take all meaning as absolute
o World has no meaning but one needs to create meaning
 Passive = nihilism as a decline in the power of the spirit
o “God is Dead”
 Science is not enough to fulfill the spiritual need of humans
o Used health vs. sickness as a metaphor
o Idea of eternal recurrance
o Atheist champion of science
 Arch atheist vs. Kierkegaard the Arch Christian
o Rejects asceticism
 Even science can be a form of asceticism
o Nietzschean hero = Dostoevskian villain
 An artist would be dangerously self sufficient
o Believes one is deeply indebted to historical circumstances
 Beauvoir (Natural and Social)
o Interconnectedness of people like Dostoevsky
o Atheist like Nietzsche
o Recognizes the burdens of freedom like Sartre
o Diametrically opposed to Kierkegaard
o Recognizes the duality of body and soul and the difficulties of uniting them
o Does not want people to reject self, nature, or desires
o Everyone has a responsibility to fight the oppression of others
o Endorses subjugation over objectification
o “Let my tears decide my neighbors”
 o Beauvoirian villain = the passionate person/the stranger
 Views freedom as a freedom from responsibility to others
o Beauvoirian hero = liberator
 Assume one’s freedom (constructive movement)
 Rejects oppression of others (negative movement)
o Sides with Pyrrus over Cineas
 Pyrrus = conquer world!
 Cineas = why bother?
 Cineus believes that without absolute meaning, there is no meaning at all
o Autotelic = “end within themselves”
 Have reasons for being and embrace freedom and responsibility
o Believes cultivating Candide’s garden is superfluous
 Ambiguous to what is garden and who is our neighbor
 Relationships are cultivated rather than given

French New Wave Films

 Hiroshima Mon Amour (Kierkegaardian)
o Characters
 Nevers (actress)= knight of resignation
 Unconditional commitment to German solider where his death defined
her entire identity
 Cannot return to temporal
 Hiroshima (architect) = knight of faith or Nietzschean hero
 Overcome resignation to pursue a relationship with Nevers
o Themes
 Rebuilding after destruction
 City of Hiroshima
 Romantic relationships
 Parallels between German/Japan and Nevers/Hiroshima
 Memory (flashbacks, juxtaposition of places, reflection, mirrors)
 The worst things to happen to a knight of resignation:
 Memory loss (lose temporal devotion)
 New intimacy (invalidate old memory)
 Knight of faith cannot understand the knight of resignation
 Pickpocket (Dostoveskian)
o Characters
 Michel
 State of despair due to estrangement from mother
o No awareness of despair (no awareness of self)
 Finds salvation through connection with Jeanne
 Anguish and having a hard time finding human meaning like Dmitri
 Arrogant, condescending, and intellectual like Ivan
o Almost wants to get caught
 Private confession of crimes
  Jeanne
 Michel and Jacques’ love interest
 Pregnant with Jacques’ child
 Jacques = loyal friend of Michel
 Wants to help Michel find honest work
 Romantic rival to Michel
o Themes
 Lack of self-knowledge of own actions = spiritual confusion
 Dostoevskian = Michel’s finds salvation because of Jeanne
o Formal features
 Long shots of empty hallways and staircases before characters enter the frame
 Montage sequences
 Voiceover technique
 Crime movie without thrilling chase scenes
 Action happens out of view
 Editing to refute Michel’s confidence
 Inexperienced action = deadpan faces
 Diegetic sounds
 Orchestral soundtrack
 Breathless (Nietzschean)
o Characters
 Michel = Nietzschean hero (active nihilism)
 Lives dangerously
 Free, happy, childish in his carelessness
 Transcends ethics (lives as an outlaw always on the run)
 Turns into a passive nihilist
o Sickness, gives up, negativity
 Patricia = Nietzchean villain (passive nihilism)
 Childish fairytale conceptions of love
 In existentialist despair but does not know why
 Does not like her name
 Unfree, unhappy, childish in her naivety
 Practices Sartre’s bad faith by turning Michel in to the police
o Removes herself from having to decide whether she wants to
stay with him
 Turns into an active nihilist at the end
 “What is a scumbag?” = Nietzschean redemption
o Themes
 Deguelasse = disgusting
 Passport and name = identity
 Goddard’s unconventional way of filmmaking is Nietzschean in nature
o Formal features
 Godard’s “Everything is permitted”
  Crime genre themes
 Music
 Escapes into theatre
 Spontaneous jump cuts (self-conscious editing)
 Breaks barrier between diegetic and non-diegetic music
 Fade to black transitions using irising
 Cleo from 5 to 7
o Characters
 Cleo = Beauvoirian hero
 Famous singer
 Waiting for cancer test results
 Beautiful face, childish behavior
 Superstitious
 Finds acknowledgement from Antoine
 Antoine = Beauvoirian hero
 Solider about to leave to fight in the French-Algerian War
 Finds acknowledgement from Cleo
 Shows how patriarchy is oppressive on men too
 Angele
 Cleo’s maid/caretaker
 Oppresses Cleo by treating her as a child
 Superstitious
 Female cab driver
 Represents new woman that breaks social norms
 Jose
 Cleo’s lover
 Traditional pinnacle of patriarchy = a lot of money and status
 Reinforces Cleo’s beauty as the main determinant of her worth
 Bo & Maurice
 Sing & singwriter duo
 Her song marked the moment of transformation
 Dorothee
 Cleo’s friend
 Poses nude for art
 Raoul
 Understands women should not be oppressed
 Supports the emancipation of women
o Themes
 Social constructs of the female identity
 Construction of the female form (sculptures, painting, clothes, hats)
 Gaze on females (camera shots, mirrors)
 Childlike (dollface nickname)
 Oppressive patriarchy (her lyrics, female taxi driver)
  Superstition
 Superstition enforces destiny
 Black and white juxtaposition as a metaphor for change
 Subject vs. object
 Driving as a symbol of autonomy and power
 Meaning of cancer changes for Cleo because of her empowerment
 Revolution (car radio sounds, Algeria)
o Formal Features
 Jump cuts
 Disorienting effect
 Mise-en-scene
 Objects treated as deeply significant (toys, wig)
 Directly looking at the camera
 Gives Cleo subjectivity
 Mirrors as a tool for philosophical reflection of the character
 Tarot cards in color while the rest of the film is in black and white

Other Films
 The Brothers Karamazov
o Characters
 Fyodor = no awareness of self
 Overindulges in bodily pleasures
 Dmitri = no reconciliation of self
 Body vs. Soul: Conflicted between moral compass and desire to gamble
 Obligations of nobility to Katya
 Finds salvation through love with Grushenka (no reconciliation)
 Similar to young Zosima
 Ivan = unsuccessful reconciliation of self
 Mind and body without soul
 Blindly follows atheism rooted in logic and reason
 Ivan’s Rebellion = detached sympathy for the suffering of children,
return the ticket to God (reject his reality)
 The Grand Inquisitor = responds to the free will defense for why God
allows suffering to exist
 Alyosha = unsuccessful reconciliation of self
 Soul without mind and body
 Suppressed bodily desires
 Simple minded concept of faith – blindly religious
 Similar to Zosima’s brother Markel that passes away
 Smerdyakov = no self
 Devil figure
 Most like Ivan; unconditional commitment to Ivan
 Worse than Fyodor because he is devoid of love
 Father Zosima
  Prominent leader in the church
 Body starts to stink after death = sign of corruption
 Lived like Dmitri until Markel’s death caused him to seek religion
 Rejects pure asceticism
 Visited by the mysterious visitor (murderer)
o Themes
 Children and Childhood (Ilyusha, Alyosha’s boys, Markel, Ivan’s rebellion)
 Redemption and forgiveness
 Chain of salvation (passing the onion)
 The Third Man
o Characters
 Holly Martins = fails to live up to any of the philosophical ideals
 American writer of Westerns (pulp fiction)
 Clueless, incompetent, good-willed, boring
 Harry Lime = Nietzschean Free Spirit
 Sinner with lower immediacy
 Anna Schmidt = Knight of resignation (or faith)
 Relationship with Harry was identity defining
o Lack of interest in Holly
o Themes
 City of Vienna as a character
 Identity
 Anna’s fake identity papers

o Formal features
 Film noir style from Hollywood
 Shot on set in Europe
 Famous cast and production team
 High and low angle shots add drama
 High light vs. dark (chiaroscuro)
 Long takes (ending)