A Filmmaker's Guide to: Existentialism

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Existentialism

What is it?

Emphasising the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.

It is a philosophical theory, but often used in film in order to depict the belief or eventual beliefs of a character, I think that it would better be explained through examples.

In literature, existentialism is often written about in philosophical essays such as those by Schopenhauer and by Kierkegaard. But, in Europe between the decadence of the 1920s, the depression of the 1930s, the war of the 1940s and the displacement of the 1950s - the early to mid-20th century was packed full of people being existential and trying to find their own free will again so that hopefully, they could take control of their own lives.

Often when it came to writing about existentialism, authors would espouse ideas through characterisation in which one character loses control of his own fate and tries, in any way, shape or form, to gain it back. In the works of HP Lovecraft, the existentialism was so great that in some cases, the character never really gained back their control of anything and in many cases of the existential world, they do in fact believe that we have no control over our own fates even if we wanted to have some.

It is simply a belief we tell ourselves to feel contented that only we can have an impact on our own lives. Instead, it is a loss, a pointless toiling and a solution that never ever becomes clear. We are forced to work the cycle from the day we come out of our mother's womb to the day we fall into the eternal bliss.

Wow, that got dark for a second.

*shakes head frantically*

What about in film?

Existentialism has been included in film since the beginning of cinema in its entirety. Films like "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920) make sense when Cesare tells a character that he has until dawn to live. It is then the existential crisis of character happens and fate seems beyond his own control. He spends so much of his time worrying about dying that he forgets that he has so little time to live anyway. When dawn approaches, he tries frantically to regain control to no avail and ultimately dies.

In the film "Citizen Kane" (1941) the main message is about having complete control over your own fate to the point that you then have control over other people's fates. Ultimately, when the main character dies (which happens at the start of the movie), his 'stuff' outlives him and becomes a source for his legacy. This, in turn, creates a mask between what the common person saw of Charles Kane and who Charles Kane really was. The film, through the 'rosebud' mystery, then seeks to separate the two of them. But the death of Charles Kane also shows that no matter how much control you have in life, one day you're going to die and then all that control will be gone. So is there really any point to have it in the first place since this is such a small part of the large world history and in comparison, a tiny slice of what there is in the wide universe?

Well, here's a watchlist of films that will get you really existential:

- The Maltese Falcon (1941)

- Gaslight (1944)

- Dr. Strangelove (1964)

- Fight Club (1999)

- Easy Rider (1969)

I'll give you some books to read on the philosophy behind existentialism in the further reading section.

Further Reading:

• Camus, A (2001). The First Man. UK: Penguin Modern Classics
• Flynn, T (2006). Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction. UK: Oxford University Press.
• Kierkegaard, S. (1992). Either/Or: A Fragment of Life. UK: Penguin.
• Nietzsche, F (2003). Beyond Good and Evil. UK: Penguin.
• Sartre, J.P (2000). Nausea. UK: Penguin Modern Classics.