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problematic Approach to Existentialism in the movie Instinct |
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Table of Contents ABSTRACT QUOTATIONS INTRODUCTION 1-3 Notes 4 Chapter I:The evolution towards Existentialism: From body to mind 5 (i) Human and history in an existentialist perspective. ... 46-47 Chapter III: Existentialism as an Era 48 (i) The aftermath of the Absurd in the modernist era. ... 68 FILMOGRAPHY 69 BIBLIOGRAPHY 70-72 ABSTRACT The movie Instinct is produced by Michael Taylor and Barbara Doyle. ... Suggested by the novel Ishmael, the movie Instinct is all about a primatologist, Ethan Powell (Anthony Hopkins) who narrates to a psychiatrist, Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding Junior) his past two years in the honest and how he ended in prison. ... As a result, it is a notion of Absurdism, which emerged in the Modernist era, which is obvious in Instinct. ... The problematic approach of Existentialism arises in the sense that the notion of the Absurd has inherently brought an end to the Existentialist “era” while Postmodernism emerged as a “Dark Enlightenment” as a corrective of individualism. Through a diachronic analysis of Existentialism, my dissertation shows Absurdism as a product of the dissociation of the mind from the body. ... Chapter two shows the aftermath of an existence, which precedes its essence and constant examples, will be taken from Instinct, which marks this evolution towards the Absurd. My dissertation ends by showing how Existentialism is the father of Postmodernism with its notion of relativism and its negation of Grand Narratives. Thus, the problematic approach will be about the Absurd as an outcome and how it contains the seeds of its own destruction through this evolution which is obvious in the parameters chosen: Instinct. INTRODUCTION There has been much controversy about the roots of Existentialism; while some modernist playwrights termed themselves Existentialist, we find a gap between the rise of Existentialism and the era, which has been associated with it. ... Jean Paul Sartre denotes the problematic approach to this definition in his essay Existentialism: "most people who used the word would be rather embarrassed if they had to explain it, since, now that the word is all the rage even the work of a musician or painter is being called Existentialist."2 Thus, we are confronted with a complex parameter; but one can find the roots of the coinage of the word "Existentialism" towards the end of World War II by the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel as a label for the currently emerging ideas of Jean Paul Sartre and his partner Simone de Beauvoir. ... I dont even know what Existentialism is. ... In the movie Instinct, this particular aspect is important, as it is inherently a product of the Modernist era. ... The first part of my dissertation deals with a diachronic analysis of existentialism and how eras such as Renaissance or the Enlightenment have started this countdown towards not only Modernism but Postmodernism also. Therefore, the problematic approach is all about the notion of the absurd and how the absurd is the final product of this evolution. ... But the absurd as a leitmotif through these eras becomes problematic in the Modernist period as it becomes self-destructive. This evolution of the absurd since the Renaissance era has sustained this notion of the absurd, which is the problematic, concerned in my dissertation. ... This dissertation will halt in the Renaissance period due to the fact that the problematic of Existentialism started from this “era”; the evolution of the body towards the mind, through the Enlightenment marks this secularisation process as well as mans progress towards the absurd and up to now, that is, Postmodernism where there is a quest towards individualism to find the truth. ... Therefore, Existentialism has inherently discarded itself as an “era” due to its own notion of the absurd but its importance is seen in Postmodernism and all different notions which will arise. ... Sartre, Jean Paul, From Existentialism, trans by Bernard Frechtman, New York Philosophical Library 011947 3. De Beauvoir Simone, Force of Circumstance, 1987, Pg 45-46 CHAPTER I THE EVOLUTION TOWARDS EXISTENTIALISM: FROM BODY TO MIND “L’homme doit chercher L’Etre mais par L’historialisation. ... In the movie Instinct, we see Powell seeking his origins among primates, that is, to an extent we see man creating or seeking a past in order to forge his future. ... Thus, Instinct serves as an example due to the Linchpin character. ... The same process can be identified through Instinct where there is an alienation towards the other where Powell is doomed give away his camera and habits to be "no longer outside the group". ... "12 The deterministic approach will lead the way towards individualism and make man become the center of the universe. ... Deterministic in approach, Powell is able to shape his future and return to the forest in the end. Through a euphemistic approach, art was to revive the body of man and in the seventeenth century, Kepler or Galileo through "a new science" astronomy, made man the center of the universe during the Enlightenment era. ... Thus, the "liberal" ideas inherent in the "Age of Reason" wanted Man with a deterministic approach to create his own surroundings, which would pave the way towards progress. ... In a sense, another approach of the Enlightenment, Peter Gay’s one, saw that the evolution of the body, that is, mans subservience to the system, was at the base of the Enlightenment. ... Thus, the failure to achieve the concept of "individualism" due to the enlightened mans negation of his inner flaw which only the Modernist era will recognize through Existentialism and its doctrines. ... In the light of the above characteristics elaborated, we can say that in the dying days of the Enlightenment, man realised his inner flaw and concentrated his attention upon his psyche and as a consequence, the modernist literacy has concentrated upon this aspect and leaving existentialism as a legacy. ... "21 Furthermore, we have an ascension towards Geist in Instinct in the sense that it is only the alienated person who encounters Geist. ... However, the evolution of the mind in the modernist era got a severe "blow" due to the two world wars and modernism evolved in pessimistic spheres through existentialism and the secularising process became more persistent while dualism arose between the body and the mind which is omnipresent in Instinct. ... We can see a Cartesian approach in the sense that Cogito Ergo Sum inherently separates the body from the mind. ... The same pattern of thought can be seen in Instinct where Powell’s body becomes subservient to his mind and his “lived” body an embodiment of “point of view. ... This aspect is patent in Instinct in the sense that at the beginning the mute Powell is a mere prisoner and it is only through eventual actions that his “lived” body will take shape. ... This extract On the ontological Mystery of Gabriel Marcel, a leading French exponent of Christian existentialism shows this aspect: “Travelling on the underground, I often wonder with a kind of dread what can be the inward reality of the railway – the man who opens the doors, for instance, or the one who punches the tickets. ... We encounter the same process in Powell who is able to forge an identity not only through his intentions but through his actions while he would be an “objective” body if the movie discarded Powell’s narration of his past and the spectator would assess Powell as a mere prisoner comparing him with Sartre’s concept of inertia and the body. ... Thus, the eventual response of Existentialism is that as the concept of “lack” is omnipresent in man, his surrounding and his own creation will never attain perception. ... This progression is summarised in this scheme: SCULPTURES AND PAINTINGS Revival of arts in the Renaissance period THE BODY The notion of individualism in the Enlightenment THE MIND The rise of psychoanalysis in the first phase of Modernism (before the first World War) DISSOCIATION OF THE MIND AND THE BODY The notion of dualism in the Existentialist era NEGATIVITY A product of absurdism as the “Absurd” mind deconstructs the mind and the body The pessimistic approach of Existentialism, which is inherent in Modernism, can be explained as being partly a response to the two World Wars which philosophers like Sartre and Camus experienced. ... ”41 In the movie Instinct, we encounter the idea that “existence precedes essence” in the sense that it is Powell who determines whether he should “conceive God as the Creator” or “a superior sort of artisan”42 or whether in a Godless world he should seek in his origins among primates. Thus, this dissociation of the mind and the body is omnipresent in this movie (Powell as a man among primates) and the influence of the mind over the body (his belief to live among his ancestors: these primates). ... Cooper, David, Existentialism : A Reconstruction, Blackwell Edition 1990, p. ... Existentialism: A Reconstruction, p. ... Existentialism: A Reconstruction, p. ... Sartre, Jean Paul, From Existentialism, trans. ... Existentialism, p. ... II (i) BEING-IN-ITSELF AND BEING-FOR-ITSELF There is a diversity of positions associated with Existentialism and a precise definition is impossible, however it suggests one major theme: a stress on individual existence and consequently, on subjectivity mans freedom and choice. Due to parameters chosen, that is, the movie chosen, Existentialism could be defined in order to fully grasp this fully problematic approach. Therefore we can say that Existentialism is a school of thought, which assumes that man is the reflection of his thinking. ... Thus, we can say that the same idea is constructed in "Instinct" where Powell takes an identity, as he assumes that he has his origins from primates. ... From a metaphorical perspective Instinct serves as an example of a battle between either the Being-In-Itself against the Being-For-Itself or another one between reflective consciousness and unreflective consciousness. While it should be in the movie, a psychiatrist questioning his patient, that is the Being-In-Itself questioning the Being-For-Itself, the opposite occurs and therefore, we see how true values arise. ... In Instinct, the Being-For-Itself gains the upper hand as eventually Caulder realizes true values and ejaculated: "You taught me how to live outside the game. ... Therefore, we have an altered Caulder by the end of the movie, who loses his false instinct and stops hiding from the rain to give free vent to his acquired liberty in his psyche and conscience. ... It reminds me of the Id and superego, in the movie "Fight Club", where both shape themselves through two different characters and by the end only one survives to the great disbelief of the spectator. In Instinct, Powell returns to the forest and is no more seen but survives through Caulders conscience. ... II (iii) NOTHINGNESS AND ABSURDISM THROUGH HYBRIDITY As nothingness has been introduced, we can say that nothingness is another recurrent essential theme to appear in the movie. ... There is a more complex nothingness, which arises through Instinct, there is an omni-presence of his total negation of the self, of the Being- For- Itself by either Caulder or Powell and secondly, through the false values attached to the Being -In-Itself. ... Expressive of absurdity are these words by Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician and philosopher of the Descartes era, who is also a forerunner of existentialism. ... Thus, the "irrational man" makes the rational one understand that he has control over only petty things such as his "stereo or air con in his car" (Instinct). ... It is in this perspective that Absurdism raises the notion of bad faith in Instinct. ... Thus, in a sense, existentialism would appeal to a higher man (this will be our concern in chapter 3), who should discard this absurd reality. ... In a sense, Nietzsches theory finds an answer to Camus problematic of being absurd: "ne pas croire au sense profound des choses, cest le propre de lhomme absurde. ... In addition, we can say that in Instinct, the Being-For-Itself is personified through Powell. ... Thus, Instinct would be wholly futile, and. ... II (iv) ANGST AS AN EXISTENTIAL BEFINDLICHKEIT We can argue that Angst is a phenomenon, which is pivotal in existentialism, and in a sense we can argue that it provides a key point for understanding "the phenomenal basis for explicitly grasping Daseins primordial totality of Being". ... " This deep belief in his environment brings the second type of Angst and in this movie, all the inner turmoil and anger which he shows when being removed from his forest shows Heideggers interpretation of this particular Angst. This scheme shows the intervention and progression in: 1) Being-In-Itself Being Angst1 Being-In- Itself 2) Being-For-Itself Being Angst1 Nothingness Angst2 Being-For-Itself (Sartrean one) (Heideggers one) From a certain perspective, we can say that Angst is inherent in Instinct, in the sense that it embodies Powells deep beliefs in his origins. ... Moreover, in Existentialism and Humanism, Sartre argues that Angst is the sense of "complete and profound responsibility" which belongs to someone. ... As a matter of fact, "Instinct" is all about Caulder losing control over his patient to the extent that Caulder utters: "he is leading me to the jungle. ... Eventually when Hegel acquires a realistic approach, Geist is replaced by only human beings. Therefore, we are alienated to our surroundings, and this is the case of Powell who brings self-estrangement in the movie; alone, he fights his world. ... From a Nietzschean perspective, one becomes self-estranged and alienated in the sense that if we consider the backbone of Instinct, we see a higher being trying to alter a Being-In-Itself to Being-For-Itself and this causes a clash. ... An absurd Being In a sense, we can argue that Caulder alters to this fully lacked person by the end of the movie thanks to Powell who shows him what is "lacking" in him and gives him "the existing" to be a typical product of "the lacked" of Sartre. ... Throughout the movie, Caulder tries to negate his self to become the other Powell. ... Constant examples are given in the movie of man bullying his other; for instance, Dax traumatising the prisoners; Powells loss of control at an airport, the whimsicalities of Powell, the abuse of power and indifference of the director of the psychotic ward or even the nameless black prisoner bullying the weak to have the Ace of diamond, last but not least, Powells indifference toward his daughter. ... Indirectly, Sartre wants to show that existentialism as a school of thought is doomed to be a positivist one due to the fact that mans destiny lies in his own hands while existential freedom and inherently liberty lies in the spheres of uncertainty in life: "Considérer que linconnaissable, linvérifiable, tombe en dehors de lhomme: cest le positivisme. ... The theory of Freedom in existentialism is also stressed by Merleau-Ponty who individualises freedom to the extent that the outside is discarded. ... However, there is another type of freedom in Instinct, which serves as a foil to existential freedom. ... It is interesting to see that it is exactly the same idea on which Sartre lays emphasis in Existentialism is a Humanism where the latter refers to freedom as being of greatest value, while inherently discarding God. ... Cooper, David, Existentialism: A reconstruction, Blackwell Publishers, P142. ... Existentialism: A reconstruction P. ... Sartre, Jean Paul: Existentialism and Humanism, Editions Gallimard, 1960, P. ... Existentialism: A reconstruction, P. ... Sartre, Jean Paul, What is existentialism? ... Sartre, Jean Paul, What is existentialism? ... CHAPTER III: EXISTENTIALISM AS AN ERA “L’absurde, C’est la raison lucide qui constate ses limites. ... Moreover, feminists like Gubar and Gilbert seeked to substitute the phallic symbol of the pen with the woman’s body 4 and in the advent of existentialism. ... If we consider the importance of the pen in Instinct, we can say that Powell stands for “l’écriture féminine” which finds liberty through this phallic symbol, which is the pen. ... In his Existentialism and Humanism, Sartre claims that “man is nothing else but what he makes of himself”7 and Postmodernism is a concept which gives free vent to the subjectivity of an individual in the sense that what constitutes truth for an individual is relative to only this individual. ... Deconstuction is a process towards the Absurd and Instinct as a whole is a process of deconstruction in the sense that a man is able to seek his origins among primates. On the other hand, Instinct shows us the negative aspect of deconstruction, which postmodernists came to reject after some time. ... Thus, for the postmodernists, any assertion of absolute knowledge cannot be achieved and as a result we have the merging of subject and object or the self and other which is the case in Instinct where in the end Powell becomes alive through Caulder. ... ”10 III (iii) The forever notion of the Absurd – The Dark Enlightenment Existentialism as an era has been able to overthrow the idea of “absolute truth” and as a consequence Postmodernism is a child of Existentialism and not of Modernism as it is generally said. ... We can say that eras which have passed in history mark the evolution of subjectivity towards the Absurd and as a consequence Postmodernism rejected the euphemistic approach of individualism which have been sustained up to now. ... However, when Modernism, through Existentialism, came with the notion that existence precedes essence, the notion of individualism was further reinforced and it was thought that the progress in Science would fulfil the “manque” or lack which Sartre and other existentialists saw inherent in Man; but the Postmodernist era alters the purport of individualism through a subjective progress in the sense that Postmodernism claims for subjectivity in order to discard the notion of the Absurd as Absurdism always gains ground through a comparison. ... The failure of Modernism through oppression and domination has been termed as “the dialectic of the Enlightenment”11 and the notion of the Absurd gained rise through Existentialism. ... An anguish is brought in the self through this “freedom of man”, which is omnipresent in a secular era which is Existentialism, to make choices and to make his existence precede his essence. Since the beginning of Chapter One we have seen this evolution towards the Absurd and in this last part, we are going to see in what sense Existentialism contains the seeds of its own destruction just as capitalism. ... However, the problematic arises since the existential being cannot give free vent to his deterministic ideal if he does not hope. ... In a sense, existentialism is inherently a hope for something and its notions that existence preceding essence makes the Human become Absurd through his constant hope to realise his idea of providence but who can claim to have full control of everything in life. ... While Camus saw something good inside man (La Peste, Dr Rieux), Nietzsche saw that man could become a higher man and it is through this notion of hope in Existentialism that man becomes Absurd. ... The problematic of hope is that one will never be able to know whether his existence precedes his essence and whether his expectancies have been fulfilled which throws him in uncertainty and as a result one becomes an Absurd being. ... As a consequence, religion might be called either “Bad faith” (mauvaise foi) 14 or an “opium”15 but it finds a reason to be in the world which Existentialism and the notion of the Absurd has never been able to fulfil as a lack in man. ... Sartre, Jean Paul from Existentialism, trans. ... Sartre, Jean Paul from Existentialism, 1947, pp. ... CONCLUSION Existentialism is definitely an era, which has paved the way towards Postmodernism, which is a response of the notion of the Absurd. It is true to say that postmodernism is a form of existential humanism which reinforces his idea that “existence precedes essence”, and the Existentialist era has brought this deterministic approach which has been claimed by philosophers such as Voltaire, Diderot or even Kant in a euphemistic way. |
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