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An essay about the meaning of life
Meaning of life
Meaning of life
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In this paper I will present skits from the Monty Python movie, The Meaning of Life, and discuss their relevance to our Existentialism class. This films does not tell us any particular story, but it symbolically walks us through an average person’s life as they move out of their granted view of the world via two realizations, absurdity and death. Being that the movie is not a cohesive narrative but rather a series of unrelated acts which serve to question what we can say about the nature of the human condition, I will consider some of the movie’s scenes, presenting the skit at hand through the lense of existentialist thinkers. The first half of the film establishes what sort of things come along with being human, the things that we are burdened with as human. I will show that in the first half of the film Python parallels some ideas of Kierkegaard, Plato, Becker and Hesse. The first skit, The miracle of birth, is divided into two parts which reflect the most common predispositions we, as humans have. In part one, [Birth in the first world] (the secular world), we see a woman rushed into a delivery room. The room like, the child to be born, starts out bare with nothing around to suggest meaningfulness beyond what happens to be present. Then the room is flooded with “More Apparatus” as an attempt by the doctors to fill up the room with really …show more content…
Or as Python says, “The meaning of life is!: Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations… [or perhaps gratuitous picture of penises and useless
This essay will argue that the statement “Cordwainer Smith’s story, ‘Alpha Ralpha Boulevard’, is an existentialist text,” is incorrect because Alpha Ralpha Boulevard exhibits elements that do not correlate with existentialist philosophy.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, logic is used in an unfamiliar way. This logic does not deal with the nature of life, but deals with the more complex forms of logic that require the filling of blanks to make things work out. Although, for the most part, certain things did not make sense, but yet they did express logic. They used environmental attributes to make sense of the complexities they faced.
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” is a satiric comedy about the quest of King Arthur. The movie starts out with Arthur, King of the Britons, looking for knights to sit with him at Camelot. He finds many knights including Sir Galahad the pure, Sir Lancelot the brave, the quiet Sir Bedevere, and Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-as-Sir Lancelot. Through satire and parody of certain events in history (witch trials, the black plague) they find Camelot, but after literally a quick song and dance they decide that they do not want to go there. While walking away, God (who seems to be grumpy) come to them from a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. They agree and begin their search. While they search for the Grail, scenes of the knight's tales appear and the reasons behind their names. Throughout their search, they meet interesting people and knights along the way. Most of the characters die; some through a killer rabbit (which they defeat with the holy hand grenade), others from not answering a question right from the bridge of Death, or die some other ridiculous way. In the end, King Arthur and Sir Bedevere are left and find the Castle Arrrghhh where the Holy Grail is. They are met by some French soldiers who taunted them earlier in the film and were not able to get into the castle. The movie ends with both King Arthur and Sir Bedevere being arrested for killing a real-life man who was a historian.
Existentialists believe that “to live is to suffer; to survive is to find meaning in the suffering”. Despite all the horrific experiences in the concentration, Viktor Frankl is determined to not lose the significance of his life and succumb to the cruelty of his situation. With the use of three literary techniques- argumentation, rhetoric, and style- Frankl gives his proposition warrant that a man will not find meaning in his life by searching for it; he must give his life significance by answering questions life asks him.
The debate between existentialism and the rest of the world is a fierce, albeit recent one. Before the "dawn of science" and the Age Of Reason, it was universally accepted that there were such things as gods, right and wrong, and heroism. However, with the developing interest in science and the mechanization of the universe near the end of the Renaissance, the need for a God was essentially removed, and humankind was left to reconsider the origin of meaning. John Gardner’s intelligently written Grendel is a commentary on the merits and flaws of both types of worldview: the existentialist "meaning-free" universe, and the heroic universe, where every action is imbued with purpose and power. Indeed, the book raises many philosophical questions in regards to the meaning of life as well as to the way humans define themselves. Additionally, Gardner portrays continual analysis, and final approval, of existentialist viewpoints as one observes that the main character, Grendel, is an existentialist.
In his lecture, Existentialism is a Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre discusses common misconceptions people, specifically Communists and Christians, have about existentialism and extentanitalists (18). He wants to explain why these misconceptions are wrong and defend existentialism for what he believes it is. Sartre argues people are free to create themselves through their decisions and actions. This idea is illustrated in the movie 13 Going on Thirty, where one characters’ decision at her thirteenth birthday party and her actions afterwards make her become awful person by the time she turns thirty. She was free to make these decisions but she was also alone. Often the idea of having complete free will at first sounds refreshing, but when people
In the subject of Philosophy there seems to be a common goal to take ordinary entities within the world, and essentially take a deeper look at all aspects of whatever may be in question. With that said, one theory in particular within this realm follows those same guidelines of dissection, as the simple idea of individualism is broken down and evaluated to the core. The term existentialist is key when referring to the value of being an individual, as this philosophical ideal revolves around the person, and how they go about life itself. According to Dr. Madeline Clemence, “Existence needs essence to support it, and nonexistent essences are unthinkable, hence absurd.” This passage highlights the principles of existentialism, bringing up the question, “without the concept of meaning within life, why live at all?” Keeping this in mind, the film known as, “The Big Lebowski,” take the idea discussed, and turn this aspect of philosophy into entertainment. The intertwinement between the term existentialism, and The Big Lebowski, is seen throughout the entirety of the movie, and its portrayal is key
Guignon, B. C. and Pereboom, D. (eds). (2001). Existentialism: Basic Writings. Indianapolis, IN: Hacket Publishing.
classicmoviescripts/script/seventhseal.txt. Internet. 4 May 2004. Blackham, H. J. Six Existentialist Thinkers. New York: Harper, 1952. Choron, Jacques. Death and Western Thought. New York: Collier Books, 1963.
Bigelow, Gordon E. "A Primer of Existentialism." JSTOR. National Council of Teachers of English, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Ross, Kelly L. "Existentialism." The Proceedings of the Friesian School, Fourth Series. Kelly L. Ross, Ph.D., 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
The Merriam – Webster Dictionary defines existentialism as a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad (Merriam, 2011). In other words, an existentialist believes that our natures are the natures we make for ourselves, the meaning of our existence is that we just exist and there may or may not be a meaning for the existence, and we have to individually decide what is right or wrong and good or bad for ourselves. No one can answer any of those things for us. A good example of existentialism is Woody Allen’s movie, Deconstructing Harry. A man is haunted by his past and his past has followed him into the present. He is a wreck not because of the things that happened to him, but because of the choices he made. He is consumed by regret and insecurity and he tries to find blame in his situation with someone other than himself, however he cannot (Barnes, 2011). Throughout the rest of this paper I will be discussing two of the most prominent existentialists, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
Also, in order to fully understand the meaning of this film we must answer two
Existentialism is the epitome of the unknown. There is no straightforward explanation of what exactly it is, there is only certain characteristics and behaviors that describe existentialist views. Throughout today’s world, there are examples of it everywhere, it’s found in movies, books, songs, and just people in general. Existentialists are known to think and do for themselves only. They believe that to understand what it means to be human requires understanding of themselves first. Some very well known pieces of entertainment existentialism is found in are: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Stranger by Albert Camus, and The Breakfast Club by John Hughes. The Stranger is a book written about a young man whose mother dies, which soon leads him to becoming acquainted with the feeling of not caring about what his actions do to others or himself. The main character Meursault starts helping his friend Raymond, carry out ways to torment his mistress. Out of nowhere while at the beach, Meursault shoots Raymond’s mistress’s brother. He is thrown into jail and tried, but he seems to not be affected as much as he should about his actions. He first finds it hard to live without cigarettes, women, and nature, but he soon finds out he doesn’t need any of those. After being sentenced to death, he is suggested to turn away from his atheism but later realizes that human existence has no greater meaning. This realization and acceptance is what truly makes him happy (Camus). Next, The Breakfast Club is a very relatable movie about high school students suffering the consequences of their actions in detention. The kids are all of ...
I have always been to asking myself what is meaning of life? or what I supposed to do ? or what I have to achieve? . Meaning of life what 's you have been given? what you have given by different kind of human? Or what I believe or what I do not believe in life .Everybody have Meaning of life it depends between person to person, I found myself when I was young because my parents always talk about experience in their life.Throughout my entire life ,I have wondered about the significance meaning of life that has beneficial for the people, because the life is beginning odds and ending odds .Even though struggle of life, I believe meaning of life are ,regional ,ambition, participate ,achievement ,and happiness .Due to this, I