This kids movie is About Existentialism.

can you make some water sounds oh my gosh it's so gross oh no no no no no no no no no no no no Surf's Up was a movie that as a kid I didn't love I mean I was entertained by the characters and fun scenes but that was about the end of it I didn't really understand the message of the film and after re-watching it I know why this is a kids movie about existentialism now I know what you're thinking how in the world could Surf's Up possibly be about existentialism well I used to think that same thing but after making this video I was astonished with the similarities [Music] originally it was believed by ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle that Essence came before existence Essence being what makes an object it for example an eraser is only an eraser if it can erase the shape size and color are irrelevant as long as it does the job it was made to do they also believed humans have an Essence bestowed by God and we should live up to our Essence because it's part of what it means to be a good person this idea was later challenged by a man named John Paul satra who believed it is our responsibility to create our own Essence that we decide our path in life this concept removes the obstacle in front of human freedom and with this way of thinking there is no necessity for the existence of God but how does this Theory have any relation to the kids film Surfs Up an overarching subject in the film is how Cody needs to establish a sort of career for himself whether it be surfing or sorting fish he must choose a path in life and throughout this film Cody is trying to find his purpose as he goes living by the idea that existence does precede Essence despite this Cody's mother and brother find his desire for going away strange and unusual that he is trying to escape reality as if there is a way of life he should adhere to a way of life his mother and brother expect him to live a much more essentialist view on life yet Cody doesn't believe in this practice he wants to do what makes him happy and his family's lack of acceptance leaves him with a gnawing feeling of concern for whether or not he is doing the right thing all he wants is to be recognized and supported Cody just wants to be Cody and he wishes people would just let him be himself like hey Cody's just a bum Cody's this Cody's that Cody's this Cody's me bro let me be me when is that gonna start in order to be acknowledged by others Cody believes that winning the big Z Memorial surf off will make people finally take his path in life seriously but John Paul satra would consider his decision to be living in bad faith bad faith is a psychological phenomenon where people act inauthentically by yielding to the external pressures of society by adopting false values and rejecting their innate Freedom as humans the freedom and ability we are given to make choices for ourselves in this case Cody wants to win but realistically he wants to feel the freedom and happiness surfing brings him Cody mentions that he's never won anything in his life and he wants to feel like a winner I've never you know won anything my whole life you know just once I want to feel like a winner although it's clear that he wants acceptance through the dialogue and Body Language shown when Mikey first arrives it makes it obvious that Cody wants to impress his mother by showing how truly dedicated to his passion he really is but winning like many things is a societal construct that is considered good that winning is the right thing to do rather than simply enjoying the experience our hobby brings us winning is without a doubt a confidence boost only because Society has deemed losing bad even though Cody states he does truly want to feel like a winner just this once it's fair to assume he was heavily motivated by external factors Cody is living in bad faith he is trying to live up to the expectations of others when really he should live to his own truth whatever that may be foreign bad faith being a denial of Freedom closely relates to the abundance of Freedom individuals truly have John Paul satra would even go as far as saying that humans are condemned to be free as if it's a curse as well as a blessing as humans we do not create ourselves yet here we are and I do not mean any of this to evoke an existential crisis upon anyone but we never ask to be brought into this world nonetheless we have the ability to make choices for ourselves and because of that every situation we face is a result of our Free Will therefore we can't blame any fortune or Misfortune in our life to be the cause of external forces but Albert Camus has said the literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself I just want to make it clear that I in no way want to push these philosophical ideas on anyone I'm just using these men and their ideologies for the sake of the video now let's get back to Surf's Up There is without a doubt a lack of guidance in Cody's life this could be due to him losing his father at a young age or his mother's absence of interest in his passion and an authoritative figure was something that Cody never had he does whatever he wants because no one tells him no this overwhelming amount of Freedom essentially leaves Cody the choice to do quite literally anything he has such an alarming amount of power of what goes on in his life and he is only 17 years old in no way am I saying a teenager cannot make a rational decision for themselves however the pressure that comes along with making these life-altering choices can be devastating how can you know at such a young age whether you are making the right decision or not Cody is carrying this burden of believing that there is a right decision to make when he just wants to be himself all this tension and anxiety coming from a societal construct that there is in fact a proper choice to make how can Humanity have so many questions about the world yet believe that we also have the answers in a sense that people believe or promote that there is this right way of living along with creating an enormous amount of stress for individuals it also leaves people feeling lost or even bad about not being certain of what they want to do Cody's family is constantly vilifying him because his views differ from theirs it's not surprising he works so hard to impress them because for so long they've been embarrassed of him although embarrassed may not be the right word Cody does acknowledge that people are saying negative things about him to his mother I don't understand why everybody has to be so judgmental I understand why Mom's judgmental I think it's because she cares partially whilst he does recognize that her emotions come from a place of concern he also realizes that his differentiating views on life not only tarnish his reputation but also his mother's Cody may not care what others think of him but his mother most likely cares about how the community views their family obviously this puts a great weight on Cody's shoulders because he wants to do what's true to him but also what will make his family proud that abundance of Freedom mentioned earlier is the very thing that he feels the Paradox of choice can be extremely stressful and it always comes down to that great deal of Freedom that we have in no way do I mean to say freedom is a bad thing but I do believe the burden that falls upon many people to do this so-called right thing can be [Music] another concept by Albert Camus which describes how our search to find meaning is futile because we live in a world that is shockingly devoid of it this concept being absurdism this is the idea that existence in general is absurd an example of this theory is Sisyphus he is compelled to push a boulder up a hill just for it to roll down once it reaches the top a task he must repeat for eternity although the problem isn't whether the labor is futile or not it's his awareness of the futility essentially being imprisoned to an assignment that in the grand scheme of things is worthless the most important aspect of absurdism is its claim that the world as a whole is absurd and something within all that absurdity is winning more so humans innate desire to win a topic Surfs Up contemplates is the value of Victory and if it's truly as significant as people make it seem Cody so desperately wants to find purpose through surfing and he believes once he wins he will be fulfilled unfortunately this belief that only if he beats his opponents will he be satisfied is a very toxic relationship to have with the zombie with the endless amount of opponents he may face he will constantly be seeking that euphoric feeling for the rest of his life although Cody like anyone else is bound to lose someday nurturing such an unhealthy tie to the sport he's chosen will without a doubt become more and more volatile as winning becomes less common in the film characters are asked to Define what a winner is Lonnie says a winner is the surfer having the most fun Mikey says winners are in it for the joy not the fame or money this scene conveys an important message because it tells the audience that winning does not necessarily make you a winner they even go as far to say tank Evans nine times Victor of the big Z Memorial surf off is not a winner especially tank he is definitely not a winner it is an attitude not a state whereas Cody seems to completely miss the point of what it means to win feeling happiness is the goal not beating your enemies the most notable character who has come to accept the truth that beating others is such an incredibly insignificant part of Surfing and life is Big Z himself big he was the best for so long and being Champion was commonplace for him he became so focused on winning that once he lost it crushed him Not only was he not able to face his fans but he wasn't able to face himself after what happened once he began to enjoy the experience rather than the victory he seemed to be at peace with himself when Cody Lonnie and Z go surfing he says this is what it's all about what could be better than this in this moment Zia wasn't winning anything or competing with others he was just enjoying his hobby he sees that the journey is more important than the destination the weight and anxiety of whether or not he would win is gone big Z understands that winning is meaningless more so he accepts that it's meaningless therefore no longer allowing himself to be confined by the stress it brought him as irrational as this may seem imagine if Sisyphus felt pleasure in pushing the Boulder and getting it to the top of the hill was just something that came naturally before he felt imprisoned to his task but now the objective is less important than the path he takes to get there although no one knows the true meaning of life philosophers have contemplated it for hundreds of years of whether you find meaning through with theism nihilism Hedonism Etc there is no true answer however you go about finding purpose is subjective to oneself and there is no right or wrong way to do it as long as you are doing what's true to you if you are not living in bad faith you are doing the right thing and do not live in bad faith we must live authentically authenticity is a philosophical concept viewed differently by a variety of philosophers some being Martin Heidegger Frederick Nietzsche's and John Paul satra I will mainly be focusing on the ideas from satra and niches satra believed that authenticity meant embracing the reality of our freedom and living authentically was the fundamental meaning of life he thought one must take full responsibility for their life choices and actions because our existence comes before our Essence it is our duty to grant our life purpose we Define our own nature Niche is whilst being similar to satra does have small differences is he as well thought that people must Embrace who they are instead of trying to become someone who they aren't that this is the one true way to be fulfilled stating that no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself meaning that the freedom we have has no price there's nothing more important than being true to ourself and no matter what the price is it is worth it both these theories have one thing in common that embracing our freedom will bring us happiness even though life can be filled with Dread and despair living authentically is the best course of action to find fulfillment within Surf's Up big Z has achieved eudemonia meaning happiness in Greek Aristotle concluded that the ultimate goal in life was to be happy Z exercise virtue through the habits of the heart which help him do the right thing finding purpose does not happen overnight but Z found his even though Cody may find meaning in a different way Zeke is trying to guide him in the right path and hope that he won't make the same mistakes as him however sometimes in order to learn we must make those same failures we are being told to avoid Cody does just that at the end of the film in a different circumstance but with a similar outcome it's a beautiful Adventure that shows the hardships of finding meaning in a world void of it that is so deeply regulated by societal expectations and Norms with the multitude of similarities I think this movie could very well be about existentialism what do you think let me know in the comments down below I would like to give credit to crash course's video on existentialism it helped me finding topics for the video I'll leave a link in the description to their Channel anyways if you liked the video like the video and why not subscribe it would mean a lot if you're wanting to see more content from us check out this video where I break down the tragic flaw of black panther 2. thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: The Fiction Addiction

Views: 911,042

Keywords:

Id: 08aCOf088I8

Length: 12min 41sec (761 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 12 2022