Of all the great historical figures throughout humanity, I have
the greatest admiration for the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900), who is having his 173rd birthday today (15th
October). Nietzsche was certainly one of the most iconic and controversial
thinkers that has ever emerged in human history. With a daring attitude, an
original perspective, and an intense caliber for words, Nietzsche’s philosophy
challenged everything that was already well-established before his era, and
inspired both awe and contention after his death. He has been labeled with a
whole spectrum of words, from ‘genius’, ‘visionary’, ‘prophet’ to
‘megalomaniac’, ‘sexist’, ‘racist’, or even ‘fascist’. This is understandable –
his ideas were so original that it would provide starting points for those who
wanted to engage with the puzzles of life, yet the ambiguities in his writings often
presented opportunities for those who wanted to distort his meanings
deliberately for nefarious purposes. Nietzsche was clearly a complicated man!
Nietzsche has inspired so many thinkers and philosophers
since his departure from humanity in the early 20th century. What is
more noticeable is his intense influence on the art of the 20th
century – cinema. Nietzsche’s ideas have been explored in some of the greatest
films in the history of cinema, and his influence can be seen in the work
of many great filmmakers, including
Kurosawa, Welles, Peckinpah, Melville, Lang, Murnau, Bergman, Antonioni,
Herzog, Nolan, and of course the other protagonist of this article, Stanley
Kubrick. Heavily influenced by the great German philosopher’s work, many of Kubrick’s
films can be seen as the cinematic versions of Nietzsche’s ideas, like ‘2001: A
Space Odyssey’, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and so on. For
‘2001’, this connection was even more evident when Kubrick used Richard
Strauss’ ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’, the musical composition inspired by
Nietzsche’s magnum opus, to match the fantastic images of his film. Since
Kubrick often explored existentialist ideas in his films, it therefore should
not be surprising that they also overlapped with Nietzsche’s academic interests.
After all, you may not know much about Nietzsche’s story and ideas. Not to
worry – you have very likely quoted what Nietzsche has said long before this!
There are no facts, only interpretations.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
1.
What is the starting point for Nietzsche’s ideas? The
first major work of Nietzsche was ‘The Birth of Tragedy’, in which he provided
some original perspectives regarding ancient Greek culture. He identified two
important gods of the ancient times: Apollo and Dionysus. Apollo, the god of
sun, represented order, clarity, proportion, form and harmony. By contrast,
Dionysus, the god of wine, represented passion, intoxication, and art. Dionysus
was fascinating because he was in a constant state of chaos, and he often
threatened the established and formalized structure he encountered. He also
celebrated unconscious desires, sexuality, and the amorality of natural forces.
For Nietzsche, to be a great human being, it is not merely a
choice between the attitude of Apollo or Dionysus. It is a combination or
entanglement of the two contrasting spirits, and the interaction and development
should be continuous throughout life. Thus, it is invalid for some critics to
call Nietzsche ‘irrational’ or ‘over-emotional’, because from his very first
work he has already stressed the importance of both reason and passion. What concerned Nietzsche was that there were
since then a severe imbalance in terms of the two forces in Western culture.
Philosophy since the ancient Greece
seemed to treasure the spirit of Apollo, yet undermined or even negated the
Dionysian spirit as irrational or unconstructive. While the force of Dionysus
may seem destructive due to his passion and irrationality, it is also where the
traits of artistic talent and creativity originate. Thus, Nietzsche believed
that no matter how problematic our existence may be, we still have a chance for
redemption. That will only happen if we are willing to adopt the Dionysian
spirit and find solace in art.
One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
2.
If the duality of Apollo and Dionysus was important for
the well-being of humanity, then Kubrick was certainly an exemplary candidate
in this notion. With his original vision, Kubrick’s style represented an
amalgam of discipline and passion. He was rational in the sense that he
meticulously researched and prepared for his filmmaking projects, yet he
welcomed surprises and diversities at the many stages of filmmaking. When one looks at Kubrick’s formal and visual
strategy, one can easily see a parallel between his and Nietzsche’s beliefs.
The composition of Kubrick’s films consistently rely on a symmetric, highly
ordered one-point perspective, signifying the apparent ‘Enlightenment’ and
rationalism of Man’s endeavor and their actions to transform the world around
them. However, these balanced structures are often perturbed by the irrational
and instinctual urges of humanity, and this cycle of power struggle will just
continue indefinitely.
Inspired by Arthur Schopenhauer, both Nietzsche and Kubrick
believed the ecstatic energy of Dionysus and the impersonal Eros were very
similar to the concept of Will. Schopenhauer believed the world consisted of a
force known as ‘Will’. This intense life force is impersonal, purposeless, and
almost uncontrollable, yet it serves as the motivation for humanity’s very
existence. Schopenhauer also felt that the Will has expressed itself in many
forms of art, especially in music. To quote Schopenhauer – ‘In melody [we]
recognize the highest stage of the objectivation of the Will, that is, the
circumspect life and aspirations of man’. Nietzsche did find the Dionysiac
character in music, as it expressed the primal force of existence through the
sound and rhythm. Kubrick, taking inspirations from both Schopenhauer and
Nietzsche, compared, contrasted, and commented on his filmic images with the
unconventional use of pre-established music, and generated numerous cinematic
explosions in his films, completing altering the meanings of these cultural
artifacts thereafter.
Another similarity in terms of approach related to
Nietzsche’s view on the origin of Greek tragedy. Nietzsche maintained that the
theme behind Greek tragedy was an encounter between the material forces from
the Greek culture and the instinctual force from the Dionysiac spirit, rather
than serving as support or representation for some higher metaphysical truths
in Greek philosophy. The dramatic aspect of many Kubrick films were quite the same
– it was about how the instinctual urges inherent in humans could interact, or
even lead to conflict, with the artificial systems we have created for
ourselves.
Without music, life would be a mistake.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
3.
If things appeared to be the on track, then why did
Nietzsche see so many problems in the Western culture? What sort of status has
humanity reached for Nietzsche? Well, he felt that if we were motivated to give
some thoughts about these questions, we first had to be really honest and face
the music, even if it would turn out to be dark and negative. For Nietzsche,
the phenomenon of ‘modernity’ signified a displacement of power in the Western
civilization. Since the religious institutions of the West, especially of
Christianity, have lost the central power of governing the State, new powers
have be sought to govern and define the normality of the Western world since
the 17th century. This addressed Nietzsche’s famous statement, ‘God
is dead’. Nietzsche made painstaking efforts to show to his audience, given the
absurd situation of the Death of God, what have humans done and why the
consequence would just lead to an inevitable state of valueless existence - a
sense of nihilism.
After God is displaced, what sorts of power have arrived to
claim their places? These powers are rationality, science, humanism, and
teleological ideas. For many, the arrival of these ideas represented a departure
from dogmatism, and humans were therefore enlightened to become ‘modern men’.
With his biting critique, Nietzsche disagreed to this observation. For
Nietzsche, nothing fundamental has changed. While the use of reason or a ‘better’
outlook at humanity might sound like an improvement from a more primitive form
of existence, these approaches still could not address promptly to the
complexity of the human condition. By assuming that humans acted according to
reason, and that humans were innately capable of goodness, these ideas actually
undermined, or even deliberately denied, the truth of human nature - the
possession of irrational and dark sides of humanity. If we do not question the
assumptions of these rules and systems, and blindly believe and fit into them,
we soon will discover the limitations of these ‘golden rules’. Nietzsche
cautioned the people of his times, and those thereafter, that they were
situated in an age of decadence. If a new way of thinking and living could not be
devised, modern man would inevitably fall into a state of nihilism, the abyss
below the rope that signified human existence.
In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
4.
Kubrick also sensed a prevalence of decadence and nihilism
in the modern world, and he expressed this visually in his many masterpieces. In
‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, human interactions and the living environment have
become so sterile and banal that one may wonder whether these characters can
have genuine human emotions in such a technological world. Similar ideas can
also be seen in Antonioni’s 1960s films, and in John Boorman’s ‘Point Blank’
(1967), also in the same era and influenced by Antonioni. In ‘A Clockwork
Orange’, even with the prevalence of cultural artifacts, it cannot make the
characters more moral, or at least have better taste. The authoritarian control
cannot successfully undermine the barbarism inherent in all the characters,
good and bad. In ‘Barry Lyndon’, even if everything was ceremonial and appeared
to be of a high class, the characters were still dark from the inside, and
every character’s motivation was merely to fit into the painterly composition
of 18th century high culture. Finally in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, the
characters were hypocritical in the polite society, the banal praises demanded
by the cultural machine made these statements meaningless, yet the greed and
will to exploit others were still present, albeit in a more systematic way in
the modern world. Kubrick and Nietzsche, while one century apart, were
expressing similar concerns that have stranded humanity through the Modern Age.
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
5.
Where did all the problem regarding nihilism originate
from? Nietzsche’s major issue with all the established philosophy before him
was that they were metaphysical in stance. The philosophers believed that there
was an ultimate and transcendent truth, even if it would be totally
inaccessible and would only open to speculation. It was the apparent presence
of this ‘answer from the marking scheme’ that has led to unhappiness, or even nihilism
in our existence.
In order to organize better, humans have devised
institutions throughout the development or civilizations. Nietzsche has pointed
out that, no matter how logical, rational or civilized an institution or system
were established, it was often based on a hierarchical structure.
Unfortunately, this hierarchal arrangement had nothing to do with any objective
standard of good or bad – it was merely an aggressive assertion of power on the
strong ones onto those they despised or wanted to marginalize. Thus, one can
argue that there are no sound and foundational reasons for many of these
institutions to exist in the first place. They cannot claim that they exist in
the name of reason, for example - it is just they somehow win out in a
particular power struggle in the given context.
Nietzsche went as far to contend that, the very foundation
of rational thinking, the ability to categorize things and to establish binary
oppositions (the ‘yes/no’ dichotomy), was actually originated from a
self-interested motivation of marginalizing certain people or things in a
particular group or community. The irony is that this stereotyping exercise
eventually would become the modus operandi of subsequent philosophical thought.
Therefore, one cannot claim one theory is better than another theory because
the former is more rational or so – the former viewpoint just circumstantially
wins out in the power struggle.
And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
6.
Nietzsche also believed that a misunderstanding of
‘Nature’ was another reason why many thinkers have followed the wrong path. Nature,
as Nietzsche observed, was an amoral force of creation and destruction. It was indifferent
to justice, pity, or any ‘feel-good’ and sentimental moral ideas humanity has
ever created to give meaning to their lives. Because we have made the wrong
assumptions, we are led to believe that humanism, rationality, science and
organized religion can help us to understand ourselves and lead to a happier
existence. Yet, without a flexible mind for change, the most likely consequence
will just be the abyss staring back at you.
Thus, one can see that Nietzsche and Kubrick served an
anti-humanist viewpoint regarding the human condition. They reminded us not to
forget where we came from and our limitations. As Kubrick has stated in one
interview, ‘we are not born of fallen angels, but risen apes.’ Only with the
correct assumptions can lead to a better understanding of ourselves, and lead
to surprising revelations.
Morality in Europe today is herd animal morality.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
7.
Nietzsche was a famous Anti-Christ, and his contempt for
organized religion, especially Christianity, was legendary. Why did Nietzsche
have problems with Christianity? Well, personally I do not feel that he had any
prejudices against Christianity per se, as his ideas regarding Christianity
could be totally relevant to any organized religion. I have totally respect for
Christians and their faith, so I would say I cannot totally agree to
Nietzsche’s view in this respect.
The real reason why the self-proclaimed ‘Anti-Christ’ picked
on Christianity was due to the religion’s view on morality and the implications
it has exerted onto the Western culture. Nietzsche criticized Christianity of
advocating a sort of slave morality, which matched very well with the herd
instinct he found in his times in European culture. For him, one could be
categorized into either a master or a slave. A master is someone who is
assertive, confident and bold about what they believe in. A master is noble,
because he has his firm beliefs and does not need any approvals from others. A
slave is his very opposite – someone who is meek, weak, and have to follow
rules to show his obedience. The slave’s action is often motivated by guilt or
a fear for punishment. The slave’s antic matches well with the herd morality,
because someone who shows an intense level of individualism in a herd will tend
to be considered as a maverick and not following the order, and his action will
be scorn at rather than celebrate. Nietzsche delivered a knock out to
deconstruct Christianity – if someone is pure of heart, and commit to what they
believe in (even if that will lead to a negative consequence), why will he
weigh on whether to take action or not, based on whether the action will be
rewarded (e.g. a ticket to the heaven), or whether he will be punished as a
result? Is it, after all, a hypocritical motivation to start with?
An important attribute for the slave morality was
re-sentiment. For Nietzsche, re-sentiment was a passive attitude motivated by
hate. It was the inability to admire and respect. The re-sentiment mindset
demanded one to hate and have the feeling of being pushed by others, and to
distribute personal responsibilities towards the others. It was an important
pillar of slave morality, in which one would not even bother to question
whether he/she could master his life and address the pitfalls in an affirmative
manner.
There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
8.
Kubrick was critical of institutions as much as
Nietzsche. In many of his films, Kubrick questioned whether culture, rituals,
disciplinary systems and organized religion could lead to an increased sense of
morality of people. Through a satirical lens, Kubrick showed the miserable
outcome – the characters became flat and dehumanized when they had to obey the
systems, and the systems could still not address to contingencies on many
cases.
9.
You still believe your Socratic rationalization can
de-mystify the chaotic universe around you? What are you, a blockhead?
10.
Objective morality, a self-satisfying Enlightenment, a
fusion with the Absolute – they appear to be the pillars of human intelligence
and rationality – not to Nietzsche.
11.
Humanity seems to be in need of some sort of a deity to
make sense of everything. Is it merely a psychological need or a lack of
self-confidence and assertion?
12.
You, warrior of life, do not merely ask for a fair game,
but strive hard for victory.
What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
13.
Of all of Nietzsche’s work, 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' ('Thus Spoke Zarathustra') clearly stands out. This book was Nietzsche’s gift to humanity, and it
demonstrated Nietzsche’s masterful use of language to convey above-human ideas.
The book is special because while it is told in a fictional and more abstract
manner than his later work, ‘Zarathustra’ encompassed almost all of Nietzsche’s
most important ideas. Not only it is intensely inspiring, I also find it a
highly enjoyable book, and whenever I am depressed, this book will give me the
courage and confidence to continue and strive. ‘Zarathustra’ has led to two
further pieces of fine art for humanity – Richard Strauss’ ‘Also Sprach
Zarathustra’ and of course, Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.
In the book, Zarathustra was a fictional character from
Nietzsche, who was very much speaking on behalf of Nietzsche. Zarathustra had a
lot of ideas and insights, but he was lonely, because no one understood what
the heck he was talking about, and the people did not bother to listen to
Zarathustra. As Zarathustra has mocked himself, he was the wrong mouth for
their ears. ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ explored a number of key themes – the
evolution of Man, the meaning of life without God, the possibility of
‘over-man’, and eternal recurrence.
I will teach men the meaning of their existence – the overman, the lightning out of the dark cloud of man.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
14.
Nietzsche speculated the potential evolution of man. He
felt that man was currently ‘a rope tied between beast and superman – a rope
over the abyss’. Humanity is on the way to become what Nietzsche has always
dreamed of – the Übermensch (over-man). We have to strive in this direction, to
eventually become a nobler sort of person. He had also another analogy – ‘The
Three Metamorphoses’ – in the book. It was the transformation from the camel to
the lion, than to the final stage of a child. The transformation signified the
change of an agency from ‘Thou Shalt’ – order given by others – to ‘I Will’ –
assertion that comes out from oneself.
Kubrick was evidently inspired by these when he made ‘2001:
A Space Odyssey’. From Moonwatcher, Dave Bowman, to the Start Child, it
appeared as if version of ‘The Three Metamorphoses’, especially having Dave
walking on a tight rope – where he was in the outer space.
What does not kill me makes me stronger.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
15.
What are the attributes of the Übermensch? Well, the Übermensch
represents an affirmative vision of life, as he/she has already looked beyond
the negative aspects of nihilism, re-sentiment and the slave morality. He is
someone, quite literally, beyond good and evil. He embraces, and committees to
the will of power, which is to look for meanings and responsible for his own
existence, rather than looking beyond life for some transcendental reason or
universal morality.
The Übermensch is constantly overcoming himself – his own
fears, an appreciation of his own values and meaning, and his ability to create
values for himself. Because these are tough challenges, the Übermensch requires
a tremendous courage and self-confidence. Here is the motto from the Übermensch - 'Become who you are'!
You must become who it is that you are.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
16.
The concept of Übermensch has been distorted and
misused, as many sees its meaning as ‘overcoming others’, which is to say
harming or even eliminating others. While Nietzsche’s original formulation of
the idea might be ambiguous, it should be clear from close reading Nietzsche
did not include the destruction of another individual as an attribute of the Übermensch.
What we have to be cautious, through, is that Nietzsche seems to imply that the
Übermensch is amoral, or has his own code of morals. Thus, objectively we
cannot rule out the action from an Übermensch - or ‘Nietzschean strongs’, as
contrasting with ‘Nietzschean weaks’, who are those governed by a slave
morality – can lead to negative impacts for the others.
Kubrick has expressed this duality in many of his films. One
can see characters like the Moonwatcher, Dave Bowman, Alex Delarge, Redmond
Barry, and Napoleon (if Kubrick has made the film) can be considered
Nietzschean strongs, as they are daring and original for their times and
surroundings, yet during the process they have also committed acts that have
impacted the others’ well-being, including destruction and even murder. This is
the paradox of the ‘evil genius’, and I suppose why the Übermensch is a
far-reaching aim.
The noble human being honours himself as one who is powerful, also as one who has power over himself, who knows how to speak and be silent.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
17.
How should we philosophize about our existence?
Nietzsche urged us to think about the meaning of life, rather than speculating
issues that took place in another Platonic realm that we would never access. And,
due to the view of perspectivism, it may not only have one final answer to all
the questions regarding life. There can be many interpretations regarding the
very same issue, and no one answer can claim authority on others. Nietzsche has often encouraged us to think
about questions in a concrete, rather than abstract point of view, as it is far
more relevant for our existence. Very much like a Modernist, Nietzsche demanded
us to be critical about any knowledge that has fed to us or we have long taken
for grant. He especially urged us to embrace those things we have been led to
believe as bad or evil. While this may be a bit of a stretch, I feel
Nietzsche’s motive is to ask us to have a healthy skeptical attitude and to
really look beyond the obvious, and philosophize the underlying reason why
something is presented to us in a certain way.
he who knows fears but conquers fear , who sees the abyss, but with pride.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
18.
While Kubrick’s outlook was very similar to Nietzsche in
many aspects, he seemed to reverse the direction of Nietzsche’s abstract / concrete
dichotomy. Both thinkers have emphasized the importance of corporeality to
human existence, and yet Kubrick liked to start from the concrete side. By
addressing the corporeality side of human nature, we are made aware of our
animalistic limitations, and can thus look beyond the hubris and pretensions we
have made ourselves happier. As many critics have pointed out, the final aim is
to point back to the abstract and universal truths. Kubrick believed there were
some timeless truths of human nature, independent of the context or the era the
story took place in. The audience had to be able to detach these aspects from
the context of the story to gain insights that might lead to a better
appreciation of themselves.
Send your ships into uncharted seas!
-Friedrich Nietzsche
19.
In order to inspire his readers to see things in new
light, Nietzsche devised a number of absurd situations in his philosophy.
First, he advocated the attitude of 'Amor Fati' - the love of fate. Nietzsche
questioned the need for the 'Free will / determinism' debate to exist at all.
He felt that even if fate existed, the question was not how we could change it,
or run away from it. The most important issue is how we can face it with a
positive and affirmative attitude, no matter how effed up or absurd it would
turn out to be. Even the negative things
may have a new meaning, if we are willing to view it from a different
perspective.
Second, Nietzsche proposed the absurd condition of the
‘eternal recurrence’. Imagine if we have to live our own lives again and again,
until eternity. There is no way you can change the narrative of your life
story, you will have to experience exactly all the highs and lows in your life
again. Will you accept all these, and will you make the most of your life so
that you will not regret? Nietzsche believed that if we were willing to
understand this, we will commit to live our lives to the fullest, and be
affirmative about all the pitfalls throughout our very existence.
Finally, Nietzsche proposed the idea of the ‘Last Man’. It
is the final stage before the transformation to the over-man. When one is
individualized and acts according to his beliefs, a tremendous sense of
loneliness and alienation will follow, because now he does not have the comfort
of being part of the herd, and thus cannot just receive passively about what to
do. Standing on a cliff, the ‘Last Man’ becomes the master of his own life,
looking down at the herd, very much like Zarathustra’s case.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
20.
What advice did Nietzsche provide us to face life in an
affirmative manner? To start with, Nietzsche wanted one to love his own life, right
now and right here. There was no point to ask for a better next life, or a
passport to heaven. You should discover gratifications from the experience of
your own existence. Even if there are adversities throughout life, Nietzsche
advised us to accept and embrace our mistakes and learn from it, not to turn
away from it or pass the responsibilities to some irrelevant parties. Finally,
Nietzsche wanted us to laugh - and had a good sense of humor. Because he
believed if we were willing to accept life in an affirmative attitude, and appreciated
life as a means to self-knowledge, one could not only live boldly but also
gaily, and the gratifications would surely emerge.
Both Nietzsche and Kubrick stressed the importance of
self-knowledge – knowledge and insights that you discover only from yourself. A
better understanding of yourself can direct your concentration to the relevant
aspects, and you will have the courage to live a fulfilling life. Even if this
article can lead you to an intense fascination with Nietzsche and Kubrick, that
is not enough. Because only you can lead the motivation to change yourself, and to become the master of
your life. It is all in your hands.
Film Analysis
