Analysis Of Philosophical Themes Presented In The Film Waking Life
Introduction
Waking Life is written and directed by Richard Linklater. It is a 2001 American animated film. This film discusses different philosophical issues and ideas. The story revolves around a man who was trapped in a dream and he met different people listened with their different views and theories about some philosophical issues including personal identity, existentialism, freewill, appearance/reality, dreams, consciousness and situationism. Philosophy comes from Latin word which means love and wisdom. It is all about observing, understanding and defining what is really true. And philosophizing is important, it is thinking beyond about all things, it is being holistic. In the film, the story is not only focused on the protagonist but also on the minor characters and their philosophical views and theories. For us to know ourselves, we need to interact with others, we need social involvement. Just like what happen to the protagonist of the film, he was engaged to different people and know their different beliefs and philosophies. In terms of sociology, sameness and differences of beliefs, a society is formed. And philosophy has a purpose not only in our life, but also to society and whole universe. Philosophizing improves our critical thinking. It helps us to understand deeper the events and things that happen around us. And if a problem occurs, we can think of a solution to that problem, which helps to improve our society.
Objectives
Let’s understand deeper what are the philosophical themes discussed in the film. First is the existentialism, in the beginning of the film it was already discussed. The man who drives the car (where it looks like a boat) said that you’re given an 8-pack or 16 pack crayon, but it’s on you on what to do with the crayons, don’t worry coloring outside the lines. In “Existentialism is a Humanism” by Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), idea of existentialism is “existence precedes essence”. Man is nothing from the start and only afterwards, defines himself. It is in our hands to decide what will our essence be. Another scene where existentialism was depicted, when he met a philophy professor. His point of view is “we should never write ourselves off and see ourselves as victims of various forces”, it’s our life to create and decide but we should take responsibility and consequences of our own action, it parallels to Sartre on freedom. Existentialism was also shown in the scene where a prisoner swears revenge who captured and locked him in a prison. He can’t accept that he is imprisoned where in fact it his fault, now he feels anguish and despair.
Second philosophical issue that was discussed is the Freewill and Freedom. He visited a philosophy professor, this professor said “there’s not much room for freewill”, that how can we be free if God destined what will happen to us or physical laws govern us. But according to Sartre, you have to fully accept your freedom. “You” is created because of your free choices you make, and you are responsible of it. Also according to St. Thomas Aquinas, “…whether we choose to good or evil becomes our responsibility”. Freedom comes with responsibility. In scene where there is a man who drives and rants in a loudspeaker about how political turned us into slave. This man wants freedom, and also are we. According to Sartre, we are condemned to be free, and if we make excuses or refuse to accept this and follow the rules of others, we’re living in a bad faith. Another philosophical issue depicted is the situationism. In scene where a man sets himself on fire, talks about how media uses images of destruction to turn us into passive observers. It is parallel to Debord’s “The Society of the Spectacle”, he explains how these images influenced our lives and beliefs. In today’s generation, digital era, it is visibly shown how social media and high technologies influenced our lives. It’s like we depend all our doings with these things.
And lastly the philosophical issue of Reality. In scene where a couple lying in bed together, is discussing about a dream paradox where a man dreams himself as a butterfly but he might be a butterfly dreaming that he is a man. It is parallel to Chuang Tzu’s paradoxes about appearance and reality. According to Tzu, perspective is always relative, the way you look at a thing may be different how others look to that same thing. World is made up of apparent contradictions.
Rationale
The story of the film describes the path of the protagonist’s life. In the beginning of the film, the man who drives the car (where it looks like a boat) said that his car should be an extension to his personality. Those windows show a different shows every minute. Even he didn’t understand it, he accepts it and just go with the flow. It is parallel to Hume’s Bundle Theory, “the mind is a kind of theatre, where several perceptions successively make appearance, pass, re-pass, glide away and mingle in a variety of postures and situations”. That’s what happened to the protagonist, after he was dropped in an unknown place, the driver said that it will determine the course of the rest of his life, then he was hit by a car and his journey to his dreams started. He met different people, he listened and engaged himself with those people and with their different perspectives and theories. And then existentialism was brought up, this is where the path of our life begins, knowing our existence.
In order to know what is your purpose, you need to engage yourselves with others and that’s what makes “you”. In the first half of the movie, he was just a passive observer, then in the second half, he already involve his self from those different people he met. All that happens to his dream is the path of his life. The last man he encountered, is the man he rides with in the beginning of the film. This man relates a theory of Philip K. Dick that it’s really 50 AD. In this world, time is just a distraction, and there is only one instant. And that instant is God asking us to be with him, and we continuously say no, and continue our life until we say yes. Our life will just matter when we will say yes to God’s invitation. The protagonist asks the man how to wake up, then the man waves his hand. But in the end, the protagonist wakes up and end up in a driveway, just like what happened before. When he was young, in the middle of the night, he walked in a driveway and suddenly floats, but he stopped himself by holding in a carholder. What happens now is that he unfortunately didn’t make it to hold the car holder, and he floats above the sky and vanished. It is an open-ended story. We don’t know if he wakes up or continue his dreaming life.
Terms and Conditions
Life is full of different perspectives. It is on you what will you believe, but you should know the true meaning of life. From the film, according to a character, Timothy “Speed” Levitch, “…and that life understood is life lived”. We should live in a good faith and not in a bad faith.
Recommendations
This film is good to watch. It discusses different philosophies in life, it makes our minds open to all ideas, beliefs and theories. It makes us realize that life and the universe has a deeper meaning. All the things that perceived by our naked eyes is not the true reality. This film shows how reality and dreams intertwined, and manipulates us. It is in us how we will search for reality and define it. This film is recommended if you want to know more about the different perspectives of people, and it will improve your critical thinking skill.
