Caution Spoilers
Although we have made sort of a large leap from The Stranger to King Lear, we should not move on from existentialism. For me at least, the past discussions of existentialism have gotten me thinking about systems and how to live life a lot. Those discussions have helped to make me conscious of life and what I believe its meaning to be.
I have started seeing Sisyphus smiling and existentialist ideals everywhere. I was watching Saving Private Ryan last night and I could not help but let my mind wander into the maze of existentialism once again.
Part of existentialism is acknowledging random pain, death and suffering. There is no better time to come to grips with death and suffering then during a World War. As you watch the group of eight men go looking for one Private Ryan, you start to see how they accept death.
The squad loses two members before they even get to Private Ryan and in the end only one of the original squad members survives. You watch this group of brothers cope with death after death, and by the end even the viewer has learned that death is hard but inevitable.
Captain Miller is comparable to Sisyphus in that he takes the crappy mission to which he is assigned and does it to the best of his ability. He motivates his squad and leads them into battle against the all mighty rock, or Nazis, with a smile on his face.
Even when I am trying to relax I am letting myself fall into the clutches of philosophy and thinking.
Interesting ending. It sort of leaves open-ended whether that's a good thing or a bad thing haha
ReplyDelete