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Depiction of the Logical Conclusion to Meaninglessness

posted 4 years ago by Fandango (534)
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Minority Report presents the audience with a very grim depiction of the logical conclusion to endless nihilism (drugs, endless consumerism, unadulterated hedonism). Ignoring the film’s primary narrative that deals with determinism vs. free will, the cinematographic aesthetic presents a dreary, difficult to absorb color palette. Spielberg himself stated he wanted the film to look as dirty and ugly as possible. The film, with its shades of grey, dark shadows, and low and Dutch angles augment the seediness and immorality; the high contrast lightning (chiaroscuro lighting) capture the aura of psychological oppression brought about by existential angst, a product of a world devoid of meaning and purpose.

In Dostoevsky's, The Brothers Karamazov, there is a poem titled The Grand Inquisitor. The premise presents Jesus returning to Earth during the time of the Inquisition. He begins performing miracles again, and starts to be loved by those around him. Shortly thereafter, he is imprisoned by The Inquisition, and sentenced to be burnt to death. In prison, he visited by The Grand Inquisitor, who tells him that the church no longer needs him. He states that Jesus’ overall message was that people needed to choose redemption and salvation, but human nature, because of choice, dooms most of humanity to miss salvation and suffer. The Inquisitor says that, "man prefers peace, and even death, to freedom of choice in the knowledge of good and evil" and that it is better for individuals and society that people trade their freedom of choice for "miracle, mystery, and authority."

He thinks himself a person capable of freedom of choice and that it is up to men like him to run society, rationalizing that the rest of humanity will live their lives relatively happy, but in complete ignorance. The story takes the idea that man simply will not accept the supernatural--that is, the perfect order descended from the heavens--in whatever manner it appears, because they are already consigned to rule.

The Inquisitor admits to Christ that centuries ago, the church had abandoned Jesus to follow Satan, saying they accepted the offer Jesus denied in the desert where he was tempted to worship the devil in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world; in taking up such an exchange, they planned to become the sole rulers of Earth and, eventually, bring happiness to all mankind.
If happiness is truly the goal of life, regardless of who is providing it, then perhaps the means justify the end. However, in surrendering their freedom of choice to The Inquisitor, people have abandoned the providence of God and lost the basic foundations of consciousness to, essentially take up the life as a slave to the ruling church, and therefore the rule of Satan. Have we sacrificed our own freedom to a guiding mind, a force of will for the comfort of a system or group that promises a happy life?

What is the goal of life? Certainly, today, it would seem that the goal is to maximize happiness and minimize discomfort. Technology serves as a way to streamline life through the elimination or dilution of redundancy. And so, in the world of Minority Report, we have this goal at the end of the spectrum. We see a world devoid of meaning, purpose, ambition, drive and, ultimately, life. It is Albert Camus’ absurdist reality, wherein he writes, “The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.” If the ends justify those means, then a life of endless temporal pleasure aligns with that notion. Here, Spielberg’s vision encapsulates that dystopia/utopia, the logical conclusion to "what becomes of humanity when meaninglessness and nothingness replaces the narratives of civilization."

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 4 years ago

The solution, of course, is to seek out meaning somewhere other than momentary, fleeting enjoyment of every moment, and not to necessarily avoid discomfort. Trials and struggles can be rewarding. Difficulty, adversity, putting in more time and effort into things like hobbies, caring deeply - this stuff is all beneficial in the long run. We need to look for *meaning*, not *pleasure*. We need to avoid evil and selfishness, not hard work.

Of course, we should seek to eliminate needless strife (curing diseases, for example, or using technology to provide food, shelter, heat, clothing, and so on and so forth), but we shouldn't simply seek ease or it turns to a kind of luxuriant anesthetic.

Viktor Frankl writes about meaning in contrast to happiness. And, of course, for millennia we've had "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity" from the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Good catch!

[–] Fandango (534) 4 years ago

I always look forward to your comments.

The current zeitgeist favors those transient moments of happiness in lieu of something eternal. Viktor Frankl, in his 1946 piece on Man's Search for Meaning, writes that since the 20th century, man has existed in an existential vacuum, where he sees life as meaningless and a constant struggle. He argues it's because the luxuries and excesses are transient physical pleasures that create a spiritual vacuity, which impede any attempts at finding meaning and purpose outside of scientific materialism.

The materialism that proliferated and had taken root during the post-war boom was replaced with experience. As you mentioned, and extending the quote by Solomon, "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?"

Mammon is often referred to as an insatiable greed towards material possessions, but it is not only an uncurbed affinity towards material abundance, but an affinity towards the absence of pain; a path towards a life absent suffering (C.N. Lazarev, Diagnostics of Karma).

We have merely replaced one extreme (materialism) with another (experience).

I am reminded of Matthews 7:13-14, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

In Minority Report, we see that the path towards a spiritual and, perhaps meaningful life, is obscured through this vast and proliferating gray emptiness.

Indeed, we must find meaning and purpose, but can we blame society and ourselves when all around is in disarray, and when those around are just as seemingly lost?

Thank you for valuable insights.

Take care.

[–] Ace_Spade (9544) 4 years ago

Wonderful stuff, Fandango!

Yes: materialism is a big problem here. We seem to be wired for immediate, quick gratification, sacrificing our future selves' happiness for something swift and simple. An easy example is that instead of exercising and eating right in the present (ensuring our longer, healthier future) most people sit in front of the TV eating burgers and chips.

Mammon is one of our chief problems, especially if taken (as you say) not simply as "money" but "greed". Deeper still, I would say, is selfishness. If we're talking seven deadly sins, I'm thinking Pride is worse than Greed. Pride always seems to be the source of woe. "I'm important enough to kill that guy and take his land!" That's pride as much as anything, isn't it? Selfishness. I usually go as far as to define evil (or Evil?) based on this principle of the self: if one acts only for oneself at the expense of others, that is evil. Of course, there are nuances (and that's not to say a person *can't* do something for themselves), but that's the basis of badness.

You're right to expand the quote. Of course, following through to the end of the book (which I maintain is arguably the best existential philosophical work of all time) is the conclusion: "Remember [your Creator] before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed...and the spirit will return to God who gave it." Obviously, there's a religious and spiritual interpretation, but taken more generally, it's an admonission to seek out meaning - the real Truth - and avoid frivolous vanity.

I don't think it's about blame. I think it's, "here we are, now how do we fix it?" We help ourselves and each other to seek after meaningful things. We accept that we will fail often, but we must try again and again.

Minority Report also shows what happens when we attempt to play God and treat each other as subjects to our "divine plans".

Materialism is abundant, too (those ads!) in Minority Report.

Right back atcha! Great stuff!

[–] Leodicaprio (6426) 3 years ago

dont need biblical verses to find answers

[–] spacecomedy (2043) 4 years ago

Appreciate the quality posts by you and Ace_Spade. Minority Report has always been a rewatchable for me whenever I catch it on TV. I've always associated it with Fight Club maybe because of the griminess and materialism critiques. Both films emphasize that disappointment and pain are part of life. It's not something we should seek out, but when we encounter it we shouldn't necessarily try to anesthetize ourselves with drugs/alcohol or material goods. Anderton's case is an extreme one and I wouldn't fault anyone in his circumstance trying to dull the pain, but in the case of the Narrator/Tyler Durden he makes a conscious choice (misguided, some might might say), to break out of his Fürni catalog lifestyle in the most dramatic way possible.

Food in Films: Everytime I watch the post-op fridge scene, I cringe, "No, not that sandwich! Not that milk!"

[–] Fandango (534) 4 years ago

Thank you for the kind words and insights.

In watching Fight Club, I am drawn to the works of Frederic Jameson in Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991). Here, Jameson remarks on how contemporary society is schizophrenic and without unity. The function of capitalism, then, is to offer a wholeness through advertisement and consumerism. This notion is perfectly encapsulated in the scene where Jack is in his apartment looking through the catalogue: "I had become a slave to the IKEA nesting instinct....I would flip and wonder, what kind of dining room set *defines* me as a person?"

We see that Jack's perennial drive to consume—an extension of the postwar materialistic hysteria—is attempting to fill the black hole which had previously been filled with spirituality, God worship, and rituals, as outlined Carl Jung.

The postmodern paradigm is highlighted in Minority Report. In the film, there is a sense of "heightened extremism," as we see a drug-addicted society only jumping from one source of pleasure to the next. The film evokes, in the "negative terms, a sense of anxiety and loss of reality, but which one could just as well imagine in the positive terms of euphoria, a high, an intoxicatory or hallucinogenic intensity."

[–] spacecomedy (2043) 4 years ago

Both films make me think about Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone. Both Jack and John turned to material goods/narcotics because they lacked a strong circle of friends and family. The internet has really exacerbated this since online communities (while enjoyable) aren't a true replacement for being physically present with others. Today, most first world residents know very little about their neighbors (just like Jack and John). For many, most of their work happens on a screen and then they retreat to their homes where they relax via more screens (which tend to feed them only what they want to see). In previous decades, activities such as church worship or lodge membership were far from perfect, but they did encourage people to think about more than just themselves. Ultimately, both Jack and John want to be part of something bigger than just themselves.