On coping

Reply to Posty McPostface

It may be that there's a certain element of catharsis involved in exploring nihilistic/pessimistic philosophies, a sophisticated version of watching horror movies, but no less entertainment in its own way. In this sense, these philosophies may ironically do more good than harm in terms of distracting from/relieving ennui and depression for those who embrace them. And so again end up being coping mechanisms.

From an interview with David Cronenberg:

"Interviewer: Evil is more interesting, cinematically, than good.

Cronenberg: ...Yeah, it’s more interesting. Because it illuminates things, partly, and partly because it’s cathartic. A villain in a bizarre, twisted way is always a Christlike figure: You know he’s going to die, and he’s dying for your sins, for your rage, for your craziness; he’s doing it for you so you don’t have to do it."

http://davidbreskin.com/magazines/1-interviews/david-cronenberg-2/

In a sense the pessimist philosophy similarly concentrates on the more interesting evil/negative aspects of existence and kills the world for the pessimist so he doesn't have to do it himself. It's a kind of romanticism in the end, a romantic wallowing maybe.

I'm reading the article, and find it very interesting how the director projects his own view of philosophy onto the cinema screen. But, I find some statements made (thus far in my reading, somewhat uncomfortable). I've never been a fan of horror movies, by the way...

If there’s a horror in confronting the inevitability of death — and we all carry our little mini-horror film around with us in the shape of our own deaths — wouldn’t eternal life be an even greater horror?

Oh, yeah. There’s no way out, that’s one of the problems. No one really wants to live forever, not really. But on a theoretical level, by apposition, you don’t want to die, so you really are saying you want to live forever — even though you know that’s not really going to work. Now, I’ve had moments where the inevitability of death is an absolute strength — it’s an escape, it’s a freedom. And certainly people who find themselves in a hideous situation, like the concentration camps, there’s a point where death is truly a release. So, the idea that death is merciful, that’s not only a schematic concept to me, I can feel it as an emotional reality as well.

At the beginning of Naked Lunch is the quote “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.” Although I don’t think it was originally conceived by Hassan I. Sabbah as an existentialist statement, in a way it is. It’s saying: Because death is inevitable, we are free to invent our own reality. We are part of a culture, we are part of an ethical and moral system, but all we have to do is take one step outside it and we see that none of that is absolute. Nothing is true. It’s not an absolute. It’s only a human construct, very definitely able to change and susceptible to change and rethinking. And you can then be free. Free to be unethical, immoral, out of society and agent for some other power, never belonging. Ultimately, if you are an existentialist and you don’t believe in God and the judgment after death, then you can do anything you want: You can kill, you can do whatever society considers the most taboo thing.

What do you think about the underlined text? Is this some sort of fatalism being projected on the plight of helpless people? I find that one can only feel such a feeling in face of the meaninglessness of their suffering, which is demeaning to say the least.

Reply to Posty McPostface

I don't think it's that as he spoke of extreme cases. Did you read the Van Dongen story, for instance?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/17/kill-me-now-acid-attack-led-euthanasia-mark-van-dongen

It's not demeaning of Van Dongen that he chose death as a release. Helplessness in the face of suffering can be a frightening and horrific situation (if the suffering is severe and permanent enough) that can make death absolutely preferable to life (even if for most of us periods of absolute helplessness are transient enough that a sense of meaning can see us through). So, I don't think the director is projecting fatalism on helpless people in general in a way that denigrates their suffering but just pointing out that in extreme cases it can lead to a flipping of the normal instinct to survive and that that's one theme of his horror movies.

So, to follow up on some thoughts. I think the issue becomes one of the effectiveness of differing coping strategies. Hence, pragmatism?

Reply to Baden

I would say pessimism might be a middle stage that begins with romanticism. That's all I've got so far...

Quoting Baden

I don't think it's that as he spoke of extreme cases.

Well, what he said exposes his belief that death can be a release from life given gratuitous suffering and the impossibility of relief from said suffering. Isn't that bona fide fatalism?

Reply to Posty McPostface

Not in my view; fatalism would be a resignation to the fact that we are mere puppets of forces beyond our control or will, particularly in the face of pain and death. This looks more like pragmatism applied to extreme situations. I don't see him generalizing this as an attitude to be borne regardless of context.