Harold Pinter's Birthday Party - Thinking Activity - Worksheet

Hello Readers!

Here is the worksheet of the film screening of 1968 film The Birthday Party directed by William Friedkin.

Date: 1968

Director: William Friedkin

Actors: Robert Shaw, Patrick Magee

Click here to visit teacher's blog on the worksheet questions of this film.

* Post-Viewing Tasks:

1. Why are two scenes of Lulu omitted from the movie?

Ans: It can be said that perhaps the director wanted to have the audience etiquettes related with the film and in terms of artistic liberty, the director might not be willing to compromise with the target audience. Although when the film released, the time of 1950s and 60s, society might be having Victorian notions. As such it was necessary to remove or omit the two scenes from the film.

2. Is movie successful in giving us the effect of menace? Where you able to feel it while reading the text?

Ans: While reading Harold Pinter's play, I was unable to identify the feeling of menace. Whereas in the film I was able to feel the menace effect because of the sound of knocking the doors and tearing the newspaper.

3. Do you feel the effect of lurking danger while viewing the movie? Were you able to feel the same while reading the text ?

Ans: Yes the lurking danger of unknown was felt in both, while reading and while watching the film. At first, Goldberg and McCann seemed very decent and well to do people, but as the play unfolds to eyes, their hidden intentions started coming to the surface.

4. What do you read in 'newspaper' in the movie? Petey is reading newspaper to Meg, it torn into pieces by McCain, pieces are hidden by Petey in last scene.

Ans: Newspaper is used as a symbol of power. Because the one who reads newspaper holds some power position in the play. For example Petey is reading newspaper and his wife Meg is asking about the trivial things. Now Petey may give answer with facts or with wring info, in such way Petey holds the power position. But when we look at the another scene of Petey hiding the torn pieces of newspaper, we suspect that he might be knowing who Goldberg and McCann actually are.

5. Camera is positioned over the head of McCain when he is playing Blind Man's Buff and is positioned at the top with a view of room like a cage (trap) when Stanley is playing it. What interpretations can you give to these positioning of camera?

Ans:

6. "Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of one another and pretense crumbles." (Pinter, Art, Truth & Politics: Excerpts from the 2005 Nobel Lecture). Does this happen in the movie?

Ans: When Petey and Meg allowed the duo of Goldberg and McCann to stay in boarding house, it seemed that these two are having something good around them. But by their behaviour we come to know that they are about to do suspicious activity in the house. Their inhuman way of interrogating Stanley describes their hidden instincts.

7. How does viewing movie help in better understanding of the play ‘The Birthday Party’ with its typical characteristics (like painteresque, pause, silence, menace, lurking danger)?

Ans:

8. With which of the following observations you agree:

- “It probably wasn't possible to make a satisfactory film of "The Birthday Party."

- “It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin”

Ans:

9. If you were director or screenplay writer, what sort of difference would you make in the making of movie?

Ans: If I would be the director of this film, I would have added few more scenes of Nat Goldberg and McCann blackmailing or threatening Petey and Meg. Because one interpretation can also be given about their silence and all-right kind of behavior that perhaps they might have been threatened by Goldberg and McCann. Perhaps they are not supposed to raise their voice against the activity Goldberg and McCann are about to conduct. Their anxiety and agony should be screened in this film. I would have included this part in the film.

10. Who would be your choice of actors to play the role of characters?

Ans: Stanley.

11. Do you see any similarities among Kafka's Joseph K. (in 'The Trial'), Orwell's Winston Smith (in 'Nineteen Eighty-Four') and Pinter's Victor (in 'One for the Road')?

Ans :

Waiting for Godot - Thinking Activity

Hello Readers!

With reference of an online film screening conduced online on 24th Nov 2020, this blog contains the  worksheet and follow up of the play "Waiting for Godot" discussed in the class. Samuel Beckett was a modern playwright and was associated with the "Theatre of the Absurd". This play is originally written in French with the title En Attendant Godot. 

Source Worksheet blog of questions - Click Here

* What connection do you see in the setting (“A country road. A tree. Evening.”) of the play and these paintings?

Ans: These are the paintings by Casper David Friedrich, titled as "Longing." Samuel Beckett has taken the inspiration for the setting of the play "Waiting for Godot". Two persons in the paintings connects us with two main character of the play Vladimir and Estragon. The barrenness of the tree also suggests absurdity of life, emptiness and nothingness. As the two persons in the painting are waiting for something, Vladimir and Estragon are also waiting for Godot.

* The tree is the only important ‘thing’ in the setting. What is the importance of tree in both acts? Why does Beckett grow a few leaves in Act II on the barren tree - The tree has four or five leaves - ?

Ans: Optimistically looking at the leaves, one can say that leaves are symbol of growth, newness and hope. As such there is no hope, no newness and no tone of growth in the play, still tree as part of nature works in its own way. As natural elements like water, greenery, air, fire. . . have nothing to do with human pain, agony, anxiety, frustration and restlessness. Nature is uncaring and indifferent to human being.

* In both Acts, evening falls into night and moon rises. How would you like to interpret this ‘coming of night and moon’ when actually they are waiting for Godot?

Ans: The fall of night and rise of the moon in the play can be read as if the moon is observing the miserable humans from the heavens. In the play an interesting dialogue comes,

Vladimir: Will night never come ?

Estragon: (Contemplates Moon) "Pale Wariness... of climbing heaven and gazing on the like of us."

The absurdity and paleness is felt from this dialogue.

* The director feels the setting with some debris. Can you read any meaning in the contours of debris in the setting of the play?

Ans : Debris is a useless biproduct of building materials. While demolishing the buildings and houses, lot of debris is found. The director has used the debris very cleverly as the setting of the play is countryside road. In order to increase coarseness and barrenness in the play, debris is used.

* The play begins with the dialogue “Nothing to be done”. How does the theme of ‘nothingness’ recurs in the play?

Ans :

* Do you agree: “The play (Waiting for Godot), we agreed, was a positive play, not negative, not pessimistic. As I saw it, with my blood and skin and eyes, the philosophy is: 'No matter what— atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, anything—life goes on. You can kill yourself, but you can't kill life." (E.G. Marshal who played Vladimir in original Broadway production 1950s)?

Ans :

* How are the props like hat and boots used in the play? What is the symbolical significance of these props?

Ans : Hat signifies mind. Boots signify body. Estragon wears boots and he is not able to remove the boots at first, just like desires and body urges. Just like boots get vanished and get rusty, Estragon also forgets many things as if his memory is also like his boots. Vladimir wears hat and he thinks a lot. He remembers many things.

* Do you think that the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseatic? Even when the master Pozzo is blind, he obediently hands the whip in his hand. Do you think that such a capacity of slavishness is unbelievable?

Ans:

* Who according to you is Godot? God? An object of desire? Death? Goal? Success? Or . . .

Ans : Godot is an object of desire. Desire is an endless vicious chain that ultimately leads us nowhere. If we observe a toddler playing with toys, we come to know that as soon as it looks at the better toy than it carries, it will leave that toy and will crave, run and cry for the better toy. This desire perhaps comes from the binary comparison that is hardwired in our mind. For grown ups, this desire is perhaps money, material wealth, luxuries, physical fulfilment, emotional acceptance, public recognition and fame, and what not. . . Goals and success are also sprouted from desire. Passion is also nothing but desire. Desire can be compared as fire also, which never gets extinguished.

* “The subject of the play is not Godot but ‘Waiting’” (Esslin, A Search for the Self). Do you agree? How can you justify your answer?

Ans :

* Do you think that plays like this can better be ‘read’ than ‘viewed’ as it requires a lot of thinking on the part of readers, while viewing, the torrent of dialogues does not give ample time and space to ‘think’? Or is it that the audio-visuals help in better understanding of the play?

Ans : For many, reading a play is more preferable than to watch it. But, plays are actually performed in the mind of the playwright. Then it gets penned on the paper. So basically its a matter of performance. Theatrical performance makes the written play more lively and meaningful. So far as Waiting for Godot is concerned, it should be read first and then to be watched also. Because, even after reading the simple and straight forward language of this play, one requires visual clarification for what one has read. Then, the torrent of dialogues and rapidness of speech becomes more clear while watching.

Yes, the audio-visual helps in better understanding of the play.

* Which of the following sequence you liked the most:

- Vladimir – Estragon killing time in questions and conversations while waiting

- Pozzo – Lucky episode in both acts

- Conversation of Vladimir with the boy

Ans:

* Did you feel the effect of existential crisis or meaninglessness of human existence in the irrational and indifference Universe during screening of the movie? Where and when exactly that feeling was felt, if ever it was?

Ans:

* Vladimir and Estragon talks about ‘hanging’ themselves and commit suicide, but they do not do so. How do you read this idea of suicide in Existentialism?

Ans: Suicide is a very bold statement against all the whys of living life. Albert Camus mentions about philosophical suicide in which if one denies to think or question anything one is doing a philosophical suicide. In this play, Vladimir and Estragon can be read as profound existentialists. They are ready to try everything to meet Godot. But at the same time they feel insecure whether they might fail to kill themselves.

* Can we do any political reading of the play if we see European nations represented by the 'names' of the characters (Vladimir - Russia; Estragon - France; Pozzo - Italy and Lucky - England)? What interpretation can be inferred from the play written just after World War II? Which country stands for 'Godot'?

Ans: Germany stands for Godot. As the character of Godot is absent and silent but to consider Godot as God then, Germany best fits in terms of World War II. Adolf Hitler was a German dictator and he occupied many countries including many European countries like Russia France, Italy, England.

(Click Here to view the map. Click Here to know more about World War II). In this way one can politically connect all the characters and countries which are waiting for Germany to liberate them.

* So far as Pozzo and Lucky [master and slave] are concerned, we have to remember that Beckett was a disciple of Joyce and that Joyce hated England. Beckett meant Pozzo to be England, and Lucky to be Ireland." (Bert Lahr who played Estragon in Broadway production). Does this reading make any sense? Why? How? What?

Ans:

* The more the things change, the more it remains similar. There seems to have no change in Act I and Act II of the play. Even the conversation between Vladimir and the Boy sounds almost similar. But there is one major change. In Act I, in reply to Boy's question, Vladimir says:

"BOY: What am I to tell Mr. Godot, Sir?

VLADIMIR: Tell him . . . (he hesitates) . . . tell him you saw us. (Pause.) You did see us, didn't you?

How does this conversation go in Act II? Is there any change in seeming similar situation and conversation? If so, what is it? What does it signify?

Ans: The lines are changing with the word from 'us' to 'me'. In the Act II, Vladimir changes the tone of the thought and speaks: 'tell him you saw me'. In the Act II, This conversation happens between Vladimir and Boy, where Estragon is sleeping. If Estragon represents the body and Vladimir mind, then perhaps one can state that, mind is the ultimate master of the body and mind knows that the body is material thing and going to decay with time, but perhaps it is the consciousness that goes somewhere. This way one can see the selfishness in Vladimir's character. Even after being together throughout the play, Vladimir changes his mind and willingly forgets Estragon. A Gujarati quote that comes to mind,

"અંતે તો સગા સૌ સ્વાર્થનાં"

Vladimir's selfishness also seems forgivable because on a larger way if one thinks, all the humans are tied with one another with some kind of need and requirements. If its all about give and take, then such selfishness is also legible, and forgivable as per the human temperaments. Even after the death of any near and dear ones, people forget them and move on with life. So, this is also a considering aspect of human predicament.

Sometimes life gives many crucial choices to make. And humans mostly go for the personal benefits. For better prospects of life, children go for foreign countries and they forger their parents. Even after death of their parents they don't come to native place.

These are the slightly awkward sides of human life and various situations but if one thinks about a larger and most adverse situations, one comes to know that nothingness prevails everywhere. Still its life, that goes on. . .

Thank You!

additional reading:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/04/theater/waiting-for-godot-review-druid-theater.html

Interpretation Challenge: Breath: The Shortest Play by Samuel Beckett

Hello Readers!

Here is a blog post about giving interpretation of a thirty-second play, 'Breath'. It is the shortest play written by Samuel Beckett. Martin Esslin first gave the term 'Theatre of the Absurd.' He was awarded with Nobel Prize in 1969. Few of his notable works are Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Happy Days and others.

If we look at the script of the play, it is as follows.

CURTAIN Up

1. Faint light on stage littered with miscellaneous rubbish. Hold about five seconds.

2. Faint brief cry and immediately inspiration and slow increase of light together reaching maximum - together in about ten seconds. Silence and hold for about five seconds.

3. Expiration and slow decrease of light together reaching minimum together (light as in 1) in about ten seconds and immediately cry as before. Silence and hold about five seconds. 

CURTAIN Down

-------------------------------------

* Interpretation of the play

If one tries to interpret such a short play, it can be said that it covers much absurdity and meaningless. As we know that Samuel Beckett is associated with Theatre of Absurd, his another play, "Waiting for Godot" is also an absurd play.

The title of the play Breath is very significant. It refers to life. The script of the play contains miscellaneous rubbish. This suggests boredom and anxiety. The brief cry also signifies life but it also suggest disgust, anguished, stressed, haphazard, pessimist and gloomy thinking. The play is very short so, this also significantly suggests that life is very short. All we have to do is just breath and cry. Crying for status, power, money, recognition, attachment, acceptance and what not. The beginning part of script suggest birth, as the light inspires and grows. The end part suggests death as the light and the sound gradually decreases. But the setup is very rubbish, so it suggests that life is nothing but a rubbish stuff, spread hither and thither. No matter how human tries to decorate the life, it will remain rubbish and coarse. This also relates with Albert Camus's Myth of Sisyphus.

* Picturization of the play

The script is very short and perhaps it is written for the dramatization purpose. So, I've tried to shoot a video following the original script and also used crying and breathing sound.

A short video describing the scene is also embedded here.

Samuel Beckett's ‘Breath’ by Rohit Vyas

If you find this video interesting then I suggest to visit the blog link given below.

https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2014/09/interpretation-challenge-breath.html

WHAT’S BEHIND THE SCENES?

Let's get some technical info about how I shot and edited this short play.

* Shot with mobile camera, tripod and headphones. For more information about ICT tools which I use, click here.

* Used steel glass to generate more deeper and hollow crying sound. Here is a demo image clicked after recording the audio.

* For repairing purpose, I have a container full of mechanical tools like screws, nuts, bolts, wall-plugs, visors, nails, rivets and many small articles. I have used these tools as prop for the play. This use of screws and other sharp objects are used metaphorically to show absurdity and coarseness. Here the sharpness also makes a curious statement that life if full of pain and agony.

Now, lets see the post-production work.

Click on the images to get closer look.

1. OpenShot Video Editor

I've used this opensource video editing tool that allows editing, cropping, merging image files, audio files and video files altogether. No license or payment required. This software gives 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p to 4K video exporting resolutions. Here is the screenshot below.

2. Audacity

It is the free audio editing tool. It is used for editing, cropping and merging the multiple audio tracks. I also applied noise reduction effect to sounds. I've cut unnecessary honking sounds coming from nearby road. Though this software doesn't support Advansed Audio Codec - AAC audio format of recording which is the only minus point.

3. Online Audio Converters

There are many. And I also select a random converter. Here I've selected ZAMZAR online conversion website to convert AAC audio track to MP3.

All in all, this entire process took 5 hours in recording the video and audio (many retakes were taken) editing and mixing many files for final video, and uploading the finalized version to YouTube. I have learnt a lot many things from this project.

Thank You!

Film Review: Postcolonial Films: Midnight's Children, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Black Prince and Victoria & Abdul

Hello Readers !

This blog is part of postcolonial studies and it contains film reviews of films which has reference of postcolonialism. Here, four film reviews are written. It was also guided by Dr. Dilip Barad in his blog that how to write a film review. Click here for more reference. 

Four postcolonial films are reviewed here.

1. Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children

2. Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist

3. Kavi Raz's The Black Prince

4. Stephan Frears' Victoria and Abdul

To watch trailers of the films on colonial history, please click here.

1. Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children

Midnight's Children is basically a postcolonial novel written by Salman Rushdie and then adapted as a film in 2012. The film revolves around the nuances of the event of Indian Independence and the time of the independence. Through the narration of Saleem Sinai, a midnight's child, the film opens up with midnight scene a celebration of Indian Independence and at the same time, Saleem and Shiva are born. Saleem is actually the son of Willy Winky and Shiva is the son of Ahmed Sinai. But, swapping the children is the idea given by the nurse's radical and fanatic lover, who thinks that by doing so, all will be treated as equal, rich becomes poor and poor becomes rich.

Saleem is able to call all the midnight's children through some magical power of his nose. This is magic realism technique also used in the novel by Rushdie.

What is visibly seen in the film that, is a visual critique on the government's policy of implying Emergency, the idea of equality.

2. Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Click Here to read previously written review.

The film Reluctant Fundamentalist holds the event of 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. The film is based on Mohsin Hamid's novel by the same name. Riz Ahmed plays Changez Khan in the film. Being a protagonist, he finds the two different roots of fundamentals. He paves the path to success in USA. He becomes a business analyst in the firm Underwood Samson. He is determined and workaholic attitude leads him to the peak of happiness. Changez recieves a promising token from his head for the surety of the post of Managing Director. As he was happy, he turned on the television and watched the news of 9/11 attack. This incident is well framed by Mira Nair in the film. The subtlety of art of telling a shocking news in such normal and casual way gives a height to the film. The reactions of Changez was mixed. After the attack Changez is not treated the same as he was being treated before. 

It is said for America that When America sneezes, the world catches cold.

(https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/articles/where-does-the-phrase-when-america-sneezes-the-world-catches-cold-originate/) Though the statement refers to the mixed culture of America as the country contains numerous immigrants, but with reference to this film we can see this statement as description of America's capitalist power. America's policy of globalization and open culture attracts many enthusiastic people around the world. 

3. Kavi Raz's The Black Prince

The Black Prince was the second name of Maharaja Duleep Singh of Punjab State in British India. Duleep Sing's father died during a war against Britishers as they conquered the Punjab State. Duleep Singh at the age of five became the ruler of Punjab state. After growing up, his religion was changed to Christian, he was sent to Queen Victoria in England. His true identity of a warrior is subjugated in England and his is not allowed to communicate with her mother who is staying in India.

4. Stephan Frears' Victoria and Abdul

This film seems an attempt of vanishing the postcolonial readings of history. An Indian servant Abdul Karim who develops accidental friendship with the Queen Victoria. The film is based on the book written by Shrabani Basu.

Thank You.

References:

The Black Prince. Directed by Kavi Raz, 2017.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Directed by Mira Nair, performances by Riz Ahmed, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Om Puri, Kate Hudson, Shabana Azmi. 2012.

Midnight's Children. Directed by Deepa Mehta, performances by Satya Bhabha, Shabana
Azmi, Rahul Bose, Ronit Roy. 2012.

Victoria and Abdul. Directed by Stephen Frears, performances by Ali Fazal, Judi Dench. 2017.

Image credits:

IMDB-https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjA4NzY1NTQ1Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTM3NTY0MjI@._V1_.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTNkZWJhNDYtZDhkZC00MGNmLWIzY2YtMDU0YmVhZjBhMDU4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjg1MjM0Njc@._V1_.jpg

https://images.hungama.com/c/1/9d4/ba2/18041603/18041603_1280x800.jpg

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzAzNjg3Mzg1Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTUzNzExOQ@@._V1_.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Midnight%27s_Children_Poster.jpg

Ecocriticism and Postcolonialism - Sunday Reading

Hello Readers !

On 10th November 2020, an online talk session was organized by the English Department, MKBU. Dr. Devang Nanavati was invited as a speaker to talk on "Ecocrotical Thinking: Sitanshu Yashaschandra's Tree Once Again". It was quite thoughtful and productive talk session with Devang sir and students got many new points to ponder about ecocriticism and postcolonialism.

* Literary Expressions - Ecocriticism

Sitanshu Yahashschandra has written many Gujarati poems. "Jatayu", "Vakhar" and "Odysseus nu Halesu" are the collection of his poems. 'Tree Once Again' is basically an English translation of a Gujarati poem 'ફરી પાછું વૃક્ષ'. The poem is a part of a collection of poems Odysseus nu Halesu published in 1974. The poem is translated into English by Devang Nanavati, the speaker himself. A blog link was shared earlier by Dr. Dilip Brarad sir for references about this talk. Click here to visit.

The poem 'Tree Once Again' gives much of the material to think about ecocriticism. The way literature has given space to nature in works has much to do with the binaries such as nature/culture, man/nature. 

In this blog, postcolonial reading of ecology is mentioned.

* The Reference of postcolonialism.

Postcolonial studies also opens many strands of thoughts to read the ecocriticism in depth. If one looks at nature with the lens of postcolonialism, one gets a question in mind that can nature be seen as a colonized subject ? If it is so, then how humans have taken the control over nature is worth to think about. Though, the human agency has imaginarily taken the thought of control over nature as granted. The process of colonizing the land requires human power, efforts and most importantly one needs to know the language of the the colonized subject, here, people.

Why nature is seen as the subjugated entity ? Perhaps our reading of nature is being mistaken. We have several example to look into it. Some of them, are cited here.

[Chipko Movement] is one of the evident example. Power dynamics works as the undercurrent of colonizing the land and other bodies of ecology. The word, legitimization is interesting to read. Bureaucrats and officials legitimize their policies through advertisements, and highlighting the numbers of beneficiaries from various schemes.

The Chipko movement in India, for example, which is largely organized by women, has been traced back directly by Vandana Siva to beginnings initiated by Mira Behn, one of the closest to Gandhi. Shiva has argued that national colonization brought with it a colonization of living natural resources such as the forests, and then a mental colonization in its prescription of technological and market oriented responses to farming and environmental issues. (Young, 100)

Vandana Shiva strikes on the governments schemes as follows:

As usual, in every scheme that worsens the position of the poor, it is the poor who are invoked as beneficiaries. - Vandana Shiva

[...] individuals such as Hima Devi and Sunderlal Bahuguna moved from village to village, spreading the word and advising on methods. Although some people moved into leadership roles, as in most grassroots movements that did not achieve a public prominence comparable to the party leaders of conventional political organizations. The Chipko movement was the product of collectives of activities. together they achieved widespread and remarkable success in preventing deforestation in their own areas throughout the Garhwal Himalayas. From then on, the Chipko movement moved deliberately towards the conservation of the forest as an ecosystem as well as a social system. (Young, 104)

Colonization of common land through privatization, and colonization through the introduction of exotic tree species, work in the same direction against the interests of local people, making their lives literally on sustainable by taking away their means of livelihood. Finally, such schemes are usually administered through local bureaucratic organizations, which profile the local pageantry into the clutches of corrupt alliance of the forces of power, privilege, and property. (Young, 105)

One more example of NBA - Narmada Bachao Andolan can be read in this way.

Thanks.

Works Cited:

Young, Robert J. Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction. OUP Oxford, 2003.

References:

Loomba, Ania. Colonialism-postcolonialism. 2nd ed., PDF, Routledge, 2005.

Shiva, Vandana. Ecology and the Politics of Survival: Conflicts Over Natural Resources in India. SAGE Publications Pvt., 1991.

Weber, Thomas. Hugging the Trees: The Story of the Chipko Movement. Viking, 1988.

Existentialism: Flipped Learning Activity

Hello Readers!

In this flipped learning blog, Existentialism is taken as a topic to learn. In the paper of Modernist Literature, an Absurd play, "Waiting for Godot" is studied part of the syllabus in M.A Sem 3. In order to understand the play better, it is necessary to know what is existentialism and how this philosophical movement leads one to think as an individual.

The process of fllipped learnig is very intersting. At first place a teacher shares his/her blog link to students, which leads them to another website and there they find another blog about the flipped learning topic and there studtends watch video resources and read the material. The task of the students is to ask questions from the videos they've just watched.

Please visit the blog link below for detailed videos and reading resources of existentialism.

https://blog.dilipbarad.com/2016/09/existentialism-video-resources.html

1. Thoughts on video resources

- All videos are explaining the idea of Existentialism very clearly.

2. Video I liked the most

– Video series uploaded by Dasein. Through handmade sketches and infographics, the explanation was easy to grasp.

– A video titled, 'teach me like I'm five'. In that short video, two teachers are engaging kids to understand the heavy philosophical term existentialism and, Friedrich Nietzsche who was one of the existentialist thinkers.

– A video titled why I like existentialism by Eric Dodson. This video explains why one should be having holistic approach towards existentialism. The idea of rebel is also worth noting. One may ask a curious question that if existentialism gives such pessimistic and absurd views about life, then why one should live at all ? But here is the answer. Even after knowing that everything is meaningless is life, we are selecting the option to live the life. This choice is rebellious choice. Rebellion against the idea of absurdity, adversity, pain and agony. We live the life and continue to think. This mental activity of thinking itself is a rebellion against all the odds. Denying to think is a philosophical suicide for Albert Camus.

3. learning outcome

I've learnt the topic of existentialism in very easy way. I learnt that Existentialism and Nihilism are different from one another. Absurdity has much to do with existentialism. 

It is believed that Jean Paul Sartre is the pioneer of this philosophical movement, Existentialism. But actually, before Sartre, Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger were the pioneers of this movement. But due to his seminal 1946 work “Existentialism is a Humanism”, Sartre got prominence in this movement.

4. My questions

Here are the questions raised during and after watching the videos.

• Question from Video 2.

The explanation of absurdity seems to be very true when one silently reflects upon life, ultimately all our attempts to decorate the life will go in vain.

But what might be the possible reasons to choose hope instead of suicide when one thinks of death ? (2:20) Is that so, that humans are deeply conditioned to look at only the brighter side of thinking? If one opts to find the escape from the thought of absurdity, why majority of humans cling to only hope, instead of suicide ? Is that so because there is a deep feeling of fear of death ?

• Question from Video 6.

Nietzsche believed for Nihilism that, highest values devalueate themselves. How this can be understood?

Can it be said that, Nihilism has some escapes like passive vision to accept what life is ? Whereas absurdity leaves no option but death.

• Questions from Video 8.

In this video, there is a reference of Übermensch. Does the Übermensch have killing instinct? If one refers to the survival of the fittest, then how Übermensch can be seen in today's world?

There's one more reference in an article that Übermensch looks at life in much different way. To cite a quote from that article,

"He (Übermensch) has got the feeling of unity of creation and destruction, good and bad taste of life and is able to say that life is good even it may seem terrible and questionable."

How can only Übermensch can have this sense of unity and living an all-good life ? And why not others?

Doesn't it seem a self contradictory idea of Übermensch? Because for Nietzsche, not everyone has potential to become Übermensch. As the statement says: "For Nietzsche, there are only some capable and talented who qualifies to be an overman from his point of view."

5. feedback

All the questions I asked, were answered very satisfactorily. The more enriching part of this flipped learning is even after watching all the videos students get many new things and ideas from live discussion.