Meaninglessness

"I am in existential depression."
- Garrison Hoffman, using an Arnold accent watching the end of Predator where Arnold sits in the helicopter expressionless after the final fight.

I heart Huckabees is a movie Camus would've loved and hated. I read Ebert's film review and he didn't get it. He had to watch it twice to get an idea of the plot. Of course he wouldn't get it, he's a film critic, not a philosopher. He isn't familiar with existentialism and all its different fractures. The main character in the movie, Albert, was looking for meaning. For about two hours, he goes to and fro finding meaning in life, whether it is in the cause he champions (not allowing a company to destroy a nearby wooded area making way for a mini-mall) or the love he seeks. This was demonstrated in the very first scene when he started to chase someone who looked like himself; he was trying to find himself. The movie was cute and interesting, but wouldn't be something I'd endorse. Way too much cursing and unnecessary scenes; makes something that could've been decent very unappealing. Other than that, I understand the message of the film, which are a series of questions itself, questions any thoughtful person would ask.

When people are unaware of God, or worse, deny His existence, they end up trying to figure out the answers the harder way. There's the hard way and the harder way. Most people live on the surface, as Dustin Hoffman's character says, which is true. They don't want to take the time to answer the hard questions. They live life in ignorance, enjoying it every now and then, working for most of it, then die. Those who do take the time to search for meaning beyond work-play-die cycle will usually have difficulty figuring things out but inevitably, in their struggle, come across God. Then, to deny God will make the questions even harder to answer. They get this muddied thought-pattern/belief-system that even they can't follow. Or those who are brave enough will follow it to its rational end – nothingness. Life becomes a theatre of the absurd (or in this case a movie of the absurd) when man becomes the center of the story. Sadly, our society is heading in that direction in full speed.

Throughout the movie, he didn't seem to acknowledge the existence of God. There wasn't much space in the movie to acknowledge it at all. Albert began his journey and search for meaning through coincidence. There were a few times when Albert randomly came across "the African guy." Because of those chance encounters, he thought there was something that tied them to each other. In the real world, God would've used that thought pattern to lead a guy like Albert to learn more about Him. The sequence would go like this: Albert meets the African guy; Albert thinks his "coincidence" idea; Albert meets up with the African guy and African guy invites him to dinner with his family, who we find are Christians. At least the director makes a brief visit to the Christian experience, even if it wasn't the best example. In the commentary, the director talks about the irony of Christians (and he included most other religions) that they have big, open hearts, but closed minds. How unfortunate that he considered Christians closed-minded. (The different definitions of open-mindedness I explained in "Straight Talk".)

If something like the Christian family dinner scene happened in real life, the idea of coincidence would've been a perfect way to introduce Albert to the subject of God. The director unfortunately portrayed the family as closed-minded in the sense that they were uninformed of the rest of the world's suffering, intellectual and otherwise. Not only that, but he made the father unloving, which caused Albert to run away from a perfect opportunity to meet more accepting, open-minded, and knowledgeable Christians. The director must have had a similar negative experience with the few Christians he's met in real life. I would've loved to have a discussion with Albert and allow him to see for himself the dearth in existentialism. I guess the belief in the ignorant Christian, both intellectually and socially, is still pervasive in this society. H. L. Mencken, the most popular American journalist during the Scopes trial, described fundamentalist Christians as "peasants and ignoramuses" and it seemed to have stuck over a hundred years later. In my experience, when I was younger, I've always seen Christians as highly intellectual and cosmopolitan as any secular person. My dad and my uncles are scholars with intellect and wit that can run circles around anybody. All the pastors I've ever known were very knowledgeable and aware of the world system. It wasn't until I was in my late teens when I met a broader range of adult Christians, from disappointingly dumb to obnoxiously unloving. Just like the rest of the population, some Christians "get it" about life in general and some don't. For those who are seeking the Truth, I only pray that they meet Christians who are aware. No, I don't expect every Christian to be an expert logician and apologist like C. S. Lewis. But it would be nice that they develop themselves. At least C. S. Lewis wrote great books so that we of lesser degree may share with those who are seriously seeking. Those who are truly open-minded will investigate the claims of Christianity and not just regard it as some hokey religion. Some may consider themselves open-minded but are too lazy to follow through with that claim. Then there are those who, when someone says "Christian," get irritated or uncomfortable and it only shows their prejudice and are themselves closed-minded.

In the end, the director dealt with two major approaches to existentialism: looking for meaning through disconnected deconstruction (nihilistic existentialism) or through interconnectedness (Buddhist existentialism). Whether or not I have the correct terms, it's at least a general description of the conflict between Vaubon and the detectives. No matter how much you synthesize (both/and), the human brain will always express its fundamental binary function, seeing antithesis (either/or). By the end of the movie, given the choice between Vaubon and the detectives, Albert synthesizes the two differing viewpoints, as any good existentialist will do. In principle, he created his own new senseless philosophy and Sisyphus is back where he started. Following the synthesis will lead to meaninglessness once again. Take God out and it will lead to nothingness. Start and end with man and life will be absurd.