Neonoir Film Comes from Post Nietzschean existentialist though One of the basic tenets of neo-noir film comes from post-Nietzschean existentialist thought, and that is, that there is no such thing as absolute truth: “truth” is subjectively determined by each individual person, and no one person’s “truth” is greater than anyone else’s.
Nietzsche and the existentialist thinkers also maintained that we accomplish our goals or objectives by having a “will to power” to achieve these goals, much like “The Bride” in Kill Bill made her big toe wiggle, even after having been in a coma for four years, or, like Leonard Shelby in Memento, we make up our own “truths” — even when we have to lie to make ourselves happy — or like Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley, we just take what we want by whatever means possible, and hope for the best outcome, like inheriting Dickie Greenleaf’s wealth when we least expect it! The question is do any of these ways of determining, discovering, or creating our own truth/reality enable us to live more fulfilling or satisfying lives — in the end?
After watching and discussing the final minutes of Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2, Memento, and The Talented Mr. Ripley, what I’d like you to discuss in your final CE essay is how do Leonard Shelby of Christopher Nolan’s film Memento (2000), “The Bride” of Quentin Tarantino’s films Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 (2003-2004), and Tom Ripley of Anthony Minghella’s film The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) determine, discover, and/or create their own truth, identity, or life narrative, and how does the truth, identity, or life narrative they have determined, discovered, and/or created satisfy, fulfill, challenge, and/or destroy their expectations of who they want to be and how they want to live their lives? Please send me your 3-4 page, double-spaced, final essay in .pdf format by midnight on Fri. Dec. 14.
