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Belle Garcia
Jennifer Gammage
English 220
5 May 2014
Research Argument
Abstract
This paper will focus on the relationship between major motion pictures and
nihilism. Because both the film industry and nihilism are growing, are more movies
becoming nihilistic? And while both are growing, are directors beginning to make
their movies nihilistic because of it? There is a relationship between all of this, and
directors have begun to make movies nihilistic because of it. A few movies will be
addressed and prove this relationship then discuss a director or directors who make
nihilistic films.
Introduction
Film is a huge part of our society. Mostly everyone enjoys relaxing after a
long day and watching a movie, whether it is the newest blockbuster or an old
classic. It is a growing industry throughout the world and no matter where you go
there will be some way to watch a movie. But there is also something else growing
and expanding in todays society and that is nihilism. Nihilism is the total rejection
of morals, values and beliefs. It includes destruction of others values and beliefs and
destruction of society itself. As the film industry grows, many films begin to
incorporate nihilism in them. Some include Fight Club, The Dark Knight, and Citizen
Kane, which will be further analyzed. There is a relationship between nihilism and

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film seeing that there are so many nihilistic movies made today, whether it be the
characters that are nihilistic or the plot of the film, but as more are coming out, it
seems as though directors may be becoming nihilistic themselves and are making
these films nihilistic on purpose.
Methods
In order to complete my research for this paper, I watched and re-watched
many movies and rather than simply watching, I made sure to take mental and
written notes on the nihilism within them. I analyzed each character to see if they
are being nihilistic as well as looking at the plots of each film to see if that makes the
film nihilistic. After I watched these movies I looked online to see if there are certain
directors who make some of these movies or other nihilistic movies, then read all
the sites on them. I wanted to find some more research on things that I didnt catch
while watching the movies so I looked up the movies I did watch and tried to find
more information on nihilism within the movie and will use that as research as well
Background
The film industry has had a very long history. It dates back to about the 18
th

century when photography was starting to emerge then gradually growing into
what it is today. After people began to understand photography and the way to
make permanent images, the emergence of motion pictures began. In 1878 a British
photographer named Eadweard Muybridge became the first person to make
photographs in motion. He showed how people and animals moved. In France in
1894, two brothers, Louis and August Lumiere made a combination movie camera
and projector that was able to project an image to be seen by many people. In 1893,

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Thomas Edison built the first motion picture studio in New Jersey, and using a
similar projector as the one Louis and August Lumiere made, Thomas Edisons
company projected hand-tinted motion pictures in New York City.
Coming into the 20
th
century, the motion picture industry really began to
grow even more. We all remember places such as Blockbuster and Movie Gallery,
where people could rent movies before Netflix and RedBox came out. Places like
those first began in 1902 by Henry Miles. In 1903, the chief of production at Thomas
Edisons studio, Edwin Porter began to change production to be more story telling
and thus films such as The Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery,
which was the first western, was created. Quickly after, the first nickelodeon was
opened in 1906. A nickelodeon is a small movie theater where admission was only a
nickel. By 1907 the daily attendance at nickelodeons was more than 2 million
people, reported by the Saturday Evening Post. New York City set up a censorship
board to look and review all the films being shown and eliminated anything
indecent or immoral. In March of 1909 the Board of Censorship was officially
created and filmmakers were made to send their films and anything the Board felt
needed to be changed, they would take the proper action to fix the film.
Los Angeles added Hollywood in 1910 and in that time Hollywood bought the
right to a book for the first time, that being Helen Hunt Jacksons novel Ramona.
Then in 1912 Carl Laemmle organized the first major studio, Universal Pictures.
More studios emerged and in 1914 Paramount Pictures was founded. In 1915
William Fox founded the Fox Film Corporation, which included production,
distribution and theaters and in 1923 Warner Bros. was established. In 1927

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Warner Bros. movie The Jazz Singer became the first movie to have spoken words
saying, Wait a minute, wait a minute, you aint heard nothin yet. And in 1928
Paramount became the first studio to announce that it will only produce talkies. In
that same year Walt Disney made the first cartoon with sound, Galloping Gaucho and
Steamboat Willie.
During the time of the Great Depression, there were still plenty of
advancements in film. In 1933 theaters began to serve refreshments and in 1934 the
first drive- in theater opened in New Jersey. In 1937 the very first full-length
animated feature released, that being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Walt
Disney.
Nearing the end of World War II there was a decline in censorship in films. In
1965 the first film to feature frontal nudity was released, The Pawnbroker. In 1968, a
rating system was announced: G for general audiences, M for mature, R for no
one under 16 without a guardian, and X for no one under 16 at all. The first X
rated film was released in 1969, Midnight Cowboy.
In around 1960 contemporary motion pictures began. In 1975, Sony
introduced Betamax, the first videocassette recorder for the home and it cost
$2,295. By 1992 Americans spent $12 billion on buying and renting video tapes and
76% of homes had VCRs. DreamWorks was created in 1994 by Steven Spielberg,
Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. In 1998 Titanic became the highest grossing
film in Hollywood history and in 1999 The Blair Witch Project became the most
profitable film in Hollywood history. Titanic earned $580 million and The Blair
Witch Project grossed $125 million while costing $30,000 to make. We are now in

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the 21
st
century and film is still growing everyday. Without a doubt there will be
much more spectacular advancement in the future that will change the history of
film forever.
Nihilism is the belief that life is meaningless, where there is no meaning,
importance or significance. It is incredibly pessimistic and that bad things will
happen in the future. As Friedrich Nietzsche states in Will To Power, pessimism is a
preliminary form of nihilism (9 Spring-Fall 1887). It suggests that everything is
valueless, there is no absolute truth, nothing will last and there is no purpose in life.
There is no definite right or wrong and no good versus evil, making morals set upon
society from past religions and beliefs to be worthless. Compared to Christian
morals, which believe in absolute value and truth, knowledge of God and good
versus evil, nihilism is the complete opposite. In a blog titled How to not give a fuck
without being a nihilist the author provides the definition that nihilism is the
notion that nothing has any meaning at all. Nothing matters, and in more extreme
forms nothing is even real or true. To a nihilist there are no morals, and no aims or
purposes. It is an incredibly apathetic view on life and society and involves no sort
of positivity or optimism.
Nihilists believe that nothing has value at all and that anyone who believes
something has value is wrong. Nihilists also do not believe in any sort of god and
believe existence has no meaning. Many others believe in a god or something
greater out there than themselves and that people must create their own meaning
based on their own actions. But nihilists are very different. Because they dont
believe in anything, they attempt to destruct other peoples beliefs that they already

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have. They are on a path for destruction and want to destroy anything that isnt
what they believe in.
Nihilism has become a part of todays society and culture and youth today do
not view religion as important as past generation have and are less strict with
religious views, creating a lessening of moral values. There are of course many
people in todays culture who believe in a higher power and a God and absolute
truth but there are also people who do not. So while more and more people believe
less and less in a higher power or a God, nihilistic views grow as well. People now
are also more apathetic and as technology rises, distraction is becoming more
prominent in first world society. People, especially youth, are more easily distracted
which makes them more likely to stray themselves from reality, making them
apathetic and indifferent.
Nihilists do not care about society and believe that rather than making
society a better place, things now are so bad that starting over and total destruction
would be a better alternative. Rather than attempting to see the world and fix it, a
nihilist believes to instead destroy it and start over entirely.
Nihilism is basically a strong belief that there is no purpose in life and that
everything is meaningless. There are no values or morals and is based on pessimism
and no hope for a better future. What society needs is destruction and a fresh start
rather than an attempt at becoming a better place. Coming from a strong Catholic/
Christian background, nihilism is a strange and somewhat terrible decision for what
our society needs. Morals and values are what make this world a better place, and

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not believing in them, as well as wanting to destroy rather than trying to create a
better world is not a good decision.
Fight Club
There is a strong growing connection today between film and nihilism. As
film and nihilism both grow on their own they also begin to combine with each
other and now more and more films have become nihilistic. One film that is closely
related to nihilism is 20
th
Century Foxs film Fight Club. This film made in 1999 stars
Edward Norton, a nameless insomniac office worker who wants to change his life.
He goes to many different support groups to try and relieve his insomnia and call his
emotional state. While at these meetings he meets another fake attendee named
Marla played by Helena Bonham Carter. She ruins the support groups for him
because he knows that she doesnt need those groups. Shes a woman, how can she
have testicular cancer? But after meeting Tyler Durden, his life is changed. Tyler
Durden is a soap maker and after the narrators condo burns down he moves in with
Tyler. The two get into a fight in the parking lot of a bar and it becomes a sort of
ritual that helps cope with the hard parts in life. Their fight attracts others and they
create a secret club with eight rules the two most important being, Rule 1: You do
not talk about fight club, and Rule 2: You DO NOT talk about fight club. The club
begins to grow soon becomes more than just a fight club. It becomes an out of
control group of individuals who destroy the city and call the work they do Project
Mayhem. The insomniac doesnt know what is happening to him anymore and in
the end realizes that Tyler Durden was someone he created in his head, someone he

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wanted to be. He burned down his home, he started the club, and he created Project
Mayhem and in the end watched the city crumble.
This film is nihilistic in its sense of destruction, anarchy and violence. The
characters reject capitalism and consumerism that society needs. They reject the
fact that violence is bad when they create their club and the film shows many
examples of atheism and rejection of God. Their club makes pain seem to be a way to
wake up real life. In the kitchen of Tyler Durden again when he pours lye on the
narrator. He makes the claim that without pain and sacrifice we have nothing. We
should know that someday we are going to die. He does this so that he can
appreciate his life, and show that pain is a good thing and not something to be
feared. It can also be argued that pain or something bigger than them brings
meaning in life. In this same scene Tyler Durden shows examples of atheism. He
gives a monologue that says,
Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed, what does that tell you
about God? You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. Never wanted
you, and in all probability he hates you. This is not the worst thing that can happen. We
dont need him. Fuck damnation, man. Fuck redemption. We are Gods unwanted
children. So be it. Its only after weve lost everything that we are free to do anything.
Its may not be total atheism because he doesnt reject a God but does believe that
God is irrelevant.
The big part of nihilism that this movie has is the violence and destruction
thats in it. In order to be part of Project Mayhem a person has to stand outside of
the house for three day while Tyler and the narrator yell at them to leave and put

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them down. They must not give up on the opportunity to join no matter the horrible
things that are being yelled at them. Finally when admitted in, the club basically is a
way for Tyler to spread anti- consumerist ideas. He sets up elaborate pranks on
corporate America, and him and his cult- like club trains to become an army to bring
down modern civilization. That is what nihilists do as well. Rather than fixing a
problem they destroy it. They destroy society and beliefs, especially when its not
their own beliefs or how they want society to be. Nihilists want to wipe the slate
clean and Durden attempts just that. He attempts to destroy credit card companys
records to wipe their slates clean. The movie ends with the narrator realizing that
he was Tyler Durden. After having realized that what he did was wrong, he finds a
building that is not among one of buildings about to crumble down, he and Marla
watch the town crumble right before their eyes without a way to stop it. He rejects
nihilism in the end when he realized that everything he had done was wrong.
This film is one of the biggest examples of nihilism in contemporary film.
There are so many examples of how the two connect and at the same time creates a
film thats able to be seen over and over again, not only because its so well made but
also because of how intense it gets at the end. Nihilism has become popular and
easily viewed in pop culture and its evident with this movie.
Falling Down
The next movie that incorporates some aspects on nihilism is Warner Bros.
1993 film Falling Down starring Michael Douglas, an unemployed defense worker
who is frustrated with flaws in society. In an attempt to make it home to his
daughters birthday, he becomes to violently lash out against the people he meets on

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his way. He leaves a trail of destruction that law enforcement is able to follow to
catch him. He already has reached destruction in his own life. He is a failed parent,
husband and employee. He cannot accept the fact that his wife does not want him at
their daughters birthday because she feels he is a danger to the girl. He continues to
try and still make it and on his way there, murders people, and frightens many
others. The first place he goes to is a convenience store with too high of prices. He
destroys the entire store with a baseball bat in order to scare the man working there
and have him lower the prices. He then, having kept the baseball bat meets some
gangsters and scares them away by attacking them with the bat. They run off in fear
but later find him on the street and attempt to shoot him. They fail and crash their
car. Michael Douglass character, D-FENS goes to their car and takes their bag of
guns. He then wants some breakfast. He goes to a burger joint and asked for
breakfast but is stopped because they stopped serving breakfast five minutes
before. He pulls out one of the guns from his bag and threatens everyone in there.
He finally decides on having lunch and when he gets a burger that is nothing like the
advertised picture he leaves. The next place on his destructive trek home is an
Army- Navy surplus store run but a gay-bashing Nazi in order to get new shoes. The
cop following his trail comes into the store asking if the owner has seen him. The
owner distracts her and she leaves. When he returns to D-FENS he assumes he is a
racist attacking non-whites. When he is told that is not the case, he handcuffs D-
FENS and threatens to turn him in, but D-FENS stabs and kills him and walks out
with a new outfit. He is so close to home and cuts through a golf course to make it
faster, and is stopped by some elderly golfers. He tells them that it is a waste to have

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so much space for a game and shoots up their carts causing one to have a heart
attack. Finally making it home, the head detective on his case figures out where he
is. He is unarmed seeing that it is last day before retiring but with his partner,
Detective Torres. D-FENS shoots her, only wounding her and Detective Prendergast
takes her weapon, chases D-FENS and shoots and kills him. His path of destruction
comes to and end as he falls to his death.
Nihilism has no morals and is basically apathetic about everything. This is
how D-FENS is in that he is okay with killing just about anyone who gets in his way.
He doesnt care as long as he makes it home to a family that doesnt want him. He
destroys lives and buildings when he doesnt get his way, which relates to the
destruction aspect of nihilism. When a nihilist doesnt get what they want with
society or with anyone elses beliefs, they destroy it until its how they want. D-FENS
was a nihilist in how to treated everyone when he didnt get what he wanted.
This film is very intense. D-FENS is a deeply tragic individual but hes not a
victim. He deserved everything he got. It is a violent film and incorporates really just
one major aspect of nihilism, destruction.


The Strangers
The last film that has a significant amount of nihilism in it is The Strangers
made in 2008 starring Liv Tyler. It is a horror movie about a couple that stays at a
vacation home after a wedding party. It begins with an eerie voice saying that it is a
true story but its not. But the idea of it being a real story makes it that much more

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horrifying. James and Kristen have been going through a rough time in their
relationship and when James asks Kristen to marry him that night, she says no. It is
already late at night and after the proposal they receive a knock at the door by a
woman asking is Tamara home? They tell her she has the wrong house and she
leaves. James leaves to get some cigarettes and to get his mind off things. Kristen is
left alone and the woman returns. She asks again for Tamara but Kristen does not
open the door. She tells her that she was already there and that she has the wrong
home. When the woman leaves there is a while before there was someone again at
the door banging. Kristen, scared, locks all the doors in the house, calls James asking
him to hurry home when the line dies. She charges it then sits in the living room.
The audience then sees a man with a mask standing behind her, watching her, and
then slowing disappearing. More knocks at the door are heard and slowing more
things begin happening in the house. Things are moved around the house and
strangers in masked appear more eventually showing there face to her. James
returns and they both attempt to leave but their tires have been slashed and a car
appears behind them and rear ends them while someone stands in front of the car.
They run into the house and all through the night these strangers chase them
around the house. They survive through the night and usually when the sun comes
up the bad guy goes away but not in this case. Kristen and James are fighting for
their lives after the stranger tie them to chairs. Kristen asks why they are doing this
and the stranger replies, Because you were home. The strangers remove their
masks but we cannot see their face and they take turns stabbing the couple and
leave. As they leave they meet two boys handing out religious pamphlets. The boy

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asks, Are you a sinner? and the female stranger replies sometimes. When they
are away from the children she says, itll be easier next time and they drive away.
The boys enter the house to see the bloody disaster and find James dead and Kristen
and just as one of the boys is about the reach towards her she grabs his arm and
screams in terror.
There is nihilism in this film because it is evil and apathetic. When you
realize that the entire movie is just scary masks and appearances in windows, the
suspense starts to grow. The phrase Because youre home is nihilistic because they
do not care about the couple; they just want to kill innocent people. Which is also
nihilistic. Murder is a lack of morals and knowing between right and wrong should
stop a person from killing someone for no reason. But these people must not know
between right and wrong if they apathetically killed this couple. When they left the
boys and said, the next time will be easier that was a foreshadowing to the next
time they decide to do the same thing but to the two innocent boys. If they have no
problem killing two innocent children, it is probably safe to say they are the
definition of nihilist.
This film is a horrifying movie. There is only so much nihilism an audience
can take without some kind of relief. But there is no relief in this film. It is an
endless, terrifying full-length film of non- stop people under assault in their own
home. The strangers are evil characters who are not affected by death and find it to
be a sort of game. Because they dont care about anyone, and clearly have no sense
of morals, they make this movie thrilling, nihilistic and will guaranteed keep you up
all night.

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The Coen Brothers
There is in fact a duo of directors who do indeed create nihilistic movies. And
they are Ethan and Joel Coen. They are believed to be actual nihilists and it is
evident in their films. There has been a trend in their films that goes, things happen,
and they do so for no reason and there is not guiding force behind them. One movie
of theirs that is nihilistic is No Country for Old Men. Everything that happens in this
film simply happens. Another is Fargo, which is a fantastic film with drama and
comedy. It is brutal and the audience sees only acts of violence that although are
random, also have a reason but again how the Coen trend goes, it all just happened.
They make many other movies that all involve things that just happen. There is no
reason for it usually and it is because of the apathy in the film. The violence in these
films is also a contributing factor the Coen Brothers nihilistic movies. They all
involve killing and again as in many movies with killing, murder shows a lack or
morals and value and no knowledge in the killer between good and bad.
Conclusion
The world is advancing in so many ways and some of those ways include in
film and nihilism. Since the beginning of film history until today, there have been
thousands of movies for people to sit and enjoy. But something else that is growing
alongside film and is not as enjoyable as film is nihilism. Both are beginning to grow
together and now more movies are coming out nihilistic. They can be serious,
horrifying, and comedic. And as more are being made, directors are catching on and
making their movies nihilistic as well. But this dies not have to be a bad thing. Many
of these movies are excellent and are able to see over and over again and there is no

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harm in that. This relationship does not have to end but there is in fact a strong
relationship between film and nihilism in todays society.






















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Fight Club. Dir. David Fincher. Perf. Brad Pitt. 20th Century Fox, 1999. Film.
Gunning, Tom. "Chapter 6: From Obscene Films to High- Class Drama." D. W. Griffith
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Harris, Brandon. "On the Coen Brothers and Nihilism." Gaijin.com. N.p., 8 Sept. 2008.
Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
"Howtonotgiveafuck." How to Not Give a Fuck without Being a Nihilist: N.p., Jan.
2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Will To Power. New York: Vintage, 1968. Print.
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Fight Club and Nihilism. N.p., 4 Mar. 2008. Web. 02 May 2014.
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Wictor, Thomas. "Falling Down." Thomas Wictor. N.p., 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 02 May
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