Sunday, April 19, 2015

Nietzsche's Ubermensch in Relation to Lord of the Rings


           In the movie Lord of the Rings, the characters in the Middle Earth displayed both being Ubermensch material and some that did not meet those expectations. Two of the characters that did meet criteria for them to be an Ubermensch are Frodo Baggins and Arwen. The characters that did not meet the standards for an Ubermensch are Boromir and Bilbo Baggins

Frodo Baggins
           Frodo Baggins represents being worthy of an Ubermensch because he goes through "the spirit becom[ing] a lion who would conquer his freedom and be master in his own desert" and he takes the ring to "create new value." Frodo takes the ring not because he has to but because he wants to get rid of it. When he goes to the Rivendell , which is the home of the elves, and he sets the ring down. As everyone fights about it Frodo screams that he will be the one to destroy the ring. This exhibits bravery on new levels. The 9 Nazgul are after him and he still volunteers himself to take the ring even at the risk of death. Frodo then receives the line from Gandalf that "to bear the power of the ring is to be alone" which then shows Frodo going through the lions faze because the lion is his own being and has no one to guide him. At the end of the movie when Frodo and Sam get on a boat and go across the lake by themselves, Aragorn says "Frodo's fate is no longer in our hands" which represents Frodo creating a new value and going off on his own. 


.           Arwen represents being an Ubermensh because her love for Aragorn was so strong that she was willing to "create a new value" by giving up her peoples immortality. She gives him her necklace and tells him that it is hers to give away. She then proceeds to tell him that she would rather live one life with love than a thousand lives alone. This shows that she is completely willing to change the value of her people and whatever will change and happen to them.
Arwen
Arwen 

Boromir 
         Boromir does not meet the criteria of being considered an Ubermensch because he does not have a strong will power. He recognizes his own misdoing by saying "then you did what I could not, I tried to take the ring from him."he is not strong enough to be around the ring and he cannot be the one that guides Frodo alone. He also attacks Frodo when he is near him with the ring. He says all these things to Frodo but he really wants the ring for himself. This is also demonstrated when everyone is in Rivendell and he tells everyone to use the power of the ring against the enemy instead of destroying it.
Bilbo
Bilbo Baggins 

             Bilbo Baggins does not exhibit the character traits of being an Ubermensch because he is not strong minded and not capable of not caving into the rings demands. At his birthday party, as he is leaving the Shire, he has the ring in his pocket and has a hard time giving it up. He says to Gandalf that the ring is "his own, it's mine, my precious" which he says in a memorized voice with a deepened look on his face. Bilbo is only looking out for himself and he doesn't really care about the well-being of others including his nephew Frodo. He has had the ring for  so long he doesn't know what to do without it.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Camel, Lion, and the Child

                          "Metamorphoses of the spirit" the camel, lion, and the child are all stages that we develop and go through. What Nietzsche is trying to describe is the conscious' in humans that transforms from one to another. The camel is describing burdens and how when they get heavy a camel will kneel down(he also does this when commanded to do so) just like how humans would stop and give in to the burden that we bear and we follow to commands when given. This stage is the humans way of doing what they ought to do, not what they think they should do. The camel switches to the lion when it realizes it wants to be his own ruler and have freedom.The lion has the desire to create his own freedom and essentially will kill to get it. Lions cannot create their own values but their might is needed for their freedom. The lion learns to be responsible for himself because their is no one to guide him. A child is innocence, there is no guilt and everyday is a new day for discovery and learning. The child is forgetful and doesn't remember the burdens that he bears (like the camel does). The child is a creator of his own values and paves his own path (which the lion is striving to do. The child is a new beginning. 



The Lion overcoming the Dragon 
                           In accordance to the lion there is a dragon. The dragon believes that he is the one on top and that he is the ultimate leader for all of existences. He is against all opposing opinions. The lion however is the one who wants freedom which the dragon possesses.  The lion must destroy the dragon in order to create new values and for freedom. When he destroys the dragon this is when he realizes there is no more guiding hand of existence. Nietzsche's-three-metamorphosesThe Camel, lion, and child

Monday, April 6, 2015

"There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed." -Napoleon Bonaparte





"I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed." - Paulo Coelho

Trinity, Neo & Morpheus 
                In the movie The Matrix, the prophecies said to three of the characters about their fate. I believe that this movie shows that fate has a stronger case than free will. I believe this in moderation though. We can choose the paths and roads we go down but I believe that things happen for a reason. These roads all lead to a place we are suppose to be and we are suppose to experience. The Oracle just stated three facts about three of the characters. She didn't state how they would fulfill these things, when they would come true, and how they would...she just said that these things would happen. The Oracle said these things so that they would keep them in mind. She told them the things they needed to hear not necessarily the things that are going to happen. For example, Trinity's fate was that she was going to fall in love with the one. She didn't want to admit it at first but Neo was the person she fell in love with. She didn't expect it and she even tried to fight it but it happen. Another example of fate is when the Oracle said to Morpheus that he would find the one. He searched and searched to find the one and he thought he found them on more than one occasion. When he saw Neo he had a kind of "love at first sight moment" but it was translated into "the one at first sight." He didn't pressure Neo into this fact but he just believed in him. Neo's fate was that he had a gift but he was waiting for something. I think that this something was not another life but faith in himself. Once he believed he could he did. That to me is fate and not free will because in life their are no accidents, things happen for reasons beyond our control and for our destinies.
The Oracle telling Neo what he needed to hear