Existential Nihilism Again — Revisiting Pop Culture and Social Media
In the fall of 2017, I decided to explore the connections between pop culture and existential nihilism, not just nihilism and not just existentialism. At the time “Rick and Morty,” an animated television series, and the band Nirvana, had risen to the forefront of consumption by Gen Z. I had noticed that these two works while different in mediums had a shared undertone, everything is meaningless. While my examples then were relevant, in a burgeoning post-Covid-19 world old and new works have sprung up and existential nihilism is at an all-time high. Seeing these new works become popular I wanted to explore these connections again.
Before I further explore the impact of a worldwide pandemic on arts, culture, and the general human psyche, I want to define existential nihilism. Fredrich Wilheim Nietzsche coined the term Nihilism in the 19th century. Nietzsche’s nihilism is simple, “Every belief, every considering [of] something true, is necessarily false because there is simply no true word.” Nihilism is the rejection of moral and religious principles under the guise that everything is meaningless. Nihilism is not a guiding principle for viewing life and the universe but rather a piece of a larger puzzle.
Jean-Pual Sartre focused on existentialism, “existence precedes essence.” As stated in my previous essay, “He believed that when we abandon illusions, life is revealed as nothing: and for the existentialists, nothingness is the source of not only absolute freedom but also existential horror and emotional anguish.” These two concepts are intertwined; they both lead to the same conclusion: nothingness, everything is nothing, and holds no meaning is the cornerstone of existential nihilism. Our place in the universe is happenstance and finding meaning is futile, both philosophies follow this rhetoric.
Jeffery Franklin explains in his academic journal titled “Buddhism and Existential Nihilism,” the forming of existential nihilism, “The extent that existential nihilism was shaped by preceding understanding of- or failure to understand…that begins with the notion that the world is without meaning or purpose” is one of the final stepping stones in this line of questioning. Existential Nihilism combines the philosophical theories of nihilism and existentialism.” This theory is used as an answer to an age-old question, what is the meaning of life? While existential nihilism is one of many possible answers it pops up a lot more during times of turmoil.
Socioeconomic changes throw gasoline on the fire that is existential nihilism, the pandemic turned that fire into an explosion and the youth of the nation followed. According to the Pew Research Center, 92% of teens and young adults use the internet at least once a day and 80% are online several times a day. The constant ability to connect and share with others has brought new and established works to the homepage of everyone’s screens.
Tiktok is the strongest influence in all of this, with no limits on what content is thrown at you. Mass influencers and creators aside, niche pockets of content pop up and often viewers can relate to what was often considered a stand-alone experience. This is where pop culture comes in. These videos are set against a backdrop of shows, music, and other various forms of media that often would be left untouched.
One of my favorite examples of this is the indie music artist Mitski, who up until the rise of TikTok, had a relatively small dedicated cult following. Mitski’s music is one of the most popular sounds used in videos depicting a plethora of emotions. The most popular song used on the app is “Washing Machine Heart” followed by “I Bet on Losing Dogs.” These videos often share stories related to mental health, social pressures, relationships, and other experiences. The sounds featuring this song have been used around 300 thousand times and have garnered millions of views and likes. “Washing Machine Heart” itself has sad undertones and an electric beat, and features lyrics depicting a relationship; the most commonly used on the app are “I know who you pretend I am” and the bridge of “why not me.” While these lyrics might not seem overly nihilistic the context in which they are used is. The comment sections on these videos express the same sentiments as existential nihilism and are spread across other platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud.
My second example brings us back to my original article, “Rick and Morty.” While the show’s popularity may have waned slightly, its relevance has not. The blatant middle finger to social norms and ability to make light of those dark feelings most young adults feel that the show provides is the perfect way to share those sentiments on social media. The show’s most popular quotes emulate this feeling, “ When you know nothing matters the universe is yours.” and “Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody’s gonna die.” The show provides the perfect balance for Gen Z to share its feelings without consequence, not too dark, not too deep, and funny. The show’s existentialism and nihilism viewpoints shared across social media allow those same comment sections to become riled up echoing the same sentiments.
Even new forms of old media rile up nihilist tendencies, the “Batman” movie that premiered earlier this year had two pivotal qualities that did exactly that. The first and widely influential one was the movie’s use of Nirvana’s, “Something In The Way,” the song has been used in over 250k videos most with content sharing nihilist views and viewers who agree. The second is the Riddler from the movie, whose quotes in the movie not only fuelled some of that existentialist feeling but also sparked political conversations as well. The character came with a sense of familiarity, he used his online influence to spread his philosophies, and this drew even more social media attention from young adults.
The most prominent example of this comes from “Stranger Things,” Vecna, the main villain of this summer’s season, had a speech that mirrors existential nihilism perfectly. “Seconds, minutes,hours,days, weeks, months, years, decades. Each life a faded lesser copy of the one before. Wake up, eat, work, sleep, reproduce, and die,” was blasted across for-you pages for months with videos of people agreeing with the sentiment. The longer version of the speech inspired multiple conversations across the app about the choices made in life and the monotony of it all.
Reading these previous examples might seem like existential nihilism is the case for a depressed and meaningless view of the world. Existentialism, nihilism, and existential nihilism are not the abandonment of beliefs, hope, and happiness but rather the freedom to realize that in the meaningless of everything there lies freedom and the realization that the universe is yours.
