Existentialism

This film does well to illustrate the basic premise behind Existential philosophy, namely that people must diligently fight to make existence meaningful rather than passively hope that meaning will magically appear once they’ve given over to one of society’s many empty edifices. As Marcello sees, fame, wealth, art, religion, family, and marriage all fail to fully confer meaning and relieve the burden of consciousness. The reason they fail, though, is not because they are altogether empty pursuits; rather, it is because they require a vigilant commitment that goes beyond mere convenience and expects more than semi-soothing distractedness.

Personally, I find Marcello’s “choice” to simply settle into a decadent lifestyle no less ignoble than if he had chosen to settle into any of the other lifestyles he encountered. For instance, it would’ve been just as damning for him to simply get married and latch onto the myth of domestic bliss without truly investing himself in the venture. In this respect, the character who seemingly comes closest to creating meaning is Marcello’s girlfriend, Emma. Curiously, it is her psychotic nature that gives her the narrow determination and strength necessary to break free from distraction. Her mistake, though, is that she comes to define her struggle by Marcello’s ill-defined and altogether fragile terms, which means that she relinquished the power necessary for combating meaninglessness. While Fellini consistently explores the many painful ironies of what the characters refer to as “love”, this truth is perhaps the most brutal of all, for it shows that the sublimation required for love may ultimately cancel out the strength one may derive from it.