You've Got a Friend In Me

       "My roommate is having an existential crisis," I confided to my friend the other day in passing. We use the word 'existential' almost without realizing its significance. I tagged it on as a near meaningless adjective to describe a simple moment of unhappiness. When one really looks at the meaning, however, they find the purpose of life––or lack of it––making existentialism one of the most important philosophies we can consider. And nowhere is this idea better explored and discussed than in literature.
       Existentialism is the idea that everything begins with existence. We exist, but why do we exist? An existential crisis, really, is when someone discovers that their existence is absurd, or that they live in a world without purpose. This generates what philosophers call existential angst, or the feeling of lacking purpose, and we are then left to discover purpose anew in this world of radical freedom, or cease existing.
       As with many philosophical movements, questions about the absurd and existence are primarily explored through literature. Coming-of-age accounts, war stories, and dystopias are usually excellent examples of this, and nearly every hero's journey procures angst in that moment of despair when the hero questions his purpose. Discovering existentialism in literature is a simple thing, and by discovering what the work's idea of purpose is, the reader can come that much closer to determining the work's purpose itself. An excellent example of this is Toy Story 3.
       "God is dead," a precursor to formal existentialism, Nietzsche, famously declared. So the toys of Toy Story 3 discover. They exist, that much is certain, but as they continue to exist and their god, Andy, ages and stops playing with them, they discover the absurd and angst, losing their purpose for existence. Still, they tell themselves, we're here for him if he should ever need us. Then Andy leaves for college, and the toys finally give up on their god.
       Now they are left to discover what to do with their radical freedom. In a parallel movement with the western world after Niezsche's declaration, they seek purpose from a new higher power––social organization and theory. Historic examples include marxism, fascism, and even progressivism. In Toy Story's case, they shelter at the Sunnyside Daycare, where the plush, huggable bear, Lots-O, will take benevolent care of them––or so they think. As with the western world, the toys discover no lasting solution and, indeed, that this social institution is far worse than their seemingly indifferent god.
       Now, as the toys are dumped into the furnace, they face ultimate destruction. They have no purpose, and are good for nothing but to be destroyed. Radical freedom has no purpose while the world remains absurd. Yet, in the last few moments they have left, they rediscover the meaning of their existence. They reach out to one another. And so they look into the abyss of the absurd and escape with newfound meaning that enables them to continue their existence.
       How does this help us understand the true meaning of Toy Story 3? The toys discovered that their key to existence was in their friendship, affirming the power of the phrase we all know well, "You've got a friend in me."