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L'enfant sauvage (1970)
Social Contract Theory and Truffaut's The Wild Child
Francois Truffaut's 1970 The Wild Child follows the real-life discovery of a young, uncivilized boy discovered in 18th century France, and a doctor's attempt to civilize him. This film deals with concepts of one's "state of nature" and the entrance into a civilization as found in the works of social contract theorists Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. The child certainly falls under Locke's assertion that a person in the state of nature is in a state of freedom to act as they wish; however, the child is most reminiscent of Rousseau's understanding of the "natural man." The titular character shows no cultural trappings, such as language or clothes. Furthermore, in response to approaching hunters and their dogs, the boy remains solely concerned about his self- preservation. Similarly, the child is generally seen as peaceful, despite his instance of self-defense against the hunters, and is seemingly alone. Additionally, the wild child is seemingly only driven by basic animalistic instincts. Though a significant difference between the social contract theorists and the film is the boy does not willingly enter into to society (as the earliest members of civilization do in said theories), but, instead, he is coerced by others into it; regardless, the boy is trading his absolute freedom in the wilderness for obvious gains in security in the doctor's residence. These newfound limits affect the character throughout the film. He has to wear clothes, socialize with others, learn others' language, and, among other things, have manners.
Det sjunde inseglet (1957)
Existentialism in The Seventh Seal
Ingmar Bergman's 1957 The Seventh Seal follows the final days of a knight, and an accompanying band of his squire, actors, and a blacksmith, as he plays chess with Death, his life hanging in the balance. Ominous and foreboding, Bergman steeps The Seventh Seal with existentialist philosophy akin to Sartre's atheist existentialism found in "Existentialism is a Humanism." Much of the knight's journey through the film mirrors Sartre's atheistic existentialist notions of anguish, despair, and abandonment. Sartre, unlike others, states that the lack of a God is not simply met with mere acceptance; rather, the person experiences these three feelings. The knight exhibits the anguish, which Sartre suggests is a consequence of one wondering "What would happen if everyone did what I am doing?," early in the film when he ponders "Through my indifference for people, I've been placed outside of their society." The abandonment, similarly, is shown through the knight throughout the film. Having realized his inability to find God, the knight requests to meet Satan, who the knight believes "He if anyone" must know God, via an alleged witch waiting for execution. Despite the witch's insistence that Satan is all around her and easily seen, the knight, alas, sees nothing. Finally, in the closing moments of the film, as Death presents himself to the knight, the squire, the blacksmith, and their accompanying women, the knight tries one final time to beseech God. However, the squire asserts that "In that darkness where you reside, where we probably all reside, you'll find no one that listens to your complaint or is moved by your suffering." In addition to showing the knight's abandonment issue, the squire implies Sartre's final feeling, despair, in that the squire understands that, in the absence of God, man must "limit" himself "to reckoning only with those things that depend of (his) will" and not that of others.