ljasonl
12-31-2005, 05:14 PM
If anyone's read any Nietzsche you should be familiar with these concepts. For those who haven't, here's a real basic breakdown. The main theme in Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good And Evil is that "man is something that should be overcome". We are not the end, but merely a stepping stone towards something higher, what Nietzsche calls the "Superman". Therefore, all men are not created equal, there are those who are on lower and higher rungs of the ladder to the superman. The lower men, or the "herd", practice what is called "slave morality" and are unwilling to take responsibility for themselves. The herd pawn the responsibility off on a higher power, usually the state or god. They do what they do because it's what the state or god told them was right, all their right and wrong was dictated from a higher power. Higher men put it all on themselves, they do their thing because they decided it was right and nobody else. A higher man makes his own laws.
Okay, now how all this relates to the video. I'm not really clear on the first "parabol" part, so I'll be really brief on it. But the three guys represent the herd. They all look the same, they all act the same. Nothing worthwhile comes out of their mouths, just what they've been told is right and wrong. That's why they're vomiting shit in the video. The circle of shit is the system they've created, and the hands come in and turn it inside out to make something new
The stone tablet represents the old law tables, the ones the herd live by. It's already cracked and crumbling and barely held together by the ropes the herd has used to try and patch it back together. The guy in the video is a higher man. He takes all the patchwork off their system, exposing it for what it is. But instead of breaking it down right away, he actually holds it up. He's waiting for just the right moment, then he shatters the old law table.
I got nothing for the weird tree thing
The little dude with the bobbing face is a sort of disciple or follower of the higher man. He's not part of the herd, but he's not really a higher man himself because he's still following instead of leading himself. The higher man wants to fix this, so he tries to be hard with him and make him fend for himself. The little dude isn't strong enough and is crushed. This causes the higher man to become angry at death itself
Which brings me to the black doodad, I think it represents death. One of Nietzsche's main ideas is that of eternal recurrence, that is, you should strive to make your life so worthwhile that it would be a blessing and not a curse to repeat it eternally without changing a single detail. Nietzsche doesn't propose that this will actually happen, before someone misunderstands. The higher man is fascinated with the black doodad (death) throughout the video, because he hasn't yet become completely satisfied with his own life yet. He reaches out and touches it, feels it, he dissects the dead follower, all out of his curiosity of death.
After the follower is killed, the higher man sets off again on his own, away from the house and into the wilderness to be alone. Death is still in the back of his mind wherever he goes, stalking him. Finally, he's able to accept death and appreciate life and everything around him fully. It's not that he doesn't care about or fear death, it's that he's come to terms with it and is able to live life fully without worrying about it because of that. This is when he looks away from the black doodad and plays with the leaves. It is precisely this act of acceptance towards death that allows him to transcend death and ascend to become something way beyond a simple man, a superman. He will still die, don't get me wrong, it's just that his life will be so full and rich that eternal recurrence would truly become a blessing for him now, if for nothing else, that one moment of ascension makes the entire rest of his life worthwhile.
Anyways, I'm pretty sure that's not exactly what tool meant when they made the video, but that's what I'm going with.
"I am a law only for my own, I am not a law for all" - Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Okay, now how all this relates to the video. I'm not really clear on the first "parabol" part, so I'll be really brief on it. But the three guys represent the herd. They all look the same, they all act the same. Nothing worthwhile comes out of their mouths, just what they've been told is right and wrong. That's why they're vomiting shit in the video. The circle of shit is the system they've created, and the hands come in and turn it inside out to make something new
The stone tablet represents the old law tables, the ones the herd live by. It's already cracked and crumbling and barely held together by the ropes the herd has used to try and patch it back together. The guy in the video is a higher man. He takes all the patchwork off their system, exposing it for what it is. But instead of breaking it down right away, he actually holds it up. He's waiting for just the right moment, then he shatters the old law table.
I got nothing for the weird tree thing
The little dude with the bobbing face is a sort of disciple or follower of the higher man. He's not part of the herd, but he's not really a higher man himself because he's still following instead of leading himself. The higher man wants to fix this, so he tries to be hard with him and make him fend for himself. The little dude isn't strong enough and is crushed. This causes the higher man to become angry at death itself
Which brings me to the black doodad, I think it represents death. One of Nietzsche's main ideas is that of eternal recurrence, that is, you should strive to make your life so worthwhile that it would be a blessing and not a curse to repeat it eternally without changing a single detail. Nietzsche doesn't propose that this will actually happen, before someone misunderstands. The higher man is fascinated with the black doodad (death) throughout the video, because he hasn't yet become completely satisfied with his own life yet. He reaches out and touches it, feels it, he dissects the dead follower, all out of his curiosity of death.
After the follower is killed, the higher man sets off again on his own, away from the house and into the wilderness to be alone. Death is still in the back of his mind wherever he goes, stalking him. Finally, he's able to accept death and appreciate life and everything around him fully. It's not that he doesn't care about or fear death, it's that he's come to terms with it and is able to live life fully without worrying about it because of that. This is when he looks away from the black doodad and plays with the leaves. It is precisely this act of acceptance towards death that allows him to transcend death and ascend to become something way beyond a simple man, a superman. He will still die, don't get me wrong, it's just that his life will be so full and rich that eternal recurrence would truly become a blessing for him now, if for nothing else, that one moment of ascension makes the entire rest of his life worthwhile.
Anyways, I'm pretty sure that's not exactly what tool meant when they made the video, but that's what I'm going with.
"I am a law only for my own, I am not a law for all" - Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra