2020 Honorable Mention: Journalism Scholastic Art and Writing Competition – Southwest Region
“Nihilism in Context: a Modern Crisis of Faith”
I have recently been overwhelmed by feelings of uselessness, burnout and fear for the future. I often have trouble motivating myself because I am haunted by questions like, why should I go to college if climate change is going to make the Earth basically unlivable? Or, on the other hand, why should I work to fix the problem of climate change when big corporations (and really all of imperialist capitalism) are mostly the ones to blame? These questions leave me feeling discouraged, lost, hopeless, and devoid of any meaningful purpose. I’ve decided to give these feelings a name: nihilism. Nihilism is a term which has been thrown around a lot in recent years, though its current definition is somewhat vague and malleable. Nihilism today is more personal than ever. It is less the idea that life itself is meaningless and more the feeling that one’s life is meaningless in the context of a world hurtling toward disaster.
That being said, I’ve found that I am not alone in my nihilistic feelings. There has been a rise in nihilist ideas in American Culture, especially among younger generations. This is mostly due to fears of climate change as well as stress and discouragement as a result of the US’s current political situation. These ideas and feelings have been displayed in recent works of art -such as music and TV- which have explored these nihilist, pessimistic themes, but often counter them with ideas of hope.
• • •
Recent TV shows have explored nihilist themes, or have at least shown characters questioning their place in the world. One of these shows is Fleabag, an Amazon Prime series, based on a monologue by Phoebe Waller Bridge. Fleabag recently won four Emmys including Best Comedy Series and Best Writing for a comedy series.
Season two of Fleabag shows the main character struggling to find her place in the world after her best friend dies, her small business nearly fails, and she falls in love with a priest. Fleabag is very self-destructive, often uses humor as a coping mechanism, and often doubts her morals and her purpose. She may not be a nihilist in the most literal sense, but she definitely struggles with pessimism and an overwhelming existential confusion about her purpose. Once, in conversation with The Priest, she warns him, “Don’t make me an optimist, you will ruin my life,” (“Episode 4”).
Fleabag later confesses to the Priest (literally) about her doubts, revealing, "I just think I want someone to tell me how to live my life, Father, because so far I think I’ve been getting it wrong,” and, “even though I don’t believe your bullshit, and I know that scientifically nothing I do makes any difference in the end anyway, I’m still scared," (“Episode 4”). This is an example of her nihilism. She feels that nothing she does makes any difference and that her life is devoid of meaning or purpose. She also regards organized religion as “bullshit” because she feels it presents a falsely simplistic worldview. This demonstrates how her nihilism makes her hostile toward anyone who finds purpose in an optimistic belief system.
Like many recent works with nihilist themes, the show ends with a message of hope. At the end of the series, we see Fleabag abandon her unhealthy coping mechanisms and begin to rebuild her life as the Alabama Shakes song “This Feeling” plays in the background, “See, I've been having me a real hard time, but it feels so nice to know I'm gonna be alright,” (Alabama Shakes). This is seemingly a hint that Fleabag may be relinquishing her nihilism and her self-destructive behavior and finding hope for the future.
Another show which explores nihilistic themes is HBO’s Euphoria. Euphoria’s main character Rue expresses feeling lost and unsure of how to live in today’s world, complaining, “I just showed up one day without a map or a compass, or, to be honest, anyone capable of giving one iota of good fucking advice,” (“Pilot”). She also expresses frustration with the world in general, saying, “I didn’t build this system. Nor did I fuck it up,” and she tries to justify her heavy drug use and reckless behaviour to a friend by saying, “The world’s coming to an end, and I haven’t even graduated high school yet,” (“Pilot”). These ideas, combined with her refusal to take care of herself or plan for her future, demonstrate her nihilist and hopeless attitude.
Even the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy recently mentioned the kinds of anxieties which are so common today. In a recent episode, a character who is contemplating the possibility of becoming a Dad reads off a list of his fears for the child’s safety which include climate change and gun violence (“Back in the Saddle”). In this scene, the show doesn’t directly mention nihilism, but it does touch upon some of the societal fears which have caused a resurgence of nihilist ideas.
• • •
Themes of Nihilism and hopelessness relating to climate change and politics have also been prevalent throughout recent music. One artist who explores such themes is the Irish rock singer Hozier.
In a 2018 interview, Hozier described the message of his upcoming EP, Nina Cried Power. He remarked that while some songs are like, “looking at the great bonfire of the world and standing in a place of optimism and hope and solidarity,” others, “embrace a certain nihilism; it can be anything from a ‘hurry up and get on with it’ to just dancing around the fire and making a bit of noise,” (Hughes).
His 2019 album, Wasteland, Baby! seems to edge away from optimism and toward nihilism. In a 2019 interview with Billboard, he described how when Wasteland, Baby! was written, “it certainly felt at the time, in 2016, 2017… like we were moving towards -- in regards to our leadership -- a bit of a moral wasteland,” (Hughes). Here, Hozier describes how the nihilistic, apocalyptic themes across the album were the direct product of his anxieties over the state of the world, specifically in the realm of politics.
In the same interview, he also mentioned how, “The songs all either carried consciously or unconsciously some element of doom and gloom approaching,” (Hughes). This sense of doom is thoroughly explored on his song “Be” where Hozier ponders what will happen, “when the sea rises to meet us, oh when there's nothing left for you and I to do,” (Hozier). This lyric reflects Hozier’s hopelessness for the future, and is a direct reference to the climate crisis.
Hozier also explores the idea of apocalypse (an idea which is connected to his feelings of nihilism) throughout his album, but specifically on the title track, “Wasteland, Baby!” In this song, Hozier explores the idea of being in love with the apocalypse itself as well as his fears about climate change with the lyric, “When the stench of the sea and the absence of green are the death of all things… Wasteland, baby I'm in love, I'm in love with you,” (Hozier). This lyric again references the effects of climate change on the environment. Hozier has clearly explored themes of nihilism relating to climate change and politics throughout his last two albums.
Another artist who has explored themes of nihilism, politics and climate change is Lana Del Rey. Lana is a vocal opponent of President Donald Trump. Her 2016 album Lust for Life featured contrasting messages of hope and fear for the future.
For example, she addressed her fear over mounting tensions with North Korea in her song “Coachella (Woodstock On My Mind)” with the lyric, “In the next mornin', they put out the warnin', tensions were rising over country lines,” and her fear of nuclear war in her song “Change,” with the lyric, “somethin' in the wind, I can feel it blowin' in. It's comin' in softly on the wings of a bomb,” (Lana Del Rey). Her fear over nuclear war is an example of her fears for the future which fuel her nihilism. She continues to express her fear for the future as she wonders, “Is it the end of an era? Is it the end of America?” Contrasting this with the hope of the next lyric, “No, it's only the beginnin'. If we hold on to hope, we'll have our happy endin',” (Lana Del Rey).
Del Rey also writes specifically about climate change in the song “The Greatest” where she sings, “”Life on Mars" ain't just a song,” in response to the fear that Earth will become uninhabitable and humans will have to live on Mars, as well as the lyric, “L.A. is in flames‚ it's getting hot,” referring to the recent string of wildfires in California which have been exacerbated by climate change (Lana Del Rey).
In contrast, Del Rey explores the theme of hope throughout many of her lyrics, like in “Coachella,” when she sings, “maybe my contribution could be as small as hoping,” or when she remarks in her song “Change,” “change is a powerful thing, people are powerful beings, tryin' to find the power in me to be faithful,” (Lana Del Rey). She also explores this theme in the final song of her 2019 album Norman F*****g Rockwell in the song “Hope is a Dangerous Thing For a Woman Like Me to Have - but I Have it.”
Lana Del Rey’s music has always featured a dash of nihilism, starting with her first album Born to Die, certainly a nihilist title. More recently though, Lana Del Rey has sung about her specific anxieties over climate change and politics and the way they make her feel hopeless and devoid of purpose. This is clearly related to the nihilist ideas which have become so trendy in pop culture. She often answers these fears with lyrics about hope.
• • •
One could argue that music or TV isn’t an accurate reflection of the feelings of a whole generation since art often exaggerates its subject matter. To understand the true extent of the stress that the climate crisis and political turmoil place on young people, I talked to two current high school students, Audrey, a Junior, and Sarah, a Sophomore.
They both expressed stress about the future of the planet. Sarah expressed her fear that, “we might be sending ourselves to an irreversible fate,” and, “the world might not be saveable in several years,” while Audrey described the whole situation as ‘stressful.’ They both agreed that the climate crisis and political tensions have made them more pessimistic in general, though Audrey tries to find positive news about the climate crisis so that she doesn’t burn out.
They both mentioned how the climate crisis has influenced their professional aspirations. Audrey described how she, “always wanted to be a doctor and go into medicine,” but now wonders, “Would it benefit more people if I just became a climate scientist?” Sarah also said that she has considered becoming an environmental scientist in order to help the environment.
Even though they are still pretty young, Sarah and Audrey both expressed worry over the prospect of having children in the future. Audrey wondered aloud, “do I even want a family if the world’s gonna end, you know?” Sarah said that the climate crisis, “makes me question whether or not I want to bring a child into that world or if I want to be a mom ‘cause what would be the point if I’m giving this child a horrible life, if the world is not… good for them?”
Sarah expressed a specific frustration toward the adults who ignore the problem of climate change. She described how she does get, “a little tired of seeing the same thing forever and nothing’s happening,” and how, “It’s exasperating because I want to help but I don’t know what to do.”
Though Audrey and Sarah are both clearly stressed and discouraged by the climate crisis, they both expressed how they find hope and comfort in the activism of young people, such as 16 year old activist Greta Thunberg. Sarah mentioned she was glad to see how, “people are starting to take (climate change) a bit more seriously and are starting to take action.” Audrey expressed a tentative hope in the fight against climate change and a sense of connection with people of her generation, saying, “I guess it’s our job, but I have faith in us cause we’re feeling the same thing.”
Younger generations certainly do seem to be thinking alike. In fact, other writers have recently written about nihilism as a trend. In her personal essay “Against Nihilism,” Shannon Keating asks the question, “why bother being kind to my body or saving for the future if there isn’t even going to be a future?” (Keating). She struggles to find motivation due to, “talk of another recession and the continued possibility of dying in a mass shooting,” as well as the seemingly “inevitable” climate crisis (Keating). She too relates to the nihilism of Euphoria and Norman Fucking Rockwell. She also writes about noticing a trend of nihilistic humor, especially on Twitter, where her friends joke about how much they would love to be hit by an asteroid, or how vaping being potentially dangerous is an appealing prospect. She also ends her essay on a hopeful note, writing about the changes she has made to take better care of herself and the planet, as opposed to letting her nihilism win.
• • •
Clearly younger generations today are struggling with nihilism and are documenting their struggle through music, television, and writing. It’s also clear that this nihilism does have a significant effect on young people’s motivation and actions. My greatest fear when it comes to this issue is that the nihilism and hopelessness my generation is feeling will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. That we will become so certain that the end of the world is upon us that we will just sit back and let it happen.
Almost every example I found of recent art or pop culture which featured nihilist themes also featured themes of hope. If we’re going to save the Earth, or if democracy and peace are going to survive our current political climate, people need to find hope. Find hope through music or TV, find hope through talking with people who are feeling just as scared as you, or find hope through the activism of others like Greta Thunberg or Jane Fonda, who at 81 has started protesting outside the capital on a weekly basis. Even if you can’t yet find the motivation to make some great life change to help the planet, at least, for now, find the hope to keep going. Don’t let nihilism win.