Existence precedes essence

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dc.contributor.authorAreej Ahsan
dc.date.accessioned2025-11-21T06:32:43Z
dc.date.available2025-11-21T06:32:43Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractNetflix’s original series Dark is a mind-bending show that puts its viewers in a provocative existential crisis. The series corroborates the existence of characters lingering in an eternal cycle of tragedy, where time is the ‘essence’. Time is the higher power, administering a seemingly inescapable fate within which the characters enact their free will. The key characters of the show, Jonas/The Stranger/Adam, Alternate Martha/Eva, and Claudia, seek to break this chain of events and, at the same time, uphold their philosophies regarding the purpose of human ‘existence’ and the inherent faculty of the ‘essence’. This study aims to analyze the characters of Jonas/The Stranger/Adam, Alt-Martha/Eva, and Claudia through the application of Nietzschean concepts of Nihilism, Amor Fati (Love of Fate), and the Ubermensch (Superman), respectively. With its qualitative investigation of the storyline, this thesis ventures an insightful understanding of the existential connection between existence and essence. The show will be considered as a form of ‘text’ and will be interdisciplinary with film studies (a structural-text based film analysis). Through film-based textual analysis, it attempts to examine how the actions of the three central characters, in trying to fulfill their ulterior motives and desires, whether those are selfish or selfless, consequently forge the Nietzschean Eternal Recurrence and trigger suffering for themselves as well as for others. This research also highlights how the key characters were relentless in chasing their deepest desires. The findings promote a nuanced interpretation of Dark as they divulge existence triumphing over essence. It concludes that the show’s dramatis personae are the puppeteers of its eternal cyclic struggle with time and predestination.
dc.identifier.urihttps://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/11379
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUMT, Lahore
dc.titleExistence precedes essence
dc.title.alternativeAn introspection of Nietzschean Nihilism, Amor Fati and Übermensch in Netflix’s original series dark
dc.typeThesis
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