EXISTENTIALISM: Cowboys and Aliens (2011)

The Theory:

Existentialism is a term applied to the work of a number of late 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences,shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. In existentialism, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called "the existential attitude", or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in both style and content, as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience.

(courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism)


The Story:

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In 1873, Arizona Territory, an unnamed loner (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the desert injured, with no memory and with a strange metal shackle on his wrist. After killing three drifters who try to rob him, he takes their clothes, weapons and a horse. He wanders into the small town of Absolution, where the local preacher, Meacham (Clancy Brown), treats his wound. After the stranger subdues Percy Dolarhyde (Paul Dano), a volatile drunk who has been terrorizing the town, Sheriff Taggart (Keith Carradine) recognizes the stranger as Jake Lonergan, a wanted outlaw, and attempts to arrest him. Jake beats up the posse sent to take him in and nearly escapes, but a mysterious woman named Ella Swenson (Olivia Wilde) knocks him out.
Percy's father, Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), a wealthy and ruthless cattleman, arrives with his men and demands that Percy be released. He sees Jake and also demands he be released to him, since Jake was the one who stole Dolarhyde's gold. During the standoff, alien craft begin attacking the town. Percy, the sheriff and many other townsfolk are grabbed by long, whip-like feelers hanging from the bottom of the alien ships and are abducted. Jake's shackle unfolds and becomes a weapon, shooting down one of the ships with a single shot, ending the attack.
Dolarhyde, Ella, and other townsfolk form a posse to track an injured alien that escaped from the downed ship. Jake, meanwhile, travels to an abandoned cabin, and in a flashback, recalls returning there with the gold just before he and a woman, Alice (Abigail Spencer), were abducted by the aliens. His memories returning, Jake joins up with the posse. During the night, while they camp in an upside down paddlewheel steamboat, the alien they were tracking kills Meacham, who sacrifices himself to save Emmett (Noah Ringer), Taggart's grandson.
By the next morning, most of the posse has deserted, and the others are attacked by Jake's former gang. Jake who stole the gang's loot after their last heist attempts to retake control, but fails. As he and the others flee, the aliens begin attacking again and Ella is captured. Jake jumps aboard the ship and attacks the alien pilot, causing the ship to crash, but Ella is fatally wounded.
Shortly after the crash, however, the posse is captured by Chiricahua Apache Indians, who blame them for the alien attacks. As Ella's body is dumped on a fire by a Chiricahua warrior, she is fully resurrected. Ella reveals herself to be an alien who traveled to Earth to help resist the invaders after they destroyed her homeworld. The aliens, who are mining gold and abducting humans to experiment on, are far stronger and more durable than humans, and have superior weapons. But they are not invulnerable. They can be stabbed and shot to death, and Jake's gauntlet weapon can kill them with a single blast.
Ella claims Jake holds the secret to the aliens' whereabouts and says they must stop them before they exterminate all life on the planet. After taking medicine offered by the Apaches, Jake recalls that Alice was euthanized after she was used in an alien experiment, but he escaped, inadvertently stealing a gauntlet-like alien weapon. He could also remember the location of the aliens' base of operations.
Armed with this knowledge, the group, now led by Dolarhyde, prepares to attack the aliens' grounded mothership. Jake returns to his old gang and persuades them to join the fight. In a sneak attack, the humans breach the spaceship by destroying the shuttle bay, forcing the aliens into a ground battle. Jake and Ella board the ship and free the captives, but Jake is captured. Dolarhyde rescues him and both men escape the ship after killing the alien responsible for Alice's death. As the remaining aliens are taking off in their damaged craft, Ella sacrifices herself, destroying the ship using Jake's gauntlet.
Jake's memory partially returns, and some abducted townsfolk begin to remember their past. Still a wanted man, Jake decides to leave; the sheriff and Dolarhyde say they will claim that he was killed in the invasion. The citizens intend to rebuild the town with the expectation that the newly discovered gold mine will soon bring many new settlers. Jake kindly rejects Dolarhyde's offer to help rebuild the town, and rides away.

(courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboys_%26_Aliens)


The Criticism:

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“Cowboys and Aliens” starts off with the protagonist waking up in the desert with no memory of how he got there. This movie fits the Existentialism theory because the character starts off disoriented, confused with what is happening within the surroundings. He wanders into Absolution, where aliens suddenly attack the whole area. As if to add to his confusion, he discovers that the gauntlet-like device he has on his wrist, which he does not remember getting there, suddenly shoots out blasts towards the attackers. The questions of his real identity and his connection to the attackers ultimately surface, and it is shown throughout the film that he is constantly trying to figure out the reasons behind the events. Although he does gradually regain his memories throughout the film, revealing his abduction and his escape with the weapon, he keeps guessing how he is related with the invaders throughout the time the film spends portraying him without memories of his abduction. The film effectively portrayed the protagonist as an amnesiac searching for his real self while in a situation that seems like something straight out of an alien invasion movie. Not to mention as well that his actions justify the theory that philosophical thinking begins with the acting, feeling, living human subject. Despite his memory loss, he was able to function properly and think rationally. He was even able to attack the alien’s mothership despite the initial shock of his discovery of who he really was.