Westworld and Philosophy (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series) by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119437987
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2018-04-03T07:00:00+00:00

12

From William to the Man in Black: Sartrean Existentialism and the Power of Freedom

Kimberly S. Engels

In one of Season 1’s biggest reveals, Westworld viewers learn that the timid and mild‐mannered William is the younger version of the violent, sinister, mission‐driven Man in Black. It is hard to believe that the reserved, hesitant young man we meet in the pilot is the same person as the vicious, unmerciful rogue who kills and abuses androids like they’re mere rodents or flies. Throughout the season viewers witness the key events that lead to this transformation and the birth of a new character, or at least a character that is unrecognizable in relation to his former self. Viewers are left to ponder whether the Man in Black was William’s “true self” all along, or whether the events William experienced unleashed a new set of character traits.

Several chapters in this book have explored the nature of freedom, what it means to be free, and if the humans in the series are actually any more free than the hosts. Jean‐Paul Sartre (1905–1980) wrote extensively on the issue of human freedom and identity. Sartre’s views take a new perspective on freedom in which freedom is not about whether one can act outside of a causal chain, but is an ongoing process of building oneself in the world. Sartre argues that freedom is rooted in the nature of human beings’ consciousness. We are the only beings, in Sartre’s view, who form a conception of self by contrasting ourselves with what we’re not. An exploration of our world and environment, or “situation” as Sartre calls it, is necessary for developing our own essence or identity. 1 Sartre refers to our created essence as an existential “project” in the sense that is an ongoing task. He argues that human consciousness is forward‐looking, that is to say, we project ourselves toward a future that we are not yet, but strive to be. Because we organize ourselves around a not yet existent future, our essence is not fixed, but in flux. We are at all times able to make a new choice of ourselves in the world. 2

This chapter will consider what it means for William to have, as Sartre calls it, an existential project. We’ll see how Sartre’s theory explains quite cogently William’s change in essence from his young self to the violent Man in Black. In a Sartrean framework, William did not discover himself in the park, rather, his experience in the park, or new “situation,” led him to make a new choice of himself in the world and pursue a new set of ends. After exploring William’s journey, we’ll also examine Maeve’s choice to leave the train at the end of the “The Bicameral Mind.” Although Maeve is a programmed android, she is able to resist her programming and formulate her own goal and, perhaps, start her own existential journey.

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