Name: This Kid's Movie is About Existentialism.
Uploaded: 2026-02-17T06:22:57.000Z
Duration: 12 min 41 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Adverbs of degree

Surf's up was a movie that as a kid, I didn't love.

I mean, I was entertained by the characters and fun scenes, but

I didn't really understand the message of the film.

This is a kids movie about existentialism.

How in the world could Surf's up possibly be about existentialism?

After making this video, I was astonished with the similarities.

Originally, it was believed by ancient philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, that essence came before existence.

For example, an eraser is only an eraser if it can erase.

The shape, size and color are irrelevant as long as it does the job it was made to do.

They also believed humans have an essence bestowed by God and we should live up to our essence because.

Because it's part of what it means to be a good person.

This idea was later challenged by a man named John Paul Sartre, who believed it is our responsibility to create our own essence that we decide our path in life.

This concept removes the obstacle in front of human freedom.

And with this way of thinking, there is no necessity for the existence of God.

But how does this theory have any relation to the kids film Surf's Up?

An overarching subject in the film is how Cody needs to establish a sort of career for himself.

Whether it be surfing or sorting fish, he must choose a path path in life.

And throughout this film, Cody is trying to find his purpose as he goes living by the idea that existence does precede essence.

Despite this, Cody's mother and brother find his desire for going away strange and unusual.

As if there is a way of life, he should adhere to a way of life.

His mother and brother expect him to live a much more essentialist view on life.

Yet Cody doesn't believe in this practice.

And his family's lack of acceptance leaves him with a gnawing feeling of concern for whether or not he is doing the right thing.

All he wants is to be recognized and supported.

And he wishes people would just let him be himself.

Cody's this, Cody's that, Cody's this, Cody's me, bro.

In order to be acknowledged by others, Cody believes that winning the Big Z Memorial Surf off will make people finally take his path in life seriously.

But John Paul Sartre would consider his decision to be living in bad faith.

Bad faith is a psychological phenomenon where people act inauthentically by yielding to the external pressures of society by adopting false values and rejecting their innate freedom as humans, the freedom and ability we are given to make choices for ourselves.

realistically, he wants to feel the freedom and happiness surfing brings him.

Cody mentions that he's never won anything in his life and he wants to feel like a winner.

I've never, you know, won anything my whole life.

You know, just once I want to feel like a winner.

Although it's clear that he wants acceptance through the dialogue and body language shown when Mikey first arrives, it makes it obvious that Cody wants to impress his mother by showing how truly dedicated to his passion he really is.

But winning, like many things, is a societal construct that is considered good, that winning is the right thing to do rather than simply enjoying the experience our hobby brings us.

Winning is, without a doubt a confidence boost only because society has deemed losing bad.

Even though Cody states he does truly want to feel like a winner just this once, it's fair to assume he was heavily motivated by external factors.

He is trying to live up to the expectations of others when really he should live to his own truth, whatever that may be.

Bad faith, being a denial of freedom, closely relates to the abundance of freedom individuals truly have.

John Paul Sartre would even go as far as saying.

Saying that humans are condemned to be free as if it's a curse as well as a blessing.

As humans, we do not create ourselves, yet here we are.

And I do not mean any of this to evoke an existential crisis upon anyone.

But we never ask to be brought into this world.

Nonetheless, we have the ability to make choices for ourselves.

And because of that, every situation we face is a result of our free will.

Therefore, we can't blame any fortune or misfortune in our life to be the cause of external forces.

But Elber Camus has said the literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.

I just want to make it clear that I in no way want to push these philosophical ideas on anyone.

I'm just using these men and their ideologies for the sake of the video.

There is, without a doubt, a lack of guidance in Cody's life.

This could be due to him losing his father at a young age.

Or his mother's absence of interest in his passion.

An authoritative figure was something that Cody never had.

He does whatever he wants because no one tells him no.

This overwhelming amount of freedom essentially leaves Cody the choice to do quite literally anything.

He has such an alarming amount of power of what goes on in his life and he is only 17 years old.

In no way am I saying a teenager cannot make a rational decision for themselves.

However, the pressure that comes along with making these life altering choices can be devastating.

How can you know at such a young age whether you are making the right decision or not?

Cody is carrying this burden of believing that there is a right decision to make when he just wants to be himself.

All this tension and anxiety coming from a societal construct that there is in fact a proper choice to make.

How can humanity have so many questions about the world, yet believe that we also have the answers?

In a sense that people believe or promote that there is this right way of living.

Along with creating an enormous amount of stress for individuals, it also leaves people feeling lost or even bad about not being certain of what they want to do.

Cody's family is constantly vilifying him because his views differ from theirs.

It's not surprising he works so hard to impress them because for so long they've been embarrassed of him.

Although embarrassed may not be the right word, Cody does acknowledge that people are saying negative things about him to his mother.

I don't understand why everybody has to be so judgmental.

I think it's because she cares partially.

Whilst he does recognize that her emotions come from a place of concern, he also realizes that his differentiating views on life not only tarnish his reputation, but

Cody may not care what others think of him, but

his mother most likely cares about how the community views their family.

Obviously, this puts a great weight on Cody's shoulders because he wants to do what's true to him, but

That abundance of freedom mentioned earlier is the very thing that he feels.

The paradox of choice can be extremely stressful.

And it always comes down to that great deal of freedom that we have.

In no way do I mean to say freedom is a bad thing.

But I do believe the burden that falls upon many people to do the so called right thing can be another concept by Albert Camus which describes how our search to find meaning is futile because we live in a world that is shockingly devoid of it this concept being absurdism, this is the idea that existence in general is absurd.

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This Kid's Movie is About Existentialism.

anxiety

constantly

essentially

embrace