Dark: Can You Control Your Future?

Summary

In this Wisecrack Edition, the video explores the Netflix series 'Dark', a German time-travel drama set in a small forest town. The series grapples with the concept of free will versus determinism as residents attempt to alter a tragic future. It delves into complex themes such as predestination, the nature of time, and the human desire to avoid suffering. Drawing from Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy, the show suggests that our actions are driven by an uncontrollable 'Will', leading to an inevitable cycle of suffering. The characters' struggle with this realization forms the core of the series' narrative, culminating in a metaphysical resolution that questions the morality of their actions and the very existence of their world.

Takeaways

• 🕰️ Time travel in movies often explores the question of free will versus inevitability.
• 🌑 The Netflix series 'Dark' revolves around a small town's residents trying to change a tragic chain of events through time travel.
• 🔮 The show's central mystery is whether the characters can avoid their destined apocalypse.
• 🧬 'Dark' delves into complex themes like accidental incest and interdimensional disaster.
• 🔄 Characters in 'Dark' are trapped in a perpetual, unchangeable time loop.
• 🤔 The series questions the existence of free will and the power to prevent suffering.
• 📚 Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's concept of 'Will' is used to explain the characters' lack of control over their actions.
• 🚫 Attempts to change the past in 'Dark' are always thwarted, reinforcing the idea of a predetermined timeline.
• 🔁 Time is portrayed as non-linear, with present actions affecting the past, challenging the linear perception of time.
• 🌀 The show suggests that higher beings or forces might control the characters' fate, introducing a God-like figure named Adam.
• 🔕 The climax of 'Dark' involves characters realizing the futility of their attempts to change the past and the inevitability of their suffering.

Q & A

What is the central theme of the Netflix series 'Dark'?

The central theme of 'Dark' revolves around the concept of time travel and its implications on human destiny, specifically exploring whether humans have the free will to change the future or if certain events are inevitable.

What is the ultimate goal of the residents of Winden in the series?

The ultimate goal of the residents of Winden is to avoid an impending apocalypse by attempting to change a tragic chain of events through time travel.

How does the series 'Dark' portray the concept of free will?

In 'Dark', the characters initially believe they have free will to change the past, but as the series progresses, they realize they are trapped in a predetermined time loop, suggesting a deterministic universe where their actions are inevitable.

What philosophical concept is used to explain the characters' struggle in 'Dark'?

The series uses Arthur Schopenhauer's concept of 'Will' to explain the characters' struggle, suggesting that an underlying force drives their actions and decisions, rather than individual free will.

What role does the character Jonas play in the series?

Jonas is a central character who discovers a wormhole to the past and learns about the time loop affecting Winden. His journey to understand and change the past is a key plotline of the series.

What is the significance of the character Martha in relation to Jonas?

Martha is revealed to be Jonas' aunt, complicating their relationship and highlighting the complex and intertwined family dynamics in Winden that are affected by time travel.

How does the series depict the nature of time?

The series 'Dark' portrays time as non-linear and interconnected, where actions in the present can affect the past, challenging the conventional linear perception of time.

What is the role of the character Adam in the series?

Adam is presented as a God-like figure in the series, but it is revealed that he is an older version of Jonas, embodying the idea that the characters are not controlled by a higher power but are part of a self-perpetuating cycle.

How does the concept of self-denial relate to the resolution of the series?

Self-denial, as proposed by Schopenhauer, is used as a resolution strategy in 'Dark', where characters like Jonas and Martha attempt to end their suffering by denying their desires and accepting their roles in the cycle.

What is the significance of the final scene in the series?

The final scene, featuring a character named Hannah considering naming her baby Jonas, offers a potentially hopeful note, suggesting a possible future for the characters beyond the deterministic universe they were trapped in.

How does the series 'Dark' challenge the traditional narrative of good and evil?

In 'Dark', the traditional narrative of good and evil is challenged by presenting a universe where actions are determined by an underlying force, making moral judgments complex and suggesting that the concepts of good and evil may not apply.

Outlines

00:00

🕰️ Time Travel and Fate in 'Dark'

The script begins with an exploration of the concept of time travel in movies, using examples like the DeLorean from 'Back to the Future' and the hot tub from 'Hot Tub Time Machine'. It introduces the German Netflix series 'Dark', which revolves around the residents of a small forest town who time travel in an attempt to alter a series of tragic events. The show delves into the philosophical question of free will versus inevitability, asking whether we can change the future or if the bad things that happen are unavoidable. The summary outlines the show's plot, which includes time travel, accidental incest, and a perpetual time loop that always ends in apocalypse. It discusses the characters' attempts to change the past and their realization that they might be trapped in a cycle beyond their control, drawing parallels to Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy of 'Will'.

05:02

🌀 The Illusion of Time and the Inevitability of Suffering

This section of the script delves deeper into the characters' struggle to accept the reality of time as non-linear and the consequences of their actions. It discusses the idea that time is not a series of sequential events but rather a simultaneous occurrence, challenging the characters' and our own perception of time as linear. The script references Einstein's quote about the illusion of past, present, and future, and explores the concept of 'Will' as the driving force behind actions, leading to suffering. The characters' emotional wounds and their attempts to change the future, such as Jonas trying to save his father and Martha, are highlighted. The section also introduces the character Adam, who is revealed to be an older version of Jonas, embodying the idea that one's actions can lead to suffering for others.

10:04

🔮 Mirror Worlds and the Search for Morality

The script continues with a discussion on the third season of 'Dark', which introduces the concept of two 'mirror' worlds in conflict over time travel. It questions the notions of good and evil in a universe without free will, referencing Schopenhauer's philosophy that the world is Will and devoid of moral judgments. The characters' struggle with their actions in these mirror worlds is examined, particularly the conflict between Adam and Eve (older versions of Jonas and Martha). The script suggests that neither character is inherently right or wrong, and that their baby, which is a source of contention, is a symbol of the trapped existence in the time loop.

15:08

🌟 The Tranquility of Self-Denial and the End of Suffering

In the final paragraph, the script concludes with the characters' realization that the only way to end the cycle of suffering is through a form of self-denial, by preventing the event that started their timelines. It discusses the concept of self-sacrifice as a solution to human suffering, as proposed by Schopenhauer. The characters' decision to correct the origin world by saving the clockmaker's family, thereby erasing their own existence, is highlighted as a moral and selfless act. The script ends on a note of tranquility and acceptance, with the possibility of a new beginning symbolized by the naming of a new baby Jonas, suggesting a potential for hope amidst the deterministic universe portrayed in the series.

Keywords

💡Time Travel

Time travel is a concept where individuals can move between different points in time. In the context of the video, it is a central plot device in the Netflix series 'Dark', where characters use it in an attempt to alter a tragic sequence of events. The show explores the philosophical implications of time travel, questioning whether individuals have the power to change the future or if they are bound by an unchangeable timeline.

💡Free Will

Free will refers to the ability to make choices that are neither determined by natural causality nor predestined by fate or divine will. The video discusses this concept in relation to the characters' attempts to change the future in 'Dark'. It is a compelling question raised by the show: whether the characters' efforts to change the past are genuine acts of free will or if they are fated to repeat the same actions that have already occurred.

💡Apocalypse

The apocalypse is a term often used to describe a final destructive battle or the end of the world. In the video, the apocalypse is a recurring theme and a central disaster that the characters in 'Dark' are trying to prevent. It represents the ultimate challenge to the characters' efforts to change the future and serves as a backdrop against which the themes of fate and free will are explored.

💡Incest

Incest is a taboo subject that refers to sexual relations between close relatives. The video mentions 'Dark' contains instances of accidental incest, which adds a layer of complexity and moral ambiguity to the narrative. This plot element is used to heighten the drama and explore themes of fate and the consequences of attempting to alter time.

💡Wormhole

A wormhole is a hypothetical tunnel-like structure that connects two separate points in spacetime. In the video, the wormhole is a key element of 'Dark', used by the characters as a means of time travel. It symbolizes the characters' attempts to bridge different times in their quest to change the future and escape the unchangeable cycle of events.

💡Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his work on the concept of 'Will' as the driving force behind all action. The video uses his philosophy to explain the characters' struggle in 'Dark'. Schopenhauer's ideas are applied to the narrative to suggest that the characters' actions are driven by an underlying force beyond their control, which may prevent them from changing the past.

💡Will

In the context of the video, 'Will' is derived from Schopenhauer's philosophy and refers to an underlying force that drives human action and existence. The characters in 'Dark' are depicted as struggling against this force, trying to change the past and escape their fate. The concept is used to explore the limits of free will and the nature of human agency.

💡Suffering

Suffering is a state of severe pain, distress, or agony. The video discusses how the characters in 'Dark' are driven by a desire to prevent suffering, both for themselves and others. However, their attempts often lead to further suffering, reflecting Schopenhauer's view that the pursuit of avoiding suffering can paradoxically cause more misery.

💡Determinism

Determinism is the philosophical concept that all events, including moral choices, are determined by previously existing causes. The video suggests that 'Dark' explores a deterministic universe where the characters' actions are predestined, and their attempts to change the past are futile. This theme is central to the show's exploration of fate and free will.

💡Self-Denial

Self-denial refers to the act of abstaining from self-gratification, often for moral or spiritual reasons. The video connects this concept to Schopenhauer's philosophy, suggesting that by denying their desires, the characters in 'Dark' might find a way to escape their endless cycle of suffering. This concept is used to explore potential solutions to the characters' predicament.

💡Mirror Worlds

Mirror worlds, as discussed in the video, are alternate realities that exist parallel to each other. In 'Dark', these worlds are locked in a struggle for control over time travel, leading to moral dilemmas and questions about the nature of good and evil. The concept is used to further explore the complexities of time travel and the implications of multiple co-existing realities.

Highlights

Time travel in movies often explores the question of free will versus inevitability.

The German Netflix series 'Dark' revolves around a small town's residents time traveling to prevent a tragic chain of events.

The show's central mystery is whether the characters can change their impending doom.

The series delves into complex themes like accidental incest and interdimensional disaster.

Jonas, a character from 'Dark', discovers that the missing boy is his future father.

The people of Winden are trapped in a perpetual, unchangeable time loop ending in apocalypse.

Jonas finds out his crush, Martha, is actually his aunt, adding to the show's complexity.

Characters in 'Dark' attempt to use time travel to fix the future but face the reality of a predetermined timeline.

The concept of 'Will' as described by Arthur Schopenhauer is used to explain the characters' lack of free will.

The show suggests that time is not linear, but rather happening all at once, everywhere and every time.

The characters' attempts to change the past are continuously thwarted, reinforcing the idea of an unchangeable cycle.

The show introduces Adam, a God-like figure, who is later revealed to be an older version of Jonas.

The concept of self-denial as a cure for human suffering is explored through Schopenhauer's philosophy.

The show's third season focuses on the conflict between two 'mirror' worlds fighting for control of time travel.

The characters' struggle with the morality of their actions in a deterministic universe is a central theme.

The show concludes with Jonas and Martha attempting to end the cycle of suffering by correcting the origin world.

The final scene suggests a potential for hope and a future beyond the show's deterministic narrative.

Transcripts

(Eerie music)

- (Michael) What’s up, Wisecrack, Michael here.

Time travel in movies has a weird history, to say the least.

Whether it’s a DeLorean juiced up to 1.21 gigawatts , a germ-filled hot tub, or Keanu

Reeves:

- (Keanue) Whoa!

- (Michael) it’s basically always a certifiable mind trip.

And yet we keep returning to these stories because they tickle our brains with one very

compelling question: Do we have any free will to change the future, or are the awful things

that happen to us inevitable?

Enter: Dark.

This German Netflix series centers around a small forest town whose residents time travel

across centuries trying to change a tragic chain of events.

Their ultimate goal?

Avoid an oft-discussed “apocalypse”

(Characters saying Apocalypse in German)

The question of whether or not they CAN do anything about their impending doom is the

core of the show’s mystery.

And make no mistake, this show will have you up at 3AM, 100 comments deep on a Reddit thread

about Dark’s incestuous family tree.

But more on that later.

The really important question it poses is this: Do we have the power to prevent our

own suffering?

And is it even worth trying to?

Let’s find out in this Wisecrack Edition on The Philosophy of Dark.

And, as always, spoilers ahead.

- (Michael) And now, a quick recap.

Dark tells the story of Winden, a rural town facing a series of tragic but seemingly normal

events.

This all quickly spirals into time travel, accidental incest, and interdimensional disaster.

So first, a guy kills himself.

Then, a boy goes missing.

And THEN, the son of the guy who killed himself, Jonas, starts looking for the missing boy

via a literal wormhole to the past.

There, he learns that the missing boy has been living in 1986 and will grow up to become

his Dad.

Oh, and meanwhile a whole lot of other folks are also secretly messing with time travel,

too.

Eventually, the people of Winden - from as far back as 1888 to as far forward as 2053

- discover that they are trapped in a perpetual, unchangeable time loop that always ends in

a horrible apocalypse.

Oh yeah, and Jonas finds out that his crush, Martha, is, in fact, his aunt.

Yikes.

So, let’s take this one season at a time.

All our characters are using time travel to try to fix or change the future.

But do they even have that power??

Or are they cursed to stay trapped in this rainy suburban hell of a time loop.

Midway through the season, Jonas and the people of Winden discover the wormhole beneath their

town and attempt to “correct” or “change” the central event - the young boy’s disappearance.

At first, Jonas thinks he has “free will” and - that his choices will determine his

fate, and the fate of the missing boy.

But a mysterious stranger tells him that taking the boy back to 2019 would result in the end

of Jonas’ own existence, because this kid is his FATHER, and needs to grow up in the

past in order to, you know, father Jonas.

Examples like this are numerous - and the results are always the same.

Every time someone tries to change the past, they’re actually just doing something that

by necessity has already happened.

And as the characters’ attempts to change the past are continuously thwarted, they slowly

realize that they don’t have free will.

Rather, they seem to be trapped in an endless cycle that’s outside their control.

We can understand this endless cycle with a little help from Arthur Schopenhauer, who,

side note: was a horrible hang.

According to Schopenhauer, the world is driven by an animating force called “Will.”

This Will, rather than our own individual choice, is what drives our actions.

Will compels us to eat, breathe, sleep and importantly, to try to avoid suffering.

It’s like Will is the shitty, underpaid busdriver, and we’re all passengers, stuck

in the back of the bus, unable to get off.

In Dark, characters like Jonas struggle to accept this reality as they continue to believe

that they are, in fact, the driver of their own bus, able to change history with their

own will.

In fact, one character’s determination to change the future makes him behave so erratically

that he gets put in a mental institution - in the PAST.

It can be hard or even impossible to accept that we don’t REALLY have control over anything

we do.

After all, we experience life as a series of actions and the consequences of those actions.

So even as teen Jonas realizes that all of his choices have been predetermined, the mysterious

stranger, who is actually Adult Jonas from the future, keeps trying to change the fabric

of reality by destroying the Winden wormhole completely.

Only problem?

Even THIS event has already happened, and we learn that Adult Jonas’s attempt to close

the wormhole is what actually creates it in the first place.

‘Cause your stoner friend from college, Ganja Greg, was RIGHT - time IS an illusion.

The characters keep messing up their lives because they can’t accept that time is NOT

a one-way street of sequential events.

Rather, the things they do in the present can actually affect the past.

They, like we, experience time as linear, and tend to assume that’s the reality.

In fact, time, according to Dark and also, ya know, Einstein, is happening all at once,

everywhere and every time.

Of course, the people of Dark might have realized their fate sooner if they could have read

the first season’s opening quote by Einstein himself: "The distinction between the past,

present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

By season two, our characters start to learn that, not only are they unable to change the

past, but they are ALSO completely unable to stop TRYING to.

Why?

You guessed it: the force of will, and in this case, the will to stop their own suffering.

Everyone in Winden is dealing with emotional wounds: Jonas can’t get over his father’s

suicide, his mother feels rejected by the men she loves, various people are hurt by

their spouse’s infidelities, and many people die tragically.

One character, Claudia, experiments with time travel, hoping to save her daughter, who gets

cancer in the future, as well as her father, who is murdered in the past.

And Jonas, far in the future, tries to save Martha, his aunt slash lover, and everyone

else he loves from the end of the world.

If constantly trying to stop bad things from happening without succeeding sounds awful,

that’s because it is.

In fact, the very will that makes us take action to avoid suffering simultaneously drives

us to further suffering.

According to Schopenhauer, the world of daily life actually just “is suffering” and

trying to prevent that suffering just makes us more miserable.

Like we said, not a fun hang.

By this point, the people of Winden may have realized that they’re not in control of

anything.

But they’re also not sure who is.

That’s when the show suggests that there might be some kind of higher being pulling

all the strings.

It introduces Adam, a God-like dude in a church-like room who seems very bossy.

So is Adam God?

Hell no!

He’s just an older and uglier version of Jonas!

In a literalization of Schopenhauer’s philosophy, young Jonas’ innocent desire to save his

town from suffering leads him to grow into Adam, an ugly thing responsible for much of

his town’s suffering.

We see this again at the climax of season two, as both Young Jonas and Adult Jonas are

trying to stop the death of Martha.

Young Jonas thinks she dies during the Apocalypse, but Adult Jonas knows she dies by gunshot.

In a sick irony, Adult Jonas forces her into a bunker with the very gun that ... Old Jonas

(aka Adam) will one day use to murder Martha.

Is your brain okay right now?

Mine’s not.

But anyway.

Jonas’s desire to save Martha ends up being the very thing that sets all the pieces in

place to get her killed, by his own hand.

The creators of Dark seem to agree about the inevitability of certain human behaviors.

According to the show’s writer, Jante [JAN - T] Freise: "It always comes down to some

kind of programming they had before them that you cannot choose because you cannot let go

of the stuff that happened before you.

Your past is always pushing you into the direction you're going, while at the same time the future

is pulling you."

But there’s still one more season of the show!

Is there any hope to be had for our time traveling incest babies?

There is, if they can learn to, like your laconic teenage brother, just give less of

a shit.

We’ll let the show explain.

Season three roots its conflict in the tension between two “mirror” worlds, one light

and one dark, which are both fighting for control of time travel.

Naturally, everyone believes that they are on the good side, even as they do very bad

things, like repeatedly kill their own family members.

So if grown-up Jonas, aka Adam, is the mastermind of one mirror world, what’s going down on

the other side?

There, in the parallel mirror world, we have Martha, now called Eve.

When mirror Martha kidnaps Jonas at the end of season two, we cross over into this mirrored

timeline where things are sort of different but mostly the same.

These mirror worlds, and the war between Adam and Eve (aka old Jonas and old Martha), might

make us wonder: who’s on the right side of this effed up history?

If there’s no free will and no architect of fate, is there even such a thing as good

and evil?

Not according to your favorite party ruiner Schopenhauer.

If the world is Will, it’s an endless striving with no end in sight, devoid of knowledge

and law, entirely free and self determining.

Within Schopenhauer’s vision, there is no “God” to be comprehended.

The world is inherently meaningless and therefore beyond any ascriptions of good and evil.

So neither Adam nor Eve is right or wrong.

As if to literalize this point, Jonas and Martha’s interdimensional baby, a human

trilogy of antichrists, seems to be single handedly trapping everyone in this hellish

timescape.

In the ultimate interdimensional custody battle, they fight over how to deal with their demon

baby: Martha has a maternal desire to keep him alive, and Jonas wants him dead, hoping

it will put an end to this ugly time loop.

Moral of the story: maybe having a baby with your aunt from another dimension isn’t the

best idea.

And in case you thought we were stretching with all the Schopenhauer stuff, season three

opens with this quote by the German shitlord himself: “Man can do what he wills, but

he cannot will what he wills.”

And the show reaffirms this view by revealing a few remaining secrets about the town’s

closed time-loop: the apocalypse is unavoidable, Jonas’ Dad can’t be saved no matter what.

Oh, and also, a number of people end up being their own parent and/or grandparent which

would lead to the world’s weirdest 23 and me results ever.

And again, everything is inevitable and infinitely repeating.

So upon realizing all of this, what can Jonas and Martha do?

Well, they can commit a weird type of metaphysical suicide by preventing the event which created

each of their timelines in the first place.

By denying their desire to “fix” their suffering, they might be able to finally move

past it -- in a way.

This is an extreme version of the self-denial that Schopenhauer describes as one cure for

human suffering.

According to Schopenhauer, this type of self-sacrifice helps us give up the desire to find meaning

and purpose in our suffering.

It’s sort of his cranky German version of the moral wisdom that Buddhist monks have

practiced long before Netflix was a thing.

Jonas attempts to remedy his suffering by ending his own life, and those of everyone

around him.

But this doesn’t work.

Instead, the creators of Dark robbed me of ANOTHER peaceful slumber by creating:

A third dimension which precedes the timelines of both Adam and Eve, the origin world.

And it turns out our mirror worlds only exist in the first place because a distraught scientist

and clockmaker in the origin world tried to build a time machine that accidentally split

reality into those two timelines.

And it’s only by stopping the painful event that motivated this “mishap” that Jonas

and Martha can destroy their own worlds completely and stop the endless cycle of suffering.

Unfortunately, doing so will turn them, everyone they know, and all those incest babies into

sparkly dust.

But, wait.

What about the will to live?

According to Schopenhauer, if you were to truly realize how hopelessly immoral human

nature is, you’d be so disgusted by the pointless striving of Will that you’d simply

deny it.

Like, you’d give up the will-to-live, resign yourself to what is, and actually find some

tranquility in doing so.

Basically, once you realize how truly shit everything is, you’re able to stop giving

a fuck and thus worry about your suffering a lot less.

And Jonas and Martha, having fully realized all of this, peacefully make the choice to

correct the origin world by saving the clockmaker’s family in the origin world, thereby erasing

the tragedy that brought themselves into existence.

But isn’t this sad?

Not really.

In accepting their role in the perpetuation of suffering across multiple generations and

timelines, they’re able to do something both moral and selfless, which is to simply

let go.

In the show’s final scene, at a dinner party with the only characters whose existence hasn’t

been erased, one character, Hannah, describes a dream:

This all sounds a lot like Schopenhauer’s tranquility

in self-denial.

This sentiment, that the world is better off without Winden, has been previously expressed:

The repetition of this idea drives home the theme

of the show: in Winden, to erase the world is to erase the tragedy and suffering of existence,

which seems like a total bummer from one perspective.

But the show makes a final choice that actually veers away from Schopenhauer a bit: Hannah

says she’s thinking of naming her new baby Jonas.

And you can make of that vaguely hopeful note what you will.

Maybe it means that there’s a future somewhere for Jonas and Martha to be together after

all.

Or maybe everything is shitty forever and your Dad is your crush’s little brother

and your crush is your aunt and by some weird logic your mother is also your great-great-great-great

grandmother and why can’t Germans just make a happy show!?!

But what do you think Wisecrack?

Is Dark the ultimate exploration of a totally deterministic universe?

Or is there another way to read the ending?

Let us know in the comments.

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And

as always, thanks for watching.

Later!