In Stone or In Chaos?

The complex concept of fate has been heavily discussed within the walls of Mrs. Burnett’s AP classroom over the past several weeks. Hearing my fellow students discuss fate in terms of plays like Oedipus Rex, the movie Run, Lola, Run, and as they feel it applies to their own lives really forced me to think about how I see my life unfolding, especially within the pivotal fall months of my senior year. Falling on the more existentialist side of the spectrum, I find the concept of a fate set in stone rather silly; sure, we are predisposed to certain things that may sway our lives one way or another, but choosing to allow the circumstances of our lives to cosmically define us and feel that nothing can be done is incorrect, and simply a choice as far as I’m concerned. People often don’t take notice of the real power they have to choose their own “fate” per say, or at least step in whichever direction they decide they will move their life towards.

Lola, the titular character of Run, Lola, Run, seems to understand, or at least believe, that she can control the outcome of her life, even within a life or death situation. When her boyfriend Manni gets in deep with violent drug dealers and must accumulate 100 thousand Marks in 20 minutes, Lola snaps into action and decides to seize control of her life, even if it takes 3 tries to get the timing right. The film was also an interesting demonstration of the concept of the infinitely fascinating Chaos Theory; while it may appear slightly ridiculous upon initial investigation that something as small as a butterfly flapping its wings could lead to a hurricane somewhere else in the world, learning about the theory is an interesting exercise in examining the subtile and remarkable ways that human beings interact and influence one another simply by being in the same environment. The idea that the way that Lola moved past a woman pushing a baby could lead to multiple futures, such as addiction, winning the lottery, and becoming connected to a religion. While I’m not sure that the way I walk past anyone in the hall drastically affects their day, I do believe that we unconsciously make small decisions on a day to day basis that impact the long term more than we may initially realize. 

Reading Oedipus Rex was interesting due to my disbelief in fate, especially one as totally set in stone as Oedipus’. However, the more we spoke about fate in terms of Oedipus in class, the less I believed that his future as father killer and mother lover was set in rather than an unfortunately specific self-fulfilling prophecy. If Oedipus’ parents has confronted the prophecy head on by keeping their son and instilling in him from a young age the instructions to not murder his dad or get intimate with his mom, the whole situation probably could have been avoided. Instead, a slew of cowardly moves later by both Mr. and Mrs. Rex, Oedipus’ adopted parents, and Oedipus himself later, we have a self-blinded and exiled incestuous king. Ew.