Existentialism has become a buzz word that is used as an adjective to describe anything that is brooding, moody, or enigmatic, but what does it really mean? While fittingly it's hard to put an exact definition of what existentialism is, common themes in this line of philosophical thought usually have to do with topics of an individual's freedom and particularly an individual's freedom to choose their own values. The idea of a sort of radical subjectivism, where individuals are the authors, or more appropriately for this article, the auteurs of their own life, is the core pillar that unites all strands of existentialism. An individual, no matter his or her circumstances, is always free in their mind and they must acknowledge and embrace this freedom or risk living life in a phony and inauthentic manner. What follows then is an eclectic mix of characters, some of who would be proud to stand on the highest mountaintops of the Earth and declare themselves existentialists before all of creation, and others who wouldn't have the slightest clue what the phrase "existence before essence" was referring to. All figures on this list though, whether knowingly or not, carve out their own paths on how their life proceeds and on how they define themselves on their journey. In other words, they are all quintessential existential warriors.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
