Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a novel written in response to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's myth of eternal return. Through questioning Nietzsche's myth, Kundera creates an existential framework that rejects eternal return and illustrates his foundational concepts of lightness and weight. Kundera posits that in the absence of eternal return, life becomes meaningless because all of the moments of a person's life disappear the moment that life ceases to be. In order to combat this terrifying prospect, Kundera suggests that a person must combat fate. Likewise, a person may discover how to give significance to life through the pursuit of lightness or weight. This thesis examines the function of lightness and weight and uses them to explore films that visualize Kundera's key concepts. Because the novel has a limited scope, it is difficult to examine the breadth of these concepts and fully unlock their complexities. Removing them from Kundera's novel and using them as a lens to examine films allows the ideas to move from the hypothetical sphere so that they can become fully meaningful.
","abstract_html":"<p>Milan Kundera's <em>The Unbearable Lightness of Being</em> is a novel written in response to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's myth of eternal return. Through questioning Nietzsche's myth, Kundera creates an existential framework that rejects eternal return and illustrates his foundational concepts of lightness and weight. Kundera posits that in the absence of eternal return, life becomes meaningless because all of the moments of a person's life disappear the moment that life ceases to be. In order to combat this terrifying prospect, Kundera suggests that a person must combat fate. Likewise, a person may discover how to give significance to life through the pursuit of lightness or weight. This thesis examines the function of lightness and weight and uses them to explore films that visualize Kundera's key concepts. Because the novel has a limited scope, it is difficult to examine the breadth of these concepts and fully unlock their complexities. Removing them from Kundera's novel and using them as a lens to examine films allows the ideas to move from the hypothetical sphere so that they can become fully meaningful.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Milton, Angela C."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in English (M.A.)","degree_level":"Thesis (open access)","degree_discipline":"Department of Literature and Philosophy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Elizabeth Butterfield","Candy Schille"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:17Z","subjects":["ETD","The Hours","Auf der anderen Seite","The Edge of Heaven","Redemption","Extistentialism"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/40","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Elizabeth Butterfield","Candy Schille"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Milton, Angela C."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-07-22T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Literature and Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis (open access)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in English (M.A.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ETD","The Hours","Auf der anderen Seite","The Edge of Heaven","Redemption","Extistentialism"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/40"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a novel written in response to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's myth of eternal return. Through questioning Nietzsche's myth, Kundera creates an existential framework that rejects eternal return and illustrates his foundational concepts of lightness and weight. Kundera posits that in the absence of eternal return, life becomes meaningless because all of the moments of a person's life disappear the moment that life ceases to be. In order to combat this terrifying prospect, Kundera suggests that a person must combat fate. Likewise, a person may discover how to give significance to life through the pursuit of lightness or weight. This thesis examines the function of lightness and weight and uses them to explore films that visualize Kundera's key concepts. Because the novel has a limited scope, it is difficult to examine the breadth of these concepts and fully unlock their complexities. Removing them from Kundera's novel and using them as a lens to examine films allows the ideas to move from the hypothetical sphere so that they can become fully meaningful.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Irreconcilable Oppositions: \"Es Muss Sein\" and The Unbearable Lightness of Being"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Elizabeth Butterfield","Candy Schille"],"dc:creator":["Milton, Angela C."],"dc:date.available":["2013-07-22T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a novel written in response to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's myth of eternal return. Through questioning Nietzsche's myth, Kundera creates an existential framework that rejects eternal return and illustrates his foundational concepts of lightness and weight. Kundera posits that in the absence of eternal return, life becomes meaningless because all of the moments of a person's life disappear the moment that life ceases to be. In order to combat this terrifying prospect, Kundera suggests that a person must combat fate. Likewise, a person may discover how to give significance to life through the pursuit of lightness or weight. This thesis examines the function of lightness and weight and uses them to explore films that visualize Kundera's key concepts. Because the novel has a limited scope, it is difficult to examine the breadth of these concepts and fully unlock their complexities. Removing them from Kundera's novel and using them as a lens to examine films allows the ideas to move from the hypothetical sphere so that they can become fully meaningful.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/40"],"dc:subject":["ETD","The Hours","Auf der anderen Seite","The Edge of Heaven","Redemption","Extistentialism"],"dc:title":["Irreconcilable Oppositions: \"Es Muss Sein\" and The Unbearable Lightness of Being"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Literature and Philosophy"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis (open access)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in English (M.A.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:17Z"}