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Nietzsche and Modernism Essay

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Although Nietzsche isn't responsible for creating modernism, his philosophies were representative of the concerns and uncertainly of the modernist artists. Nietzsche and the modernists shared a dark outlook on society, one that he had called in his works "sick" and weak due to the constraints put upon them by the Christian church, and traditional values that had gone unquestioned for too long. To truly realize oneself, you must break free, denounce this imposed morality and search deep inside to develop into your own person.

Nietzsche realized that in the time of the modernist movement, certain people in Europe had begun to break free of these societal restraints, and experienced nihilism, yet he acknowledged that the common man …show more content…

In process he achieved a following, because it's in the nature of the weak to follow one who exhumes power and confidence. The church moved to capitalize on this power, but creating its own power structure, complete with a documented list of rules. These people, so awed by their "savior" saw it necessary to continue to praise him after his death, and turned to the house of god to do so. When you have a group of people subservient, it is natural that those in positions of power above them will use this to their advantage. What started as a group of people following one Overman has now become the largest and most powerful institution in the world. Most people, content with their safety net of the church never think to look back and question why the church is what it is, and why they should follow it. They never ask who wrote the bible and why was it written. They never question the validity of a book that relays stories past on generation to generation by word of mouth (and no doubt embellished) before they were ever put onto paper. Its Nietzsche's conviction that Jesus' intent was never what the church has become, but instead to realize his own true self.

The Overman was Nietzsche's term for he who was able to see past the haze of this imperfect existence. To reach this status, Nietzsche outlined three important steps to Nihilism. First he had to accept that religion was fabricated. His famous phrase "God is dead" was a harsh way of alerting people that

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