"Yes Man" under an Existentialist Microscope

The movie "Yes Man" was an under the radar movie. Not a lot of people cared to watch it, and many who did, did not enjoy the movie's plot. The movie however is a great example of existential film and brilliantly portrays Jean-Paul Sartre's ideas from his essay "Existentialism is a Humanism".

While the movie may not have been a huge hit with the critics, I intend to look at it in another way. Rather than assess the quality of the film, I hope to view the movie from the existentialist philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre to help analyze the enigmatic burden of choice. From, "Existentialism is a Humanism", we learn that humans must make their own choices and that without your own decisions, you are not really a human. Existentialism tells us that in order for one to truly exist, he or she has to do things, not based on what others tell him or her to do, but rather, he or she has to make the decisions that they want to make. There are however boundaries in that, you shouldn't make decisions that would prevent others from making their own decision, but the main idea is to live life to the fullest.

Back to the idea of the movie "Yes Man". The main premise of the movie is That the protagonist, Carl Allen (Jim Carrey), makes a pact that he is to say "yes" to any opportunity that comes up. This creates a comical series of events in which Carl is forced to do crazy things and is rewarded for them. This however doesn't last when he falls in love with Allison (Zooey Deschanel). After getting Allison to like him do to his apparent spontaneity, Allison finds out about his pact. She begins to think that he has been lying to her this whole time and she feels betrayed because she thinks that he never really loved her. Carl however fixes the problem when he finds out that the pact is not binding, that he doesn't have to say yes to everything, and that he should occasionally throw a "no" in once in a while. Carl and Allison get back together and roller-skate off into the sunset.

It is obvious that the movie fits into the description of an existential film because of it having to do with choice. So now we can see what Jean-Paul Sartre would think of the actions of Carl. Carl goes through three stages throughout the movie: a state of always saying no, a state of always saying yes, and a final state in which he makes his own choices. We will analyze Carl from the viewpoint of Sartre in these three individual portions of Carl's life.

At the beginning of our film, Carl is a recently divorced and distraught man. He seems to have gotten detached and lonely and his friends find his negative attitude towards life annoying. Carl doesn't want to do things with his friends and he continuously tries to make up excuses for not being able to hang out. But what Jean-Paul say? Sartre in my opinion would probably tell Carl that, he is not making his own decisions. Rather than think about things and making choices, he is simply trying to get out of commitments and do nothing. And while it may seem that choosing to do nothing is a decision, it in fact is a quietist method of thinking and in Sartre mind would be deemed undesirable.

Soon, Carl's life takes a dramatic turn. Upon meeting an old friend, he learns of a seminar about "saying yes" a self-help seminar focused on advising those with negative attitudes to  say "yes" more often. At first, Carl is uninterested, but after missing his friend Pete's (Bradley Cooper) engagement party, Carl is prompted to attend the seminar. At the seminar, Carl is introduced to Terrance Bundley (Terrance Stamp) who forces a "covenant" upon Carl, forcing him to say "yes" whenever the opportunity arises. Carl's new "Yes Man" attitude helps him seem more spontaneous and appealing to Zooey Deschanel's character Allison. He begins to try out all sorts of new activities, such as flying lessons, and learning to speak Korean and even uses his new guitar prowess to prevent a man from committing suicide:

He gets to know his boss better by agreeing to go to his crazy get togethers:

 

and it all seems to be paying off. But soon, his impulsive use of the word "Yes" gets him into trouble. He is accused of being a terrorist after taking an impromptu flight to Lincoln, Nebraska, due to the recent crazy activities he had been partaking in. He admits to Allison that he had been saying yes to everything, and she thinks that he never really liked her. So now we have gone through the second phase of Carl's life. Sartre however would not approve of Carl's actions here either. Although Carl had some fun experiences and learned a lot of things through his only using the word "yes", Sartre would state that Carl is still letting his choices be made for him and that this is not the right thing to do, as seen by the downturn in Carl's life towards the end of this part of the movie. Sartre would tell Carl to use more discretion when he is making choices, don't simply say yes or no to anything, but rather think about what you really want.

Carl's life is now in shambles. without Allison, his life seems to be falling apart, and it is only complicated when his ex- wife tries to seduce him. Carl finally refuses, and the fury's are let loose upon him. When Carl tries to make a decision to say no, it is as if the whole world becomes his enemy and he desperately tries to find Terrance to end the covenant. After surprising Terrance in the back of his car, the two get into a car accident, and the awake in the hospital where Terrance tells Carl that, there was no covenant. The seminar was not intended for Carl to simply say yes to everything, but rather to say yes more often. Carl's life begins to come back together, and he goes out to find Allison. He tells her, he is not ready to move in with her, and the two are reunited. In this final portion of the movie, Carl finally satisfies Sartre. He is making his own decisions and he is being a true existentialist. Sartre can sleep sound knowing that Carl is living his life, the way it should be lived, through dictating his own path.

-Tommy Chan

Citation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBz5IdxITP8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWywy1LCnhA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:YesMan2008poster.jpg
http://losangeleslink.blogspot.com/2012/01/not-yes-man.html#!/2012/01/not-yes-man.html
http://mynameispaulstar.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/epiphany-with-sartre/