“Existence Under Crisis: A Comparative Study of Heideggerian Ontology and Foucauldian Biopolitics in Rich Flu”

This paper examines the philosophical implications of human existence during large-scale crises through a comparative reading of Martin Heidegger’s ontology and Michel Foucault’s biopolitics as reflected in the film Rich Flu. Heidegger’s concept of Being-toward-death provides a framework for interpreting how the characters confront existential anxiety, the collapse of social norms, and the search for authenticity when mortality becomes unavoidable. In contrast, Foucault’s biopolitical theory reveals how structures of power, governance, and economic systems manipulate bodies, regulate fear, and produce new hierarchies during a state of emergency. By analyzing Rich Flu through these dual frameworks, the study demonstrates how the film critiques modern society’s commodification of life and the political management of death, while simultaneously exposing the fragile nature of human agency under crisis. This interdisciplinary approach offers new insights into the intersection of mortality, power, and the destabilization of subjectivity in contemporary culture. Heidegger 240–275; Foucault 135–150; Rich Flu (2023). Moreover, the film’s portrayal of a society unraveling under the pressure of a mysterious contagion underscores the tension between individual autonomy and collective responsibility. As wealth becomes a determinant of vulnerability, Rich Flu dramatizes a reversal of traditional social order, revealing how crisis reconfigures the value of human life. Through this inversion, the narrative highlights the ethical dilemmas that emerge when survival depends on calculated decisions rather than moral convictions. In dialogue with Heidegger, the characters’ confrontation with death exposes the existential void beneath consumerist identities, while Foucault’s perspective illuminates how fear becomes a tactical instrument for restructuring social behavior. Ultimately, this additional layer of analysis shows how the film not only critiques systemic inequalities but also compels viewers to reconsider the philosophical foundations of worth, agency, and responsibility in an era defined by global uncertainty.

کلیدواژه ها:

Being-toward-death ، Biopolitics ، Foucault ، Heidegger ، Rich Flu