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Part of the problem is that existential meaning is obtained through the encounter with the vicissitudes of life rather than by contemplation of abstractions, as the individual is jolted into recognizing the reality of his or her condition. Consequently, the best presentations of existentialism are found in creative works that present characters in extreme situations. The narrative approach used in literature and film is better suited to existentialism, but academic philosophers tend to value systematic explications and sometimes fail to treat the content of popular fiction and movies as legitimate sources of philosophy.
Academia’s failure to recognize this uniquely American brand of existentialism can also be traced to the professionalization of philosophy and the evolution of the definition of philosophy. Philosophy began as love and pursuit of wisdom but, over centuries, developed into an academic occupation. The autonomous sage became the philosophy professor, a scholarly specialist whose duties consist of the study and teaching of specific thinkers and texts, and the logical analysis of selected problems or language complexities. Philosophy became a university endeavor with its own insular world of authorities writing mostly about matters of interest to experts in language too obscure for most nonprofessionals. This development created a moat around the ivory tower between academics and the public and produced a sharp distinction between what is considered philosophy and what is not. Canonical texts and academic writings are philosophy; fiction and movies are not.
While academic philosophers were discussing abstract ideas of limited interest to those outside the profession, American genre writers and filmmakers produced existential fiction and films that responded to their audiences. The same novels and films that slipped the notice of American philosophers were critically acclaimed in France (the proclaimed birthplace of existentialism), where intellectuals did not observe our artificial borders between disciplines. It is more than ironic that existentialism, which criticizes traditional philosophy as “academic, superficial and remote from life,” was produced in the midst of American philosophers who were too disconnected to notice (Kaufmann 20).