Buzz Lightyear – an existential super hero for our times?

The first Toy Story movie came out in 1995 when I was 31, introducing me and my children to a rich cast of memorable characters, including Woody the slightly officious but kind-hearted cowboy, and Rex the nervous Tyrannosaurus Rex. But it was Buzz Lightyear – the self-absorbed but charismatic space ranger from the planet Morph – who quickly established himself as our family’s favourite. And for a few years, his delightfully oxymoronic catchphrase, ‘To Infinity and Beyond!’ became a recurrent motif in our family narrative.

Fast forward thirty years; my children have long flown the nest, and I now work in private practice as an existential therapist, loving this second act of my professional life. With the passage of time, Buzz had faded from my mind until a recent client conversation* brought him centre stage once again – this time in the unlikely role of existential inspiration for me and my clients. Let me explain...

When we first meet Buzz in Toy Story, he is living in a state of almost complete psychological incongruence. He denies the central fact of his existence that he is a toy and has convinced himself instead that he is a real member of the elite Space Command ranger corps, with the ability to fly. Over the course of the film, Buzz gradually moves to a position of greater congruence; he realises that he is, in fact, a toy and finally takes positive, proud ownership of Woody’s initial and dismissive description of his ‘flying’ – ‘That’s not flying. That’s falling with style.’

‘Falling with style’ is the phrase my client brought into our therapy room a couple of months ago, pointing out as she did so, its intrinsic existential potential. In that, if we agree with legendary American existential psychotherapist Irvin Yalom that life is just ‘a spark between two voids’**, then we are all inescapably falling – from birth to death – with only the span of our brief arc to be determined. 

However, although each of us is like Buzz, destined to fall, not fly, we do have some agency in the manner of our falling. If we accept Viktor Frankl’s challenge that ‘the last of the human freedoms is the freedom to choose our own attitude in any given set of circumstances’, we can choose to fall anxiously, fearfully, resentfully (other adjectives are available); or taking our inspiration from Buzz, we can try to fall with style. 

Of course, Buzz Lightyear is not the first existential thought-leader to occupy this space. Almost 2000 years ago, the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius advised each of us to accept, ‘Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the world.’  More recently, Maya Angelou commented, 'My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.'  Irvin Yalom (again) contributes his pithy, ‘Living safely is dangerous.’

Whilst I find each of these reflections helpful and instructive in my work as an existential therapist, which is focused on helping people engage with what it means to be alive, the relative simplicity and accessibility of the concept of ‘falling with style’ and Buzz’s iconic and enduring status with people of all ages, mean it is now Space Ranger Lightyear’s existential encouragement to try to live life on our own terms which seems to resonate most readily with my clients, as it does with me. 

So, if you find yourself grappling personally or professionally, as a therapist or therapy client, with the purpose of your existence, perhaps it is time for you to put a bit of Buzz back in your life and join him in his most important (and final) mission – that of falling with style.

*Thank you to my client P for bringing Buzz back to my mind and inspiring this article. 

**Yalom captures quite perfectly my relationship with my own existence, although I recognise that some readers will have a different, entirely legitimate worldview.