A Heideggerian Interpretation of Woodstock 1969: How Time and Death Instigated a Social Movement

Abstract

This investigation sets out to analyse Woodstock, 1969 upon the backdrop of the Heideggerian theme Being-towards-death. By focusing on the momentum behind the event, the importance of the festival itself crumbles and a real depth to the iconic countercultural occasion emerges. Under the yoke of nuclear terror, the countercultural movement had to carry the potentiality of their own death heavy on their shoulders. What this paper sets to argue, is that this threat of nuclear annihilation was a unique experience that led to a mass exodus towards an authentic societal model.