Ütopyanın Kırılgan Yüzü: Blochçu Perspektifle Üç Sinemasal Anlatının Karşılaştırmalı Analizi
The Fragile Face of Utopia: A Comparative Analysis of Three Cinematic Narratives from a Blochian Perspective

Summary/Abstract: This study offers a comparative analysis of the films The Beach (2000), Fight Club (1999), and Captain Fantastic (2016) within the context of Ernst Bloch’s “concrete utopia” theory. Questioning whether cinematic representations of utopia in the late capitalist cultural context possess transformative praxis potential, the study draws on Bloch’s concepts of the ‘not-yet’, the ‘not-yet-conscious’, and ‘praxis’ to examine how utopian imaginaries tend to both shift toward dystopian deviations and come into conflict with class-based and historical boundaries. The Beach demonstrates how the search for individual meaning gradually transforms into an escapist fantasy disconnected from reality; Fight Club reveals how anti-capitalist anger evolves into an authoritarian spiral of violence, and Captain Fantastic highlights both the possibilities and the limitations arising from class privileges of a utopian life constructed through alternative educational methods. This study explores the tension of the utopian idea in contemporary cinema between two opposing tendencies: on the one hand, utopian representations that become merely objects of nostalgic longing, and on the other, utopia as a concrete praxis aimed at historical and social transformation. Within this dual framework, this study offers a critical perspective on how cinema makes this tension visible.

• Details
• Contents