Vulgar existentialism in pop culture: between utopia and dystopia in the contemporary imaginary
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5072/0101-3173.2024.v47.n.pe02400175Keywords:
Existentialism, Pop culture, Contemporaneity, DystopiaAbstract
With the triumph of capitalism at the end of the Cold War, the 1990s witnessed the emergence of an optimistic sentiment grounded in the idea of limitless progress. However, as Fisher (2020) asserts, this sentiment was called into question by the crises of the early 21st century, giving rise to a melancholic outlook on the future. This new phase of capitalism has generated a series of existential-themed products in popular culture, albeit with a despairing tone regarding the direction of society. The issue at hand aims to analyze popular culture through a Sartrean existential prism, seeking to understand how the cultural industry creates clichés inspired by historical existentialism, producing what we will refer to as "vulgar existentialism," in contrast to Sartre's historical existentialism. Our hypothesis unfolds in two parts: 1- Vulgar existentialism promotes a hedonistic rebellion that does not threaten the system, reducing the crisis to a "neutralized" form of conduct; 2- Such conduct is sustained by an imaginary rooted in popular culture productions that manifest melancholy and fatalism in relation to attempts at radical societal transformation.
Downloads
References
ALBUQUERQUE, A. S. Cronopolíticas da ficção científica: um ensaio sobre utopia, história e futuros possíveis. 2019. 226 f. Tese (Doutorado) – Curso de Psicologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, 2019. Disponível em: https://www.lume.ufrgs.br/bitstream/handle/10183/201269/001102736.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Acesso em: 28 set. 2023.
BENJAMIN, W. Sobre o conceito de história. In: BENJAMIN, W. Magia e técnica, arte e política (Obras escolhidas, volume 1. São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1987.
BERARDI, F. After the Future. Edinburgh: AK, 2011.
BOOKER, M. K. The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as Social Criticism. Londres: Greenwood, 1994.
BOOKER, M. K. DJ Rashad's Double Cup: Footwork and the sonic abstraction of the ghetto. Electronic Beats [S.l.], 2 dez. 2013. Disponível em: https://www.electronicbeats.net/mark-fisher-on-dj-rashads-double-cup/. Acesso em: 8 maio 2023.
BOOKER, M. K. Ghosts of My Life. Writings on depression, hauntology and lost futures. Winchester – UK; Washington – EUA: Zero Books, 2014.
BOOKER, M. K. Realismo capitalista. São Paulo: Autonomia Literária, 2020.
HOBSBAWN, E. J. E. Sobre História. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1998.
JAMESON, F. Archaeologies of the Future: The desire called utopia and other science fictions. London: Verso, 2005.
JAMESON, F. Arqueologias do futuro: o desejo chamado utopia e outras ficções científicas. Tradução: Carlos Pissardo. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica, 2021.
LÖWY, M. Walter Benjamin: Aviso de incêndio. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2014.
SARTRE, J. P. O Existencialismo é um Humanismo (Coleção Os Pensadores, v. 45). São Paulo: Abril Cultural, 1973.
SARTRE, J. P. O Ser e o Nada. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1997.
SIMON, P. H. Presence de Camus. Paris: Librarie Nizet, 1961.
Recebido: 14/12/2023 – Aprovado: 04/02/2024 – Publicado: 15/05/2024
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 TRANS/FORM/AÇÃO: Revista de Filosofia
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is an article published in open access under a Creative Commons license
.