Abishai100
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- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,957
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Thomas More's philosophical work about idealized paradise titled Utopia explores our fascination with perfection and imagined states of balanced power and ethics. Today, we talk about 'utopian visions' when we discuss the problems of capitalism and modern globalization (e.g., the World Bank).
Today, we make American films about the complications of ethics when dealing with immigration, pluralism, democracy, socialism controversies, medicine and controversial sciences (e.g., genetic-cloning), and free-speech issues.
The American film King of New York looks at the terrible 'intrigue' associated with the modern city and the power hierarchies created by crime syndicates and how organized crusading cops work to dismantle them. Such a film surely represents our curiosity about attaining utopia.
Since we humans love to use language to express ourselves and ideas, we might consider how storytelling and folklore represents 'utopian consciousness' (and stories are much easier to digest than philosophically 'heavy' works such as More's Utopia).
Two iconic 'avatars' from literature/cinema are Snow White (a fictional wandering princess who must deal with danger and fantasy) and Jason Voorhees (a fictional psychotic zombie who stalks random passerby); these two 'characters' are arguably perfect foils, since the former represents idealism while the latter represents darkness.
So what would an 'engagement' between Snow White and Jason mean for our modern fascination with 'urban utopia' and democracy digestion?
That seems to be a nifty question for the various anti-TrumpUSA street-protesters we see on the news these days...
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Snow White is a perfect role-model for optimism and enchantment. She's a roaming princess who deals with various challenges and people such as jealous queens, forest-dwarves, friendly animals, and helpful huntsmen(!). Jason Voorhees on the other hand is a vengeful hockey-mask wearing psychotic zombie who stalks innocent passerby (usually campers near a fictional place called Camp Crystal Lake) in various areas including Manhattan, New York(!). Snow White reminds us of beauty and innocence, while Jason reminds us of horror and wrath and dissatisfaction with humanity itself.
Therefore, we see that Snow White and Jason invoke ideas about magic and its opposite --- poison. In fact, Snow White has to deal with a wicked envious queen who transforms herself into a deceptive old-lady so she can trick the princess into eating a poisonous apple. Jason meanwhile has found himself wandering into the Big Apple (New York) and terrorizing the good people of the modern city. Snow White and Jason are meditation-agents of magic and poison and therefore of sweetness and insanity. This odd pairing can help us discuss intriguing ideas regarding the 'elements' of creativity --- creativity that is desirable (e.g., Apple Computers) and creativity that is dangerous (e.g., handguns).
So the modern city is a cornucopia and cafeteria of all kinds of liberal designs and democracy-intrigue dialogue. We know that and express that in films such as King of New York, Coming to America, and Dark City. When we look at the elaborate/intricate designs in various futuristic toys such as Transformers (Hasbro) robots and mechanical-dinosaur building sets/models, we might think about why Snow White and Jason remind us of the ambitious 'elements' of utopia and why Thomas More seemed to have associated 'aesthetics' with 'metaphysics nutrition.'
American media is filled with images of marketing-creativity, brand goods, and sports fanfare. When we cheered for the Villanova Wildcats' NCAA Championship win this year and paired it with the Philadelphia Eagles' (NFL) Super Bowl win this year, we thought about the 'special magic' of Philly-area sports and relevant parades/marketing (since of course Villanova University is in the Philadelphia area). This new age 'media aesthetics consciousness' is even reflected/presented in sports-culture films such as Any Given Sunday and Jerry Maguire! How then do we 'situate' Snow White and Jason into this psychological matrix?
When we went to high school (or if you're a high school student now!), we remembered our experiences of sitting down for lunch at the cafeteria which was (in most cases) a liberal self-chosen seating-arrangement experience. Students simply wandered into the cafeteria and found friends to sit with and that became the 'social networking standard.' When we surf on Facebook and select friends to share photos with or accept friend-requests from others with whom we want to share photos with, we see how social networking is sort of an 'element' of etiquette. That's why Snow White and Jason remind us of the 'double-face' of sane imagination(!). So...is Utopia something worth seeking? What would Donald Trump say? What does he think of capitalism totems such as IBM and Olive Garden?
====
Today, we make American films about the complications of ethics when dealing with immigration, pluralism, democracy, socialism controversies, medicine and controversial sciences (e.g., genetic-cloning), and free-speech issues.
The American film King of New York looks at the terrible 'intrigue' associated with the modern city and the power hierarchies created by crime syndicates and how organized crusading cops work to dismantle them. Such a film surely represents our curiosity about attaining utopia.
Since we humans love to use language to express ourselves and ideas, we might consider how storytelling and folklore represents 'utopian consciousness' (and stories are much easier to digest than philosophically 'heavy' works such as More's Utopia).
Two iconic 'avatars' from literature/cinema are Snow White (a fictional wandering princess who must deal with danger and fantasy) and Jason Voorhees (a fictional psychotic zombie who stalks random passerby); these two 'characters' are arguably perfect foils, since the former represents idealism while the latter represents darkness.
So what would an 'engagement' between Snow White and Jason mean for our modern fascination with 'urban utopia' and democracy digestion?
That seems to be a nifty question for the various anti-TrumpUSA street-protesters we see on the news these days...
====
Snow White is a perfect role-model for optimism and enchantment. She's a roaming princess who deals with various challenges and people such as jealous queens, forest-dwarves, friendly animals, and helpful huntsmen(!). Jason Voorhees on the other hand is a vengeful hockey-mask wearing psychotic zombie who stalks innocent passerby (usually campers near a fictional place called Camp Crystal Lake) in various areas including Manhattan, New York(!). Snow White reminds us of beauty and innocence, while Jason reminds us of horror and wrath and dissatisfaction with humanity itself.
Therefore, we see that Snow White and Jason invoke ideas about magic and its opposite --- poison. In fact, Snow White has to deal with a wicked envious queen who transforms herself into a deceptive old-lady so she can trick the princess into eating a poisonous apple. Jason meanwhile has found himself wandering into the Big Apple (New York) and terrorizing the good people of the modern city. Snow White and Jason are meditation-agents of magic and poison and therefore of sweetness and insanity. This odd pairing can help us discuss intriguing ideas regarding the 'elements' of creativity --- creativity that is desirable (e.g., Apple Computers) and creativity that is dangerous (e.g., handguns).
So the modern city is a cornucopia and cafeteria of all kinds of liberal designs and democracy-intrigue dialogue. We know that and express that in films such as King of New York, Coming to America, and Dark City. When we look at the elaborate/intricate designs in various futuristic toys such as Transformers (Hasbro) robots and mechanical-dinosaur building sets/models, we might think about why Snow White and Jason remind us of the ambitious 'elements' of utopia and why Thomas More seemed to have associated 'aesthetics' with 'metaphysics nutrition.'
American media is filled with images of marketing-creativity, brand goods, and sports fanfare. When we cheered for the Villanova Wildcats' NCAA Championship win this year and paired it with the Philadelphia Eagles' (NFL) Super Bowl win this year, we thought about the 'special magic' of Philly-area sports and relevant parades/marketing (since of course Villanova University is in the Philadelphia area). This new age 'media aesthetics consciousness' is even reflected/presented in sports-culture films such as Any Given Sunday and Jerry Maguire! How then do we 'situate' Snow White and Jason into this psychological matrix?
When we went to high school (or if you're a high school student now!), we remembered our experiences of sitting down for lunch at the cafeteria which was (in most cases) a liberal self-chosen seating-arrangement experience. Students simply wandered into the cafeteria and found friends to sit with and that became the 'social networking standard.' When we surf on Facebook and select friends to share photos with or accept friend-requests from others with whom we want to share photos with, we see how social networking is sort of an 'element' of etiquette. That's why Snow White and Jason remind us of the 'double-face' of sane imagination(!). So...is Utopia something worth seeking? What would Donald Trump say? What does he think of capitalism totems such as IBM and Olive Garden?
====
