BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

Bloch is a brilliantly diverse writer, his influences range from (and span incredibly across) Marxism, the Kabala, Christianity, Psychology, Philosophy of rt ! Music, "udaism (and many more)# $e was associated with many %ey early sociological thin%ers such as Max &eber and 'eorg (immel) $e became close friends with 'eorg *u%acs, &alter Ben+amin and other members of the ,ran%furt (chool# Many aspects of Bloch-s wor% share similarities with the ideas of the ,ran%furt (chool theorists# $owever, Bloch-s wor% has never achieved the .popularity- associated with his contemporaries# /his is probably due to the difficulty of Bloch-s style of writing 0 you cannot simply .read- Bloch, you have to .feel- the places where he ta%es you#

$ the ne%lect o& Bloch is "e to the &act that his syste'( a octrine o& hope an ontolo%ical anticipation( is itsel& an anticipation( an stan s as a sol"tion to the pro)le's o& a "niversal c"lt"re an a "niversal her'ene"tic which have not yet co'e into )ein%. *t th"s lies )e&ore "s( eni%'atic an enor'o"s( li+e an aerolite &allen &ro' space( covere with 'ysterio"s hiero%lyphs that ra iate a pec"liar inner war'th an power( spells an the +ey to spells( the'selves patiently waitin% &or their own "lti'ate 'o'ent o& ecipher'ent. (Ja'eson( ,-.,/ ,012-).
1n order to at least start to develop an understanding and appreciation of the ideas of 2rnst Bloch, we must hint towards what is meant by .2utopia34topia-)

,
U!B!

BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

What is your understanding of utopia?

Bloch is 5uite a .mystical- writer, and his theories are presented and expressed via allusions, allegory and metaphor# $is style is inspirationally poetic, and communicates with us on various levels 0 he appears to .tap- into the very depth of our being# Bloch (and his writing) expresses an affinity with the profoundly beautiful 0 how dreams, visions, fairy6tales and wor%s of art embody a uni5ue utopian function# $is ideas and writings can ta%e us on theoretical, psychic and spiritual .+ourneys-, that seem to .fleetingly- traverse the un65uashed hope and freedom of youth7 the strange beauty within moments of loneliness, and helpless releases of profound love#

Ernst Bloch A Philosophy of the Future

Dreams of topia

,or Bloch, it is important to note that dreams come to us during the day, as well as at night, and whilst both %inds of dreaming are motivated by wishes that they see% to fulfil, day6dreams differ from night6dreams# 8ay dreaming, importantly 6 is a conscious exploration of the circumstances and images of a desired and better life#
3
U!B!

BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

9/he content of the day6dream is not, li%e that of a night6 dream, a +ourney bac% into repressed experiences and their associations# 1t is concerned with an as far as possible unrestricted +ourney forward, so that instead of reconstituting that which is no longer conscious, the images of that which is not yet can be phantasied into life and into the world#: Castles that we build in the air during wal%s or 5uiet moments are often empty and sha%y, because the utopian fixtures and foundations have received little attention during .construction-, we have to learn how to (re)connect to them# /hese idealistic visions can be extravagant, daring and beautiful 6 because the mundane aspects (such as building costs) are never really 6 nor should they be 6 a consideration# /he s%y6blue day6dreams that we occasionally wander into, represent the un5uenchable utopian .landscape- 0 we loo% into the blue, and into .the landscape within-) and ga;e into the untold expanse of the utopian mind < /hese conceptually6inexpressible moments, ta%e us bac% to .somewhere- 6 that mysterious place that we have sporadically encountered since beyond early childhood memories) the other realm# lthough we tend to encounter it less and less as we grow .cold- with the ravages of time 0 we still occasionally visit this land, when we hear a certain song, or loo% at and .fall into- a picture, a poem, a fairy6tale, a theatre performance or a film# 1n the oldest %nown form of utopian narrative 0 the fairy tale, Bloch argues that they are a vital utopian stimulus, that contain a .trace.connection- to the utopian function#

4
U!B!

BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

9< fairy tales also contain imaginative forecasts < by no means only in a magical and hence impossible form < the magic horse7 the magic carpet < =they stem> from the products of the creative spirit and the countries that it has, =they> appear above the hori;on for the first time 0 lands that were never thus seen before, have never thus been before) from all of these there arises a utopian territory <: Why is it! do you thin"! that children appear to ha#e a natural affinity $ith fairy%tales?

Bloch establishes a distinction between what we can call on one hand the utopistic, and the utopian on the other) /he first term refers to creative ideas that never leave the mental realm7 whereas the latter continues, emanates7 and produces the .constructional e5uipment of externality-# 1t becomes a manifestation of the utopian function# 1t becomes (what Bloch would term) concretised# &ot yet ?ne of Bloch-s %ey terms is the notion of the .not yet- 0 which is used to indicate .that- which has not yet come into being (in relation to the utopian function)# 9/his not6yet was imagined in the obviously utopian constructions of great art and religion < =and refers to> ideals which have not appeared in the concrete#:

5
U!B!

BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

/he term .not yet- embodies such hopeful connotations 0 as it infers that the utopian can still be pursued# 1f it is not yet, it still .can be-# 1t is for us to become disciples ourselves, in order to develop the creative mental and spiritual capacities to bring the sublime tendencies into .reality-# (ome of the %ey Blochian concepts that we will be referring to, in order to apply Blochian ideas to film ! literature, are)
@och6nicht6bewusst) (not6yet6conscious) @och6nicht6geworden) (not6yet6become) Aor6(chein) (pre6appearance, or anticipatory illumination)

$eimat) ($omeland) $ohlraum) (2mpty6space) (taunen) (startlement, stonished)

(puren) (/races 6 of utopian longing)

Art and archetypes of utopia What is an archetype? 92veryone meets them in wor%s of art and in the situations and forms of conflict and resolution they feature7 in the inexhaustible power of une5uivocal symbols7 and even in multi6ambiguous allegories# /he enemy, the mother, the saviour7 the tyrant-s castle and its ta%ing by storm7 the labyrinth < the dragon %iller7 and the saviour in the form of a servant <: ,or Bloch there are fundamental and .deep- archetypes that traverse all societies and cultures 0 the same imagery recurs over and over again, with star% similarities#
0
U!B!

BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

/he permanence and greatness of ma+or wor%s of art in 2urope decode (albeit fleetingly) the realms of utopia) 4topia resides) 9< in the windows of such wor%s7 and always in windows which open in the direction of ultimate anticipation) driving forward, soaring, or achieving towards a goal 0 which is never a mere land in the clouds above#: 1n great wor%s of art, the .light- of utopia glows on the hori;on# 1n a wor% of art, sorrow and anguish never permanently remain 0 +oy and redemption always dawn as a fore6glow# 9< the modern age of art < has after all supplied art as an agreeable but unspiritual accompaniment to life, not as the allaying of the soul-s need < /here is thus a powerful difference between tastefully appointed functionality and high6art#: (p) BC) But how does utopia come about 0 in the concreteD $ow can the utopistic extend out from the .self6vision-, in order for us to begin to collectively create utopia in the .concrete-D /his problem centres around our connection to the .?ther- 0 how do we overcome our ego, in order to inspire the ?ther, to start out on a +ourney of (inner) hopeful dreams, with the aim of .externallybringing about trans6formationD 1n order to respond to this 5uestion, and illustrate how the Blochian strategy attempts to overcome the distance between ourselves and the .?ther-, we will move onto another of Bloch-s boo%s)

Ernst Bloch' (he )pirit of

topia

?ne of the main themes of this boo% is the travesty of the increasingly mundane .modern- world, with its cold scientific rationality#
6
U!B!

BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

/he effect of this has rendered us blind to activities that are external to us) 9/o what lies above us we became blind already long ago7 the light of Christian illumination is also gone#: BEF But this does not mean that the cause is lost, it is simply .not yet-) the self-s light burns brightly within where utopian powers can awa%en, because) ?ur souls weep inside us and ache to move beyond the limits of the .1- 0 it is the soul that creates the bridge between .1 and Gou-# /he soul 0 the core of our being, this universal indefinable mirage, is the thing that unites us# (he soul is the dream%$ater into $hich $e di#e! $hen $e e*perience the utopistic self%encounter# nd it is also the substance of the soul that floods forth into the concrete, as we learn how to transform the utopistic into the utopian# /his is how Bloch-s framewor% bridges the gap between the 1, and the ?ther# n internal3externalising creative spirit, that carries forward (enmeshing with ?thers) the emanating light of the soul# /he utopian spirit 0 can connect to all of our souls /here is a limit to how far the internal path can at first go, initially we must move towards a stronger connection with (or rediscovery of) the utopistic) a self6encounter, in order to bring about the preparation of the inner world# &ithout this, every ga;e outward remains empty, and we cannot brea% through the falseness of this world# fter this internal .movement-, a new expanse will begin to form and appear, the world of the soul 6 which is connected to the external cosmic function of utopia#
.
U!B!

BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

9?nly in us does this light still burn, and we are beginning a fantastic +ourney toward it, a +ourney toward the interpretation of our wa%ing dream, toward the implementation of the central concept of utopia#: (Bloch) H)# ,or Bloch, music (authentic, spiritually creative music) is one form of manifestation of the utopian function) some music can incite such intense emotional responses#

What effect does music ha#e on you +$hat styles,?

9< it is this, which is not yet7 what is lost, pre6sensed7 our self6encounter concealed in the latency of every lived, moment7 our &e6encounter, our utopia calling out to itself through goodness, music, metaphysics, but unrealisable in mundane terms#: (Bloch) BEI)

-arl .ar*! death and the Apocalypse (?r, the &ays in /his &orld by &hich the 1nward Can Become ?utward and the ?utward *i%e the 1nwardB)# /entatively, li%e a flame over every separate living creature, there develops an impulse to move toward the brightness#
,

7inal chapter o& Bloch#s the Spirit o& Utopia#

1
U!B!

BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

,rom the place of the initial self6encounter, there will also develop the arena of political6social leadership) based upon authentic personal and spiritual freedom# 9$ere < the .soul-, the .intuition of the &e- < streams responsibly into the world# /o be practical in this way, to help in this way on everyday life-s structural hori;on and put things into place, precisely to be political6social in this way, is powerfully near to conscience, and is a revolutionary mission absolutely inscribed in utopia:# (Bloch) JHK) /he utopian function serves to shape a path from the lonely wa%ing dream of the inner self6encounter to the dream that goes out to shape the external world, and becomes the instrumentation for this goal# Politics in its contemporary guise is spiritually empty, and as it is .soulless-, has no true idea of socialism# ,or Bloch, society is consumed with .belly worshipers- or .state worshipers-, and everything else has sun% to the level of a +o%e, or entertainment# 8evoid of philosophical breadth, without sight of a spiritual hori;on, no inner threshold, no %ernel, and at the centre .no gathering conscience of the bsolute-# /hat is why we need to return to thin%ing about, and striving for the .@ot Get-) 9/o find it, to find the right thing for whose sa%e it is worthy to live, to be organised, to have time) that is why we go, why we cut new, metaphysically constitutive paths) summon what is not there, build into the blue all around the edge of the world, and build ourselves into the blue, and there see% the true, the real, where the merely factual disappears <:#
What aspects of the Blochian approach can you lin" into your o$n e*periences of art! film! theatre! literature? U!B!

BA (Hons) Social Science/Joint Hons Pathways. Utopian Visions & Every ay !"lt"re#.

,8
U!B!