Towards a neo-Blochian theory of complexity, hope and cinematic utopia

The thesis sketches-out three main and general philosophical, analytical and utopian-strategic areas: Initially, the project begins with a cumulative overview (i.e. drawing upon a collection of authors and publications) of the Marxist philosopher of hope and utopia Ernst Bloch, and, the Blochian philosophical framework. I focus upon, and, analyse several specific philosophical areas within the Blochian framework, notably, those of the chaos of the trace, and Bloch's unifying (unfolding, trans-historical) category of Hope and Utopia. In order to navigate this difficult philosophical terrain, the thesis proposes several conceptual and neologistic "inventions" - associated with chaos and complexity - so as to invoke a potentially useful (neo )-Blochian philosophical vocabulary. The project then applies Bloch and the Blochian utopian framework to the specific area of popular film/cinema (and, within this, the portrayal of "beautiful monsters"). The neo-Blochian concepts are then applied to utopian cinematic metaphors, images and themes concerning "beautiful monsters"; in exploration of this, I embark upon several contra-punctive Blochian (and, neo-Blochian) analyses of the films: E. T., Edward Scissorhands, Monsters Inc., and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. This is to highlight the theoretical use, and, application of, the different (and refracted) areas of neo-Blochian theory. The conclusion proposes the potential for a cinematic utopian strategy, based upon the notion of anarchogogy and the complex-temporal trace connections that can be prompted by popular cultural (cinematic) sources.