Introduction

This essay studies the political significance of utopia in the 21st century. Claiming the end of postmodernity, cultural theorists argued that “metamodernism” is the latest sentiment found in contemporary art works. Instead of being sarcastic and nihilistic, “metamodernism” manifests hope to strive for change in our era that is characterized by numerous crises, namely, the worsening environmental destruction, the mental health issues, the revival of far-right politics, and the potential threat of AI. Meanwhile, the Marxist Fredric Jameson has been criticizing postmodernist culture. Regarding it as the product of late-capitalism, he claims that the qualities of “historicity”, “affect” and “depth” are waned away by postmodernism, thus preventing us from imagining a radically different social system other than capitalism. This essay regards the science fiction movie Interstellar (2014) by Christopher Nolan and the music video albums Different World (2018) and World of Walker (2021) by Alan Walker as metamodernist utopian works. By adopting Jameson’s utopian dialectics on the sci-fi media, this essay articulates how utopia is reimagined and renewed in the contemporary times.

If interested, you may read Jacqueline’s Dissertation here.