‘I am human’: A Blochian glance at daydreams in Turkish advertising and popular culture

Gürbüzdal U.

Northern Lights, vol.22, pp.11-25, 2024 (Scopus) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 22
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.1386/nl_00045_1
  • Journal Name: Northern Lights
  • Journal Indexes: Scopus, Film & Television Literature Index, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Performing Arts Periodicals Database
  • Page Numbers: pp.11-25
  • Keywords: advertisement, alienation, Ernst Bloch, ideological criticism, ideology, music, the principle of hope, utopia
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This article discusses utopian facets of advertisements and popular cultural products by employing the Blochian formulation of utopia. Grounded in Marx’s theory of alienation, the article asserts that the people encounter numerous socioeconomic and emotional deprivations in the capitalist social order. By generating images of an alternative and better future where these deprivations are eliminated, advertisements and popular cultural products achieve a utopian function. Yet this utopian function remains an abstract utopia since it is not equipped with a concrete historical contextualization offered by Marxist dialectic. The discussion is backed by a succinct review of certain video advertisements and pop songs produced by Turkish cultural industries.