Visions of utopia and dystopia in cinema. The philosophical presuppositions of the banal genre

The article continues researching the apocalypse film genre. The first results of such research were presented for the first time in the last volume of “Problemos”. In this article, aspects of utopia and dystopia are introduced into the analysis. Firstly, the mythological and religious presuppositions of utopian discourse are overviewed. Secondly, it is shown how utopian discourse is manifested in Plato’s project of ideal society. “Utopia” of Thomas More is considered as the medium between classical visions of utopia and subsequent models of technological transformation of the world. T he technological transformation of the world is such basis of modern utopias, which is inevitably tied with the dystopian visions of uncontrollable reality. M. Shelley’s “Frankenstein” appears to be frequent background of utopian models. As the example of interconnection of utopian and dystopian motifs, S. Spielberg’s “The Artificial Intelligence” is presented. It is argued that the post-apocalyptic milieu of this film is constructed with the purpose of revealing the utopian character of the everyday itself