Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/171219 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Citation: 
[Journal:] Topia [ISSN:] 1916-0194 [Volume:] 33 [Issue:] Spring [Publisher:] University of Toronto [Place:] Toronto [Year:] 2015 [Pages:] 157-181
Publisher: 
University of Toronto, Toronto
Abstract: 
This article is a critical investigation and application of the aesthetic theory of Cornelius Castoriadis, one of the most important 20th-century theorists of radical democracy. We outline Castoriadis’s thoughts on autonomy, the social-historical nature of Being, and creation -- key elements that inform his model of democratic culture. We then develop a Castoriadian critique of culture produced by capitalist institutions. By also drawing on the political economic thought of Thorstein Veblen, Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler, our critique focuses on one sector of contemporary culture: Hollywood film. We show how Hollywood, as a business enterprise, uses techniques of sabotage and capitalization to control and occult the social-historical nature of creation. Lastly, by way of conclusion, we gesture toward a mode of artistic production that is able to affirm the democratic values that organize Castoriadis’s thought.
Subjects: 
Cornelius Castoriadis
Hollywood film industry
mass culture
democracy
cultural creation
aesthetic theory
capitalism
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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