Disenchantment and renewal: a study of culture and meaning in contemporary film and television

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Social Sciences and Communications, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

This thesis in sociology is concerned with the difficulties faced by modern Westerners in their search for a meaningful life. It will shed light on this enduring cultural dilemma through a close reading of four popular film and television narratives: Pixar’s animated feature film, Toy Story; Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight; the television romantic comedy, Sex and the City; and, finally, the mobster drama, The Sopranos. The readings are guided by a number of central and inter-related questions. First, in what ways do these popular stories speak to the modern West’s meaning dilemma? What do they have to say about contemporary culture, and its capacity to illuminate fundamental questions of human existence? What are the core problems faced by the central characters and how are they resolved? Finally, and perhaps most importantly, do the four stories which come into focus in this thesis suggest hope or despair in the modern West’s search for meaning? Ultimately, the central problem in each of these ostensibly very different stories is disenchantment: a coming to terms with acute discordances between hope and reality; between life as it might be imagined, and life as it is.