Pleading for utopia: American pastoral in Bob Dylan's music

Abstract

This paper focuses on the relationship between pop culture, i.e. pop music, and ideology. The main thesis of the text is that the works of pop culture are the product of the social-historical context in which they emerge, but that the same works can also function as a criticism of that very context. As an example, we took Bob Dylan's media phenomenon and the elements of utopia as a narrative genre in his work. As a theoretical-interpretative context we relied on the propositions of American analytic philosopher Stanley Cavell: through his ethical theory on 'moral perfectionism' an analysis was made of the way in which pop culture functioned as the necessary internal corrective of a democratic community. It is assumed that texts on pop culture cannot be truly revolutionary, but they can certainly be critical.