L’utilità sociale del cinema come lavoro anticipato del lutto

In the book “Mourning Work, Melancholia and Artistic Creation” by Massimo Recalcati, the following question is posed: what is the social and ethical message of a work of art?

The answer is that a work of art can have a social impact insofar as it bears witness to the existence of something that can never be integrated into the conformity of the reality principle, demonstrating that the ordinariness of existence is a form of alienation.

By reworking Freudian and Lacanian theories, it is possible to develop a theory concerning the social usefulness of art, and of cinema in particular, which this thesis seeks to explore. Therefore, neither in agreement with Plato, for whom the artist is an enemy of the polis, nor with those who argue that art offers comfort from individual anguish.