Questions about solidarity in the dystopian world (inspired by Dmytro Ternovyi’s 'High Resolution')

Abstract

The article discusses the means of creating images and argumentation lines used to achieve a multidimensional representation of the concept of solidarity in the 2012 drama High Resolution by Ukrainian playwright Dmytro Ternovyi. The story of inhabitants of a certain Ukrainian city and their experiences during anti-regime protests coinciding with the hunt for immigrants organized by the authorities is interspersed with fantastic and grotesque scenes featuring animate objects, which allowed the author to create a range of social worlds haunted by traumas and fears. By definition, a dystopian reality is a space where social relationships are disturbed, which may cause the society to atomize, but it can also consolidate it. Ternovyi shows both options, indicating that it is possible to have an ambivalent point of view on solidarity. He creates alternative variants of development of such situations. The analysis of those visions shows that it is possible to perceive the discussed drama as a specific study of solidarity – an anatomy of its triumphs and failures. Furthermore, setting the drama in the context of the recent events in Ukraine made it possible to correlate solidarity and collective identity and show current trends in thinking about the Ukrainian identity.