REDEFINING EUROPEAN HU

Redefining European Humanism

Lara Kristjansdottir

It can without contestation be stated that the additional time designated to the private sphere and our inner circles over the past year has allowed for an alternative vision of engagement with culture. Traditionally, we would tend to associate such involvement to encompass enriching activities carried out within social functions or at least in relation to any sort of compound artistic production. We would imagine visiting concerts, theatres, cinemas, galleries or historic sites. In our present-day societies, our primary intake of cultural initiatives has surrounded a reinforcement of a personal reading culture, as well as, needless to say, the additional hours spent on large TV content platforms and streaming services. Despite what we may believe and declare, watching Netflix can, and should, be considered as much a participation in culture as the traditionally envisaged explorations. This analogy is not intended to make us feel better about spending our time binge-watching drama series and escaping reality, although it certainly may, but rather to shed light on what our immersion into a different social and cultural reality is able to facilitate.

“Not only is our sense of sympathy tickled, but so our imagination and creative strength as well.”

Indeed, film language is universal. As a film or a series absorbs us, we come to identify and empathise with people who we will most likely never meet, and who we might have entirely disregarded as different or ‘other’. We gain insights into societies which we realise would on no occasion be able to become a part of if not only for two hours through our laptop screens. We can even discover developments which occurred before, or (fictionally) ahead, of our own time. Not only is our sense of sympathy tickled, but so our imagination and creative strength as well. We become able to both broaden and deepen our conception of community and the world at large. Countless initiatives continue to be carried out by the European Union, as well as by Europeans themselves, which aim to reinforce a European identity as based on the integral values constituting the foundation of our common society and culture. With such objectives in mind, the advancement of the cultural sector, and the European film industry has played an indispensable role. In the past years, the EU has funded various networks for the promotion of European film and TV. More recently, it has legally required Netflix and other streaming companies to feature and promote 30% European content to ensure its operation within the continent. In the name of furthering integration, the EU surely does not fall short on initiatives hoping to make culture a cross-border endeavour.

The underlying ideas behind such measures, however, in certain ways continue to miss refinement or clarification. Assuming the promotion of European culture abroad is not our foremost desire, but rather the reinforcement of common identity based on shared values — is the focal point of all of this to secure that Europeans are watching European content instead of those of the American major? Surely, the countless films showcasing the dynamism of our common history may contribute to a heightened awareness of commonalities amongst us. However, we might want, and need, to contemplate more intimately on how an inclusive society, as based on the proclaimed European values, can be built through engagement with culture.

“the promotion of European culture abroad is not our foremost desire, but rather the reinforcement of common identity based on shared values”

Considering these values, along with the emphasis placed upon freedom, equality and democracy, the EU singularly renders a particular value to be inviolable, namely the respect and protection of human dignity. Placing high emphasis upon the agency and value of the human individual is inherent to the conception of humanism in European history. The ideological tradition can be traced back to Renaissance humanists who are known to have expressed how the individual’s constitution of ‘body, mind and soul’ could be matured and edified by the process of learning.

Considering these values, along with the emphasis placed upon freedom, equality and democracy, the EU singularly renders a particular value to be inviolable, namely the respect and protection of human dignity. Placing high emphasis upon the agency and value of the human individual is inherent to the conception of humanism in European history. The ideological tradition can be traced back to Renaissance humanists who are known to have expressed how the individual’s constitution of ‘body, mind and soul’ could be matured and edified by the process of learning.

Yet, contemporary European identity maintains at its heart the perpetuation of individual and collective human dignity, freedom, equality and prosperity. A building of a more humane society and culture became natural to official discourse on the launch and development of the European project. Nowadays, European humanist networks and federations primarily emphasise the need to recognise plurality and difference as a strength and retaining the rights of all human beings to live according to their own beliefs, provided those will not harm that of others.

The idea of the ability of all human beings inhabiting our continent to have their rights recognised by virtue of empathy and cooperation surely may appear as merely a utopic ideal out of touch with reality. Nevertheless, it may not be condemned to such a position. The European humanist stance must continue to be redefined to represent the recognition and value of all people, of equality and solidarity as its ‘moral progress’ - maintained at the heart of the common European mentality and identity.

“The dominant humanist idea of reason alone being able to construct human virtue began to be contested by scholars during the 19th century.”

Why consider engagement in culture as a catalyst for such change? An individual’s participation in culture influences the ways in which we approach others within our own and other societies. What’s more, the imagination fostered by art and film enables struggles towards change, besides cultivating empathy which cannot be equivalently advanced by political discourse.

Watching film and TV from, not only Europe, but from everywhere in the world allows us to gain a deeper understanding and respect for human realities which ,in turn, can enable visions and discourses towards change, along with a reinforcement of a European identity based on (redefined) humanist principles. Art naturally has the unique power to critically challenge what is, and direct us to points of possibility. The potential of film, as an intrinsic and a particularly relevant element within culture in our present-day society remains undeniable as the stories represented are undeniably approachable to many. Although we should perhaps try to refrain from designating particular eminence to singular films, I believe a particular light should be shed on the multitude of migrant and diasporic cinema. Such content allows us to nurture the strive towards mobility and inclusion, which lies at the heart of the European project, in a genuine manner as we become able to transcend national lines and cultural borders.

Our common European culture is essentially, more than anything, built upon cross-cultural discourse, collaboration and solidarity – remember, Unity in Diversity – so what could be more important than furthering our path towards empathy and mutual respect? And why not start with heartening our humanist values from the comfort of our own living rooms?