Thesis Abstract

We live in a time when light is so abundant and ubiquitous that we don’t see light for what it is. To quote Richard Dawkins, “an anaesthetic of familiarity” dulls our perception with light. By looking at Final Fantasy X through the lens of cultural analysis, the thesis is centered on the question, “how can light in fiction inspire us to see light in reality?” The thesis uses Jane Bennett’s vital materialism and Matthew J. Wolf- Meyers’ future historiography as the theoretical framework. It incorporates research from the 2022 exhibition Light & Space about the eponymous art movement and field research about light pollution at Lauersoog Dark Sky Park in the north of the Netherlands. The thesis is structured as a journey, starting from our light-polluted world and the history of lighting technology and darkness elimination, arriving in Final Fantasy X to look at pyreflies, a phenomenonof light as a being and an entity. The thesis is a critical reexamination of what light is, specifically artificial light, our relationship with it and how we could see light in expanded definition and perception. Light is a lifeforce and we could see it with ecological sensitivity and rewilded imagination, which would be a step towards lessening light pollution and opening our eyes to light.