Bruce Lee na miarę naszych możliwości – wschodnie sztuki walki w kulturze PRL-u Rekonesans
The Polish Bruce Lee. Examination of Eastern Martial Arts in the Culture of PRL (Polish People‘s Republic)

Summary/Abstract: During the first two decades after the Second World War, judo was the most popular martial art in communist Poland. Karate and kung-fu came much later (in the 1970s) and were treated with suspicion by the authorities, just as everything that got through from the West. Since the 1960s, the culture in the People’s Republic of Poland tried to tame martial arts, adopting them to its goals. Judo as an efficient system of fighting became an important part of youth literature. Some elements of martial arts can also be noticed in Polish movies. However, the wide audience had an opportunity to look at the Asian and American martial arts movies thanks to the popularization of home VHS players during the 1980s. This boom made Bruce Lee an icon. Despite the many successes of the Polish practitioners and the immense popularity of judo, karate, and kung-fu in communist Poland, martial arts never became a leading theme in literature or film. They were always either part of the background, a complement of the character, or they expanded the metaphorical meaning of the work. A Polish Bruce Lee was a thinker rather than a fighter.

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