Roman Polański. Poszukiwany reżyser, (nie)pożądana seksualność
Roman Polański. Wanted Director, (Un)desired Sexuality

Summary/Abstract: This essay examines various ways in which media negotiate norms in the fields of sexuality, cross-generational encounters and the celebrity phenomenon in the 1977 Polanski sexual assault case. It presents the result of a comparative analysis of the media coverage of two key events - Polanski's arrests in 1977 in the United States and in 2009 in Switzerland. It discusses the portrayal of the director in articles published in Time and Los Angeles Times from March 1977 until February 1978, when Polanski fled the United States, as well as those published from September 2009, after he was taken into custody in Switzerland, until April 2010, when he was awaiting the decision regarding possible extradition to the USA. Different narratives that emerge in the course of analysis specifically show Polanski's celebrity status in relation to the events of 1977 as a discursive tool used by the media for negotiating moral issues concerning youth sexuality. Furthermore, the article also exposes differences in the perception of adolescent sexuality between American and European society - an issue that has been raised by both authors and readers of the newspapers mentioned.

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