Tyran się śmieje
The Tyrant laughs

Summary/Abstract: What many 20th-century dictators shared in common, aside, of course, from their lack of respect for democracy, was a passion for cinema. Not cinema with a capital “C”, but popular movies, designed to entertain, including animation. Stalin and Hitler were in the habit of watching films with their closest associates after dinner. Their repertoire included such works as Disney’s Snow White and the Three Little Pigs. Mao Zedong and his wife Jiang Qing spent many hours a day watching Hollywood blockbusters, while Kim Jong Il, the head of North Korea from 1994 to 2011, even wrote two articles on filmmaking and directing. His son, Kim Jong Un, is considered a great cartoon lover. The love of satraps for animated films, melodramas and action movies seems to be rooted in their mental infantilism, which does not demand any sophisticate spiritual nourishing. Tyrants like to laugh (in private), even if they are generally devoid of a sense of humour.

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