Srebrny ekran i paryski bruk. Filmowe portrety polskich emigrantów w produkcjach zagranicznych i międzynarodowych (1976–2011)

Author(s): Kris Van Heuckelom / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2016

The article looks into the changing on-screen treatment of Polish immigrant characters living on ‘the Paris pavement’. The corpus of film productions under discussion includes Roman Polański’s “The Tenant” (1976), Peter Kassovitz’s “Mariage blanc” (1986), Costa Gavras’s “La petite apocalypse” (1993), Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “Trois couleurs: Blanc” (1994), Paweł Pawlikowski’s “The Woman in the Fifth” (2011) and Małgorzata Szumowska’s “Elles” (2011). As a comparative analysis of the films involved indicates, both the immigrant characters and the urban space associated with them are subject to gradual changes (although some remarkable spatial motifs, such as the balcony and the roof, make their appearance both in the older and the newer productions). If the earlier films tend to focus on the – often geopolitically connoted – marginalization and degradation of male (anti)heroes in the city’s historical center (or its immediate vicinity), then the more recent films shift focus to the urban periphery, where the Polish characters become part of what Dina Iordanova has called the ‘metropolitan multicultural margins’, along with other, economically underprivileged newcomers from various parts of the (postcolonial and post-Communist) world.

UNA NOVEDOSA ARQUITECTURA SOCIAL Y LINGŰĹSTICA DEL MADRID DE LOS `80

Author(s): Cristina Gherman / Language(s): Spanish Issue: 2/2013

The present study represents a short itinerary through Madrid’s recent history during the Spanish Transition from an interdisciplinary perspective which proposes revisiting the social and linguistic behaviour of the Movida madrilena phenomenon. The political events of the eighties had a significant impact on Spanish society contributing to the acquirement of its ethicoaesthetical values. La Movida creates a new linguistic identity which invades not only the street, but also the artistic and cultural environment of the city. Thus, we discover an aesthetic lacking ethics, translated by a freedom of language and a frivolous turn of phrase. A filmmaker like Pedro Almodovar or writers such as Antonio de Villena and Juan Madrid are only a few examples pleading for artistic and literary emancipation as a ludic invective against political and social life.

THE GODFATHER AND THE AMERICAN DREAM

Author(s): Goksu Gigi Akkan / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2017

This paper tries to demonstrate how The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola challenges the myth of the American Dream. The thesis of the paper is that The Godfather is not a film seeking to re-establish American norms and ideals, but that it tries to break down and shed light on the corrupt side of the modern American society through the myth of “the American Dream”. The structure of the paper is so that first, what other academics and critiques have to say about Coppola’s attempt to criticize the American society and ideals will be visited, as this will give the reader a clearer understanding of the film’s meaning and message. Then, analyses of how certain characters are built and how their presence and attributes contribute to the film’s meaning will be conducted, topped off with the usage of props.

DEPRIVATION, CLASS AND IDENTITY ISSUE IN CONTEMPORARY TURKISH CINEMA

Author(s): Neşe Kaplan,Ali Bariş Kaplan / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

New economy–politics and globalization have not only been changing the structure of class but the representation of identities as well. New social roles are reproduced and also criticized by the means of cultural production in which media and cinema instruments included. In past, the class structure and attachment to identities were effected by modernization process; in a similar way; in the current state of modernization, the new cultural sphere shaped by global communication networks and global consumption attitudes have been alternating the class structure and attachment to identity. With this context, this study analyzed some contemporary social realistic films (Zerre, Araf, Köksüz, Yozgat Blues) to understand how the position of individual changes within its role with herself and its relation to social institutions through a critical approach towards the dimensions of culture and economy-politics of the change. The aim is to start a discussion over cinema, about the effect of cultural change on class and representation of identity. The theoretic frame enlightening the change of the relation of the individual with her work, family, and society was built with the help of critical works. The economy-politics result of the globalization phenomenon has isolated the individual and detached her from its position, subject of politics. The structure of class has changed, the attachment to identity has weakened. The desperation of individual belonging to nothing, is a subject of cinema as well. The isolation and the deprivation of the new individual emerges as the very “violence” itself in the fantastic world of cinema.

Caballeros de la oscuridad: la Orden del Temple en el cine de Amando de Ossorio

Author(s): Antonio Huertas Morales,María Bosch Moreno / Language(s): Spanish Issue: 2/2016

The tragic end of the Templars turned them into a myth that has left a deep mark on the contemporary narrative. Currently, seen as innocent martyrs, the Templars acquired features, as wanted San Bernardo, of celestial militia, fighting the forces of evil. However, the legends that bind tight and unorthodox beliefs have shifted even historiographical versions, and the Templars also become dark and intriguing characters. Before the massive appearance of the Templars in Spanish narrative of the end of the millennium, the Galician filmmaker Amando de Ossorio made some films about the warriors‑monks, giving them horror film features and binding them to the family of vampires, mummies and zombies. The treatment they were given by the Galician filmmaker, despite the originality and some of the literary reminiscences, is to be inserted in the continuous process of mystification of the Templars.

Co stoi za stodołą? Przemiany toposu pojedwabieńskiego a topika Zagłady

Author(s): Marta Tomczok / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2016

The author endeavours to develop and discuss the concept of a topos which would respond to the needs of the future dictionary of the topoi of the Holocaust. She starts with the summary of the historical understanding of the notion in Aristoteles, Cicero and Quintilian; then, she takes a closer look at the twentieth century conceptualisations, among others in Janina Abramowska and Berthold Emrich. Finally, the author discusses the descriptions of the topoi of the Holocaust in Sławomir Buryła, Władysław Panas and Paweł Wolski, examining how the category of the image and imagery functions in their works. The author assumes that imagery, realism, affectivity, emotional impact and being prone to changes in meaning are the distinctive features of the topoi belonging to the thematic area of the Shoah. In the second part of the article, the author analyses Szmul Wasersztejn’s account of the Jedwabne massacre, firstly extracting all the possible topoi from it, and then describing in detail the topos of the barn. In the final part of the article, the author proposes the analysis of three different examples of its use: in Michał Pilis’s “Łąka umarłych”, Kevin Vennemann’s “Blisko Jedenew” and Marcin Wrona’s film, “Demon”.

Književnost i pamćenje

Author(s): Tvrtko Kulenović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 01+02/2000

Američki filozof George Santayana napisao je da oni koji ne pamte historiju dolaze u situaciju da im se ona ponovi. Ta se poruka očigledno nastavlja na latinsku izreku da je historija učiteljica života, historia magistra vitae e st Ne smijemo je shvatiti doslovno, jer, kako kaže Milan Kundera u svojim esejima o romanu, život je uvijek složeniji od naše misli o njemu, i jedino roman može s njom da se nosi jer i ne polazi od pretpostavke da će nešto 'smisliti', ali se čini da ipak imamo pravo reći da historija nije nikada nikoga ničemu naučila, odnosno, kako je glasio slogan festivala "Zima Sarajevo 1994. godine” Historia magistra vitae non est.

Avro-Amerikan Hegemonyası Ve “Avrupalı Bir Yönetmen” Olarak Lars Von Trier

Author(s): Selma Köksal,Özlem Denli / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 89/2017

Lars von Trier’s filmography invites the audience to complex and multi-faceted reflections on Western culture and civilization. The cultural and historical entity, which we term ‘Euro-America’, is located at the center of Trier’s intellectual and artistic endeavor as well as his critique of modernity in a broader sense. This essay presents a discussion on relevant themes and topics underlying Trier’s filmography from the perspective of film study and political science. We present and examine key films by the Danish director with a view to unearth the bases of his approach to interpersonal, political and moral aspects of modernity in general, and to Euro-American civilization in particular. Our investigation traces central elements dominating these works, such as the ideas of collective guilt, penance and human nature, as well as Trier’s perception of European history as a perpetual presence on contemporary Western civilization. We reflect upon Trier’s aesthetic and stylistic choices in these films, and give critical assessments of the ways in which these elements both augment and clash with his deep-seated ‘political claustrophobia’ and complete moral condemnation of Western-bourgeois culture.

POSTMODERN CARNIVALIZATION AND INTERTEXTUAL DIALOGUE IN BAZ LUHRMANN’S FILM, ROMEO+JULIET

Author(s): Irina-Ioana Spataru / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2012

The recent definitions of cinema versions have proved the complexity of the production and reception of the movie, in contrast with earlier theories, which considered that the literary versions were inferior to the original. From the viewpoint of new approaches, the movie not only enriches the substance of the original text, but also offer the viewer the occasion of a dialogue with a cultural product. In what the Shakespearian versions are concerned, the intertextuality, the parody, the copy and other postmodern features become more visible, unchaining the Bard’s status and determining a new re-reading of his plays, more attractive for a young audience. This study focuses on the postmodern features of carnival and intertextual dialogue in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, as presented by Baz Luhrmann. The first part of the study identifies carnival elements in the text transformation for the screes. The second part describes the intertextual relationships which turn Romeo and Juliet into one of the most complex cinema versions made by a canonic author.

Kino pod presją

Author(s): Marek Hendrykowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 27/2016

The article contains a synthetic look at the issue of film censorship, taking into account its various forms. The author combines the perspective of a contemporary synchronous with the diachronic perspective, dating back to the distant origins of cinema and film making, in conjunction with politics and ideology.

О некаторых трудностях перевода болгарских художественых фильмов на русский язык

Author(s): Yulia Kudryavtseva / Language(s): Russian Issue: 01/2017

Film translation is a type of literary translation. This paper observes the main difficulties that can appear while subtitling. The observed difficulties are illustrated with examples from the translations into Russian of some modern Bulgarian films shot in the period 2010-2015. Special attention is paid to the difficulties that are caused by the specifics of Bulgarian informal speech.

Wounds Sustained, Wounds Nurtured: Rituals of Violence at Wagah

Author(s): Monirul Islam / Language(s): English Issue: 06/2016

The Radcliffe Line at Wagah is now a world famous tourist spot where each evening thousands of tourists gather to witness the ritual of lowering the flags of India and Pakistan. Visiting the place is kind of pilgrimage for the Indians, (and must be for the Pakistanis as well), and the Wagah has gradually evolved into a shrine of patriotism. The ceremony of lowering the flag lasts about an hour when on both sides of the border there remain a kind of celebratory atmosphere—and the thing celebrated is nationalism. The patriotic frenzy, however, leads to a menacing display virtual violence as the cry varat mata ki jai ( victory to mother India) on the one side and Pakisthan jindabad(long live Pakistan) on the other bangs upon the ear and fills the air around. Each side tries to supersede the other; the cry gets louder and louder and the tension rises as if there will be an instant war. It leads the sensitive mind into troubled history of partition of India and to the indelible trauma of communal violence—the wound that the people of the subcontinent sustained during and in the aftermath of the partition in 1947. The paper will attempt to analyse the nationalistic ceremony at Wagah and will explore the problematic nature Indian nationalism and national identity. The objective is to examine the paradoxical nature of the Wagah rituals which though aimed at consolidating national identity ends up disrupting it. In the course of discussion, three cultural texts, namely, the ceremony at Wagah, the memoir of Sadat Hassan Manto‘s last days in Mumbai, and Shabnam Virmani‘s documentary film Had Anhad (Bounded Boundless) will act as intertexts of the article.

When Man Becomes Machine. The Creation of ‘Symborgs’ in Pop Cultural Universes

Author(s): Ewelina Twardoch / Language(s): English Issue: 04/2013

The aim of the study is to characterize the process of creating ‘symborgs’ in popular culture universes. The author analyzes the ambiguous relationship between human and machine in such productions as: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Pacific Rim, Iron Man, RoboCop and others. In the article are confronted two ways of human being connected with the machine: the ‘external” and ‘internal” ones. The author refers to the concept of technology which is a part of Joanna Zylinska’s and Sarah Kember’s ‘creative media’ project and also to the category of ‘symborg’ formulated by Stelarc. The crucial issue is here also to show the interferences between the imagine world created by popular cultures creators and the real one, to which examples are the phenomenon of Quantified Self community and project Avatar 2045.

Stereo Vision and the Imaginary Man. The Influence of 3D Technology on the Experience of the Film Viewer

Author(s): Piotr Fortuna / Language(s): English Issue: 04/2013

The article is an attempt to understand the impact of 3D technology on the experience of a contemporary film viewer. The theoretical framework of the analysis is determined by Edgar Morin’s anthropological interpretation of the cinema, which is, however, considerably reinterpreted by the author of the paper. The aesthetic distinctness of stereo vision is particularly appreciated here. Besides, French theoretician’s thesis that “the subjective increase [of image’s value] is a function of its objectivity” is discussed. The author argues that in the case of stereo vision it is just the opposite. He finds reasons for that conclusion in Morin’s book, as well as in the psychology of perception and French phenomenology. Not only does 3D technology weaken the projection-identification process, but it also disturbs the latter, thus interfering with the fundamental mechanisms of the cinema.

Fifty Shades Of Real. The Sexual and the Virtual in Spike Jonze’s Her

Author(s): Rafał Morusiewicz / Language(s): English Issue: 04/2013

The article discusses the portrayal of interhuman and sexual relations in Spike Jonze’s Her and examines the role the role of technology, especially virtual constructs and artificial subjectivities in the broader context of sexual politics and power relations. It looks at the theoretical implications of virtual relationships, including the issues of normativity and analyzes the question of “realness” and its degrees, as determined by social and political constructs of sexuality.

Zwrot historyczny. Wstęp

Author(s): Łukasz Biskupski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2013

Jesteśmy tutaj i gdzie indziej. Magia sceniczna końca XIX wieku a pojawienie się (i zanikanie) wirtualnego obrazu jako korzenie kina

Author(s): Tom Gunning / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2013

This essay is not only written to widen the prehistory of cinema with the story of magical illusions. Too often, this type of genealogy was limited to enumerating consecutive technological innovations, suggesting a teleological advance leading to the invention of cinema. I rather hope that I draw the attention of researchers dealing with cinema on the longue durée of visual media and on the complex consonance of technology, spectatorship and visual imagery, so important at the end of the 19th century.

Kino atrakcji. Historia, krytyka, mapa i kartoteka

Author(s): Michał Pabiś-Orzeszyna / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2013

In this article I would like to present some reflections on the role played by the “cinema of attractions” in the history of film studies. First part of my essay includes the preliminary description of this idea: its definition, polemical context and change that “cinema of attractions“ brought to the dominant mode of historiographical investigation in the light of so called “Brighton project” and “historical turn”. The aim of the second part is to outline the possible critical comments on “cinema of attraction” mostly rooted in David Bordwell’s and Charles Musser’s writings. In the third part I would like to sketch how those objections can be tempered if we enrich our understanding of “cinema of attraction” with knowledge about the historical – material and intellectual – milieu in which this notion emerged. In this context I propose to see historiographical method conducted by the proponents of “cinema of attraction” (i.e. Tom Gunning, André Gaudreault) in the light of specific version of cinephilia that came to light in New York in the 1970s.

Obrazy wojny japońsko-rosyjskiej. Retytułowanie programów filmowych poświeconych wojnie rosyjsko-japońskiej w Holandii i holenderskich Indiach Wschodnich

Author(s): Dafna Ruppin / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2013

This paper focuses on the production, dissemination and reception of images of the Russo‐Japanese War from an intermedial perspective, examining early cinema as embedded within and engaged in exchanges with other contemporary popular media, in terms of both content and form. Focusing on the case of the Netherlands ‐ by that point in time, a minor imperial power in Asia, relatively neutral in regards to the conflict and, moreover, not a producer of such images but rather a recipient and distributor of ones produced outside its borders ‐ will enable us to examine how images of war were adapted and reframed in order to construct an international news story for Dutch audiences. Furthermore, an overview of the popular visual media circulating at the time in the Netherlands and in the Netherlands Indies will help outline features of the political and cultural exchanges between the colonies and the home country.

„Bezgraniczna rozrywka” Josepha Garncarza, czyli o prezentacji filmów w Niemczech przed I wojną światową (recenzja)

Author(s): Andrzej Dębski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 03/2013

Review of „Masslose Unterhaltung. Zur Etablierung des Films in Deutschland 1896–1914” by Joseph Garncarz