Master of Arts Thesis
Euroculture
University of Groningen (Home) University of Krakow (Host)
August 2015
The Ultimate Polish Cinema: Studying the Influence
on Identity
A study on the post-communist generation in Poland and the reception of mainstream cinema
Submitted by: Serena Modolo Student number home university:s2600242
Student number host university:1110551 Contact details: +48 539852794, serena.mdl@gmail.com
Supervised by: Name of supervisor home university: Dr Susan Aasman Name of supervisor host university: Dr Bożena Gierat-Bieroń
Milan, 2/08/2015
1 MA Programme Euroculture
Declaration
I, Serena Modolo hereby declare that this thesis, entitled “The Ultimate Polish Cinema: Studying the Influence on Identity”, submitted as partial requirement for the MA Programme Euroculture, is my own original work and expressed in my own words. Any use made within this text of works of other authors in any form (e.g. ideas, figures, texts, tables, etc.) are properly acknowledged in the text as well as in the bibliography.
I hereby also acknowledge that I was informed about the regulations pertaining to the assessment of the MA thesis Euroculture and about the general completion rules for the Master of Arts Programme Euroculture.
Signed
2 Table of Contents List of Figures ... 4 List of Tables ... 4 Preface ... 5 Introduction: ... A sociological research on the Polish post-communist generation and the role of cinema as an agent for Polish identity ... 6
Chapter 1 ... Theoretical Background: issues on Identity Formation and Postmodernism ... 9
1.1 Identity formation: main concepts and debate ... 9
1.2 Identity, culture, and media ... 16
1.3 To the formation of a visual identity? ... 19
Chapter 2 ... Identity, community, and the self after 1989: the case of Poland ... 21
2.1 Present-day Poland: a new closure? ... 26
Chapter 3 ... Polish post-communist cinema... 29
3.1 Cinema: its role in society ... 29
3.2 Revolutions in the 1990s ... 31
3.3 2000 and beyond: innovation and discovery ... 37
3.3.1 Dzień Świra, Marek Koterski, 2002. ... 39
3.3.2 Mój Nikifor, Krzysztof Krauze, 2004. ... 41
3.3.3 Pod Mocnym Aniołem, Wojciech Smarzowski, 2014. ... 43
3.3.4 Obywatel, Jerzy Stuhr, 2014... 44
Chapter 4 ... Analyzing the audience: methodology and outcomes ... 46
4.1 Methodology ... 47
4.1.1 Sample ... 48
4.1.2 Purpose and procedures ... 48
4.1.3 Difficulties, limitations and delimitations ... 51
4.2 Focus Group 1: Mój Nikifor ... 54
4.2.1 First impressions and focus ... 55
4.2.2 Leaving the family? Not precisely ... 56
4.2.3 Last statements: a key interpretation? ... 59
3
4.3.1 Main focus ... 60
4.3.2 What is alcoholism? ... 62
4.3.3 Last considerations ... 63
4.4 Focus Group 3: Obywatel ... 64
4.4.1 A surprising film ... 65
4.4.2 Is this the average Pole? ... 66
4.4.3 Last considerations ... 68
4.5 Focus Group 4: Dzień Świra ... 69
4.5.1 Comparing past and present ... 70
4.5.2 Obsession and disease ... 72
4.6 Overall Analysis of themes ... 73
Conclusions ... 77
Bibliography ... 79
4 List of Figures
Dzień Świra...39
Mój Nikifor...41
Pod Mocnym Aniołem...43
Obywatel...45
List of Tables Tab. 1, Comparing the methods: pros and contra...50
5 Preface
There is always room for improvement and this thesis is the proof of that. In the past months I realized how difficult it is to deal with a subject you feel passionate about: you always want to know more, the research never ends. I was at times disappointed, at times enthusiastic, and always doubtful about the outcomes. The path I went through was enriched by various people that I wish to thank wholeheartedly.
First of all, I need to thank all the participants that took part in the focus groups: without them this research would not have been possible. My gratitude goes to my supervisors, Dr Susan Aasman and Dr Bożena Gierat-Bieroń, for their suggestions and comments. Similarly, I need to thank the Euroculture staff in Krakow and in Groningen for their precious help.
I cannot forget the invaluable support of all my friends. Thank you Alessia, for being my constant companion in Krakow and the greatest fellow traveler, for sharing with me the best and the worst adventures of this Polish life and, of course, for you 'cheer-up' cakes. Thank you, Heloisa and Dima, my dearest couple of friends that made of Krakow a new home for me. Thank you, Giancarlo, the most sensitive, ironic and lovely friend a woman can have. Thank you Laura and Mickaël, opposite souls that shared my happiness and letdowns throughout this master. Thank you to all my friends, the near and the far ones, for your smiles and calls, for our past and future experiences.
Last, but not least, my love goes to all my relatives. In particular, this work is dedicated to my parents, always supportive and present, the best teachers I could ask for. And, of course, to my little sweet brother, my safe harbor and my most honest companion.
6 Introduction:
A sociological research on the Polish post-communist generation and the role of cinema as an agent for Polish identity
Cinema productions are the mirror of our society: their contents represent actual events as well as fictional histories that, in some ways, influence the mind of the spectator. Films reflect the needs and trends of society, the wishes of the public as well as the ones of the market. They can be called means of education, of indoctrination, of entertainment; the scope of cinema is not only to amuse it is conceived as an art in itself by some and as a profitable enterprise by others. It is for its heterogeneous nature that I chose cinema to investigate a number of central themes in Polish society.
The idea took shape in August 2014 when, following the screening of a Polish film in Krakow, I had the possibility to discuss it with a Polish fellow student. The conversation persuaded me that films provide the perfect starting point to address social issues and to observe people's reactions. As recalled by Gordon Gray, who researches the role of cinema and its essence:
Cinema can provide insight into the historical changes of those same styles and aesthetics, as well as providing information on the ideas and prejudices of a particular time and place, again particularly on the culture-producing class.1
This assumption is at the basis of my entire research. Specifically, the aim of this study is to explore the understanding of cinema by people, how the population can relate to it, and to which extent the moving images play a part in their perception of reality. Despite the infinite answers these questions can have, I needed to concentrate on a defined target and on particular Polish films due to the limited scope of this thesis.
It was for that reason that I designed the research in order to answer one particular question: to which extent is Polish communist cinema sharing the Polish post-communist generation's view of society? And more specifically, to which extent can we state that Polish cinema reflects students’ understanding of Polish identity and society? There are a few aspects of these question(s) to clarify before introducing the body of this thesis. Firstly, one may wonder why I chose to focus on Polish film productions the reason for that is undoubtedly related to the fact that I spent the last year and a half in Krakow. There I became more and more interested in the history of Poland, in its
1
7 people and in the drastic transformations occurred after 1989. Present-day Poland is undoubtedly different and the attitude of people is constantly transforming; thus, my wish was to grasp some elements defining this shifts. What is more, cinema has now replaced the role of books and literature. In this regard it is relevant to understand the influence it may have on the audience, the audience's response, and to measure to which extent the population is affected by it in terms of ideologies, beliefs and lifestyles screened.
As I will later argue in the first chapter, we are now living in a world based on a constant flow of information. One of the most prominent features of contemporary society is without doubt its global character, and a network-based type of communication. Specifically, the latter is our major means of exchange, which takes place on various levels but can still be said to be monitored by governments, and especially by enterprises. Currently, not only organizations study culture, but employ it as a means to shape society. In this regard, I believe in the fundamental aim of studying media coverage and their influence. Specifically, my interest within this thesis is to analyse the response of Polish post-communist citizens in relation to four screenings followed by a debate. The responses of the audience are subsequently reported in the last chapter of the thesis.
The first chapter introduces the discourse on identity formation and media. There is an evident research gap in the study of identity formation and the role of media, which relates to the absence of empirical data regarding the audience single groups should be researched more often and more in-depth. To understand society I suggest to observe what people think about it, whether they feel to belong to either a nation, a specific culture, or, as suggested by various scholars, if the population is individualistic in its essence and thus, the individual exists solely in juxtaposition to the wider world. Therefore, the first section of the thesis presents the works of major scholars regarding the debate on identity formation and how identity relates to cinema.
8 As the research focuses on the role of media, and specifically of cinema in shaping and influencing Polish people's behavior, the third section of the thesis deals with the developments of cinema and its role after the Thaw. Before integrating the research with the outcomes of the focus groups conducted, I will investigate tendencies, genres and events in the recent history of Polish cinema. Eventually, the chapter will focus on the four films chosen, providing an overview of Dzień Świra, Mój Nikifor, Pod Mocnym
Aniołem, and Obywatel. The movies present some major issues related to Polish society,
and they permitted me to discuss relevant themes with the audience. Thus, this chapter aims at introducing the core issues tackled with the spectators.
Finally, chapter four introduces the original research. In this section the reader will find the methodology employed to conduct the experiment (i.e. focus group interviews), the outcomes of each focus group held for analyzing the spectators' reception of cinema, and an overall report on themes and core features. Within this part a number of topics related to Polish reality will emerge: the break-up of present-day generation with the previous one, the awareness of the target group of being in a transforming world, the need of expressing their own, unique identity as well as the recognition of specific social issues and the foundational presence of spirituality in the lives of people.
9 Chapter 1
Theoretical Background: issues on Identity Formation and Postmodernism
The most influential scholars dealing with issues related to identity pointed at the urgency of researching further the means of its formation. Indeed, already in the nineteenth century researches started questioning the role of identity and culture within society. The focus of this thesis is on the contemporary postmodern debate, which can be presented if one pays particular attention to writers like Zygmunt Bauman and Gerard Delanty, not to mention other scholars who focused more on culture as the tool to investigate society (i.e. R. Williams, S. Hall, J. Lyotard, and so forth).
Within this chapter I intend to present and reflect on the major trends defining identity and postmodernism. This will secure the necessary tools to investigate identity issues in Poland after 1989. Thus, I provide a background on the academic literature concerned with aspects related to identity formation and with the role of media in shaping identity. The chapter closes with a reflection on the influence of the representation of life through cinema and the media in our lives.
1.1 Identity formation: main concepts and debate
Capitalism has shaped our world and our approach to life since its formation. Nowadays, people experience a world where 'fast is better', where everything should be achieved in the blink of an eye, where information flows faster than our ability of grasping it, and where hierarchy is ideally non-existent, but in fact it is there, more present than ever, just hidden under a surface of equality. It has been argued how current society is in fact displaying the crisis of the individual. To understand this, one should reflect upon concepts related to identity formation and community.
10 Each member state is characterized by unique features and national histories. However, scholars agree on the fact that these nations are linked by a number of past events. To explain the challenging nature of present-day society, various authors tried to define salient aspects retrievable in past and present societies: ideas like nationalism, cosmopolitanism, globalization, and Europeanness are central to the debate on society and identity formation. These concepts have been used by major researchers like Zygmunt Bauman and Gerard Delanty, whom reflected on current social issues.
Bauman and Delanty's perspectives are relevant for a number of reasons: Zygmunt Bauman is a Polish philosopher and sociologist that theorized the concept of 'liquid modernity', thus opening the path to a wider debate on identity formation in a constantly transforming world; Gerard Delanty is a British sociologist that deals particularly with the concept of identity within the European union. Bauman and Delanty's arguments constitute two of the most influential points of view that I will report.
From these perspectives contemporary society is the legacy of a complex past, which associated many of the current EU member states. However, since the nineteenth century European nation-states saw the emergence of a nationalistic movement that has permeated public opinion. Referring to Benedict Anderson, nationalism "is an imagined political community -- and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign"2. Anderson theorized the idea of 'imagined communities' and convincingly investigated the cultural roots of the concept of nationalism, affirming how society, if considered limited by boundaries, finds its legitimization through rituals, symbols and ceremonies, which can create bonds between people. Despite the validity of Anderson's reasoning, I believe that nationalism as such cannot determine a community in present-day society. On the contrary, Zygmunt Bauman posited the argument that we live in an age of movement and fluidity, of liquid state of beings, where collective identity and the sense of community is nothing else but a non-existent idea. To Bauman is ascribable the notion of 'fluid modernity' as juxtaposed to the solid essence of modern society preceding WWII. The community is the product of a nostalgic attitude, which tends to see this idea as an unrealizable utopia. Therefore, 'community' is not a notion that can be applied to our times but represents the "last relic of good society"3. Saying this, the author is pointing at the need of people to hold on to ancient notions of society to
2 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London: Verso, 1991), 6. 3
11 explain the world they live in as, in truth, the present situation cannot fall into fixed paradigms and this is the only paradoxical certainty we have.
At the same time Bauman conceives this time as the time of individuality: the human beings have to deal alone with their personal struggles, they have to partake their qualities and with these achieve their individual, but still homologated, goals4. And Gerard Delanty supported this opinion as individuality is in fact foundational in contemporary society: "communities are groupings that are more and more willfully constructed: they are products of practices rather than products of static structures"5. The points made by Delanty are first the fact that community does exist, but is constantly transforming in our postmodern society6. Moreover, drawing from the works of sociologists and philosophers, and positing insight from Habermas, Bauman and Touraine's works, Delanty moves further to restate his belief that "community is not an underlying, but is constructed in actual process of globalization", and again "community is defined and constructed in social action rather than residing in prior values"7. It is clear that one cannot rely on predetermined systems of values represented by institutions like the nation-states to affirm one's own identity.
Furthermore, Delanty considers societies as the results of people's activities8, which define our reality as mutable: the situation is constantly changing as the products made by different individuals are the most diverse, and thus fixed structures lose their relevance in constituting the present world. Furthermore, if economics, politics and culture are the driving factors shaping reality and the individuals, society can be understood only as the outcome of connections between individuals, who work for the construction of this society by their 'practices', and who define themselves against this same society they help to create.
Opposite to nationalism is cosmopolitanism. As suggested by Delanty, cosmopolitanism is the outcome of a "communicative globalised world"9 a world that is the result of the interplay of different organizations, institutions, governments and people, all sharing common aspects through the communicative character of present-day society. As globalization led to the fall of fixed boundaries, Delanty points at the existence of a
4 Ibid., 72.
5 Gerard Delanty, Community (London: Routledge, 2010), 102. 6
Ibid., 104. 7 Ibid., 95. 8 Ibid., 102.
9 Gerard Delanty, "The Cosmopolitan Imagination: Critical Cosmopolitanism and Social Theory", The
12 wider reality based on communication between the most diverse communities. The increased exchange and sharing of experiences, products, and ideas led to the formation of a world that exists solely through a constant flow of communication.
The notion of living in a cosmopolitan reality may find its support in Bauman's argument. Bauman explained modernity as a 'fluid' time, an adjective that can be applied to identity as well. Starting from the assumption of a loss of fixed paradigms in reality -- if ever these paradigms existed -- the philosopher presented identity as essentially fragmented and individualistic. Bauman affirmed the inexistence of the 'community', defining it only as the outcome of a feeling of nostalgia for an imagined cohesive and harmonious past10. What Bauman stated is that individuals are the only valid units constituting society, the only possible focus by which one can research the present. Individuals, and not the community, are the makers of reality, individuals that define themselves in comparison to the outer world.
Precisely, both Bauman and Delanty indicated in their opus the indispensable role of the 'Other' in defining someone's identity. Essentially, scholars agree on the common need of the human beings to define themselves by comparing their features with the ones of someone with whom they do not recognize11. However, in this time of fragmented identity and society, of sheer individualism, what is the 'significant Other'? Otherness is the abstract world around us with which we do not recognize, and which does not constitute part of our own essence, culture, and life12. The individual stands alone against the environment, comparing his or her features to the ones of other individuals, homologating to the current trends and trying to impose one's own, specific features. In this sense the public sphere is compared to a stage, on which individuals make a show of their lives and, by doing that, they are able to define themselves13. In light of this, it can be understood how a community intended as a consistent unity cannot exist:
the way individual people define individually their individual problems and try to tackle them deploying individual skills and resources is the sole remaining 'public issue' and the sole object of 'public interest'.14
10 Zygmunt Bauman. Liquid Modernity, 201. 11
Ibid., 101.
12 Simon Clarke, "Culture and Identity", in The Sage Handbook of Cultural Analysis, ed. Tony Bennett and John Frow, (London: Sage Publications, 2008), 511.
13 Zygmunt Bauman. Liquid Modernity, 70. 14
13 A traditional community does not exist and it is not plausible. Moreover, for Bauman modernity is "an epoch of disengagement, elusiveness, facile escape and hopeless chase"15, in which "the life of modern men and women is a task, not a given"16. From Bauman's words the reader understands the solitude underlying the lives of people, whom are essentially alone despite their illusive certainty of belonging to a community. The individual is a solitary being, left by him/herself in this run towards an illusory achievement.
Bauman is eventually displaying globalization as a period of loss of significance, in which the individual should be part of the association of consumerists to feel part of a community. What is more, Bauman's definition of identity is in fact a drastic denial of its existence:
Wherever we speak of identity, there is at the back of our minds a faint image of harmony, logic, consistency: all those things which the flow of our experience seems -- to our perpetual despair -- so grossly and abominably to lack. The search for identity is the ongoing struggle to arrest or slow down the flow, to solidify the fluid, to give form to the formless.17
Should the reader than assume that the concept of identity has to be discarded completely? Certainly not. The concept itself permits to discuss reality, to investigate the world of ideas and the abstract concepts related to it. Ours is a globalised world based on communication, but the idea of identity permits to discuss the role of the individual and of the social group, while investigating people's attitude and reactions to external stimuli. It is not possible to stop the flow, but what can be done is to study the interrelation between means of communication, the masses and the individuals. These three elements mentioned are bound together by mass consumerism, which in Bauman's terms provide to create the feeling of belonging:
Inside their temples the shoppers/consumers may find [...] what they zealously, yet in vain, seek outside: the comforting feeling of belonging -- the reassuring impression of being part of a community.18
With this almost biblical reference to a pagan temple the scholar is also implicitly pointing at the lack of spirituality of present society19, and at the endless search of a 15 Ibid., 120. 16 Ibid., 134. 17 Ibid., 82. 18 Ibid., 99.
14 humanity that needs to rely on its sacred myths and symbols. Hence, despite the lack of a defined identity, people cannot exist but in a social group, be it even an imagined one. If once the nation-state was the unifying factor, present-day imagined communities are the product of globalization and thus of sharing international aspects. It is in this context that the notion of 'communication communities' inserts itself.
Post-modernism is the product of a massive communication, which flow of information is larger than the capability of the human mind to elaborate it. In this sense, a community that is based on communication is fragile for a number of reasons: firstly, it has a constantly changing nature; secondly, the information are interpreted in a subjective way; thirdly, the constant and instant flow of communication cannot either be stopped or controlled by the individual, who is bombarded with an endless stream of information. Moreover, if in Delanty's terms a community has "the power to give expression to ties of belonging which is as much an aspiration as an affirmation of boundaries"20, then one should research the significance of boundaries at first.
The question becomes thus how to define boundaries in the case we are living in a communication community. What can be argued is that fixed political boundaries disappeared after the emergence of much smaller, local communities, which recognize themselves as being part of the globalised world21. With the emergence of regionalization these smaller communities reflect the needs of people as being established by their members. Therefore, the said communities have a reflexive and changeable nature, which is ultimately mirroring the state of fluid modernity.
Furthermore, I agree with Delanty on the idea that the world is constructed through cultural models, which do not define people because of their membership to a state, but because of the choices people make of sharing the same set of values22. Delanty conceives cosmopolitanism as a means to explain and further investigate society to possibly solve our doubts in defining the contemporary system. Cosmopolitanism as a consequence of massive communication explains the demise of the traditional notion of nation-state. However, the EU cannot replace the role of the nation-state, if one understands the EU as a normative structure that will ideally foster a sense of belonging. The EU remains an abstract entity in the mind of Europeans, even though the intertwined fates of the countries will lead European citizens to identify with common
20 Gerard Delanty, Community, 33.
21 Gerard Delanty and Chris Rumford, Rethinking Europe (London: Routledge, 2005), 41. 22
15 goals related to peacefulness, cooperation, general improvement of the level of life, and so forth.
At this point, what is interesting is the formula of 'togetherness' proposed by Bauman: A joint achievement of the agents engaged in self-identification
pursuits, a unity which is an outcome, not a priori given condition, of shared life, a unity put together through negotiations and reconciliation, not the denial, shifting or smothering out of differences.23
Bauman is here presenting a concept that will later be called 'unity in diversity' by Delanty and Rumford24. This concept has been widely used to legitimize European identity as one and many, which is consequently able to keep the citizens of the European Union united. One should bear in mind that EU established itself as an economic and market union in order to improve the overall situation in the continent, while assuring stability and peace between its members. The EU shortly developed into a normative system, with the aim of bringing together nations and peoples under a unique umbrella of values.
In this regard, the term 'Europeanness' is interesting as a neologism expressing the existence of a sense of belonging to the EU and is a fundamental notion to investigate society of any of the EU's member states. As has often been argued, being European had been a feature of "many national identities"25. Delanty suggests to approach the issue keeping in mind a very specific point:
Rather than relate the identity of Europe to a set of cultural values, goals, territory or people – what in general may constitute the cultural content of the idea of Europe – it is more fruitful to see it in terms of a socio-cognitive form consisting of repertoires of evaluation, discursive practices, and identity projects which could be characterized in terms of dialogic rationality.26
What the scholar is suggesting here is to develop a new understanding of Europe and of the relation between its peoples. Consequently, one may ask how Delanty defines European identity. For Delanty it is a "process of self-recognition and exists as a constellation of diverse elements which are articulated through emerging repertoires of evaluation."27 Hence, from this a number of essential points can be made: 1)
23
Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Modernity, 178.
24 Professor Chris Rumford is a British scholar who deals specifically with the notion of globalization. 25 Gerard Delanty and Chris Rumford, Rethinking Europe, 50.
26 Ibidem. 27
16 modern EU identity is an individual process (based on self-recognition); 2) post-modern EU identity is made of different but intertwined elements; 3) the process of identity creation is constantly changing for the diverse evolution of social systems.
People not only do compare to, and recognize with, the outer world, but they define themselves in relation to it. This is a fundamental stance to understand the role of culture and media in shaping identity. If a collective identity in its traditional definition is not recognizable in present-day society, we should try to determine to which extent people group up forming 'communities'. To understand how these groups are established one should pay particular attention to the various factors influencing people's behaviors. One way to do so is to consider mass media and the images they provide. Hence, it is time to deal with the representation of social issues by media. Before doing that, one should remember the basic assumption that we are living in a globalized world, a world shaped by the instant communication. People have the constant opportunity to gain knowledge and are constantly bombarded with images and symbols that are not belonging to their local culture: this certainly leads people to take a different approach to life if compared to past generations. Therefore, as indicated, we should not erase the possibility of speaking of a sense of community nowadays: communities are communicative.
1.2 Identity, culture, and media
The formation of identity cannot be studied separately from cultural products. In this regard, it is useful to refer to Kellner, one of the major contemporary critical theorists of cultural studies. Douglas Kellner comes from the tradition of the Frankfurt School, in which he himself researches the role of media in society. For Kellner media plays a fundamental role in the process of identity creation in his terms: "Certain images resonate to our experiences and stick in the mind, moving us to later thought and action."28Kellner is here indicating the importance of the representation given by media to the audience: if one understands the ways in which the audience is influenced, then one might draw some conclusions on present-day society as well. Certainly, the process of analyzing media requires time, as the researcher will always face original pieces of
28 Douglas Kellner, Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics between the Modern and the
17 information that might change depending on the context, and which can be interpreted in various ways.
One may argue how, in the past, modern society was a by-product of the nation-state able to create an imaginary community by employing folk and religious symbols, and by representing the nation-state itself as a homogeneous group counterposed to a significant Other. Nevertheless, we are now dealing with a culture that cannot be defined, like identity, by fixed paradigms. Indeed, the past century was the place of specific artistic movements and schools of thought, which certainly had their raison
d'être as being a consequence of their times. To better put it, art answered the demands
of society, at times supporting governments and politics, at times acting against them. Postmodern society cannot be defined by terms like cohesive community and collective identity in regard to a specific nation-state. As discussed above, we assisted to the individualization of the self, and therefore to the disappearance of a consistent community to be created by a top-down approach. In this case, it is particularly interesting the idea that the public space is like a stage, like "a scene on which private dramas are staged, put on public display and publicly watched."29 This way of presenting someone's intimate life is once again suggested by Bauman, who identifies a major trend of present-day society. To support Bauman's argument, we can easily note how this inclination, which he presented already in the 1990s, was foreseeing a visible trend in social media. Individuals are now staging their personal lives, becoming active participants in the process of displaying their existence and making it accessible to the outer world. Uncertain of what we are and to what we belong to, and being unconsciously aware of standing alone, we are constantly shaping our identities for the others to see.
This is the result of an epoch, like ours, where we live in a constant "sense of betweenness"30, as we are living in the period following modernity, but not recognizable as post-modernity in Kellner's terms. The latter argued on the present situation stating that:
29 Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Modernity, 70.
30 Douglas Kellner, Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics between the Modern and the
18 living in a borderland between the old and the new creates
tension, insecurity, and even panic, thus producing a troubling and uncertain cultural and social environment.31
Kellner presents the consequences of living in a fragmented and non-collective reality, giving the image of a culture that is the consequence of anxieties, which were in turn caused by the transformations of the last three decades. The communication among people has drastically changed, and even more this need of showing off one's own life. The individualization of human beings is leading to a more and more desperate need to become visible and to belong to the communicative system.
Moreover, post-modernism has been acknowledged as a period deeply characterized by consumerism. Already with Baudrillard we have a definition of identity as deeply influenced by the capitalist system. The scholar in fact argued that identity is the outcome of consumption, which dominated men's everyday life and marked the "breakdown of high versus low culture"32. As a consequence, expressions of art and popular culture are perceived as homogeneous: one cannot mark a precise boundary and assert where one finishes and the other begins. The role that media plays and played in this process is essential: the 'massification' of culture and (as mentioned above) the communicative nature of society led to an original understanding of the first.
I find Clarke's perspective one of the most useful to provide a more in-depth analysis of the role of cinema as a means used to shape identity:
It does not matter that belief may be more fiction than fact, because the human imagination is central to identity construction; it is therefore concrete and has very real consequences for the world we live in.33
If human imagination is so central in defining identity, then it is not difficult to understand the role of cinema and of its motifs in contemporary society. Far from being an aspect defining solely dictatorship and totalitarian states through propaganda, media is still a powerful force that may affect people's perception of reality.
Consequently, people are a direct product of media culture. As pointed out by Kellner, "media culture has come to dominate everyday life"34, creating a reality not only inherited by the media, but almost driven by it to the extent that people's identities tend
31
Ibidem.
32 Walton, David ed. Doing Cultural Theory (London: Sage Publications Ltd, 2012), 210. 33 Simon Clarke, "Culture and Identity", 528.
34 Douglas Kellner, Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics between the Modern and the
19 to homologate to the models displayed. "Culture shapes individuals"35 Kellner adds, and individuals in turn can play with communication means to shape culture. Moreover, David Walton, a relevant researcher within the field of cultural studies, explains this situation following Baudrillard's reasoning, which is essential to note the importance of images in present-day society:
In a world dominated by filmic conventions of representation, advertising, media overload, information and communication networks (that is, of the simulation and the hyperreal) images no longer refer back to an original; they only refer to each other and reproduce themselves endlessly.36
Hence, there seems to be a unique level on which these images are created. The individual is thus shaped by images reflecting the experience of others. There is no more originals but only remakes of what was once called new. Participation is a central element in the identity formation process: individuals participate in the communicative process, adding their own interpretation to the products transmitted by the media, which in turn reflect a distorted image of reality. This vicious cycle departs from the bodies responsible to create cultural products, using culture as a means to influence people, who group up in similar clusters that restates, through their local tools, the same cultural models received.
In order to understand cultural identity one should look at the factors shaping it, at the influence that culture has on people's everyday life:
for media culture to work for its audiences it has to resonate to social experience, to "fit in" with the social horizon of audiences, and so popular media culture taps into existing fears, hopes, fantasies, and other concerns of the day.37
This is essential to the scope of the research: the focus that media have on people's expectations, on their mindsets makes us face a new era in history. Thus, our stories become one, shared globally by the utmost expression of globalization: media.
1.3 To the formation of a visual identity?
Considering valid the assumptions made by Bauman and Delanty, identity is now more than ever a transforming element. Moreover, Baudrillard and Jameson permits to
35 Ibid., 2.
36 Walton, David ed. Doing Cultural Theory (London: Sage Publications Ltd, 2012), 213.
37 Douglas Kellner, Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity and Politics between the Modern and the
21 Chapter 2
Identity, community, and the self after 1989: the case of Poland
Poland was subjugated by different powers during its history. Dramatic partitions and different dominations occurred in the twentieth century: Poland underwent a painful process of becoming independent at its beginning, then it disappeared from the European maps after the Second World War, and successively fell under the Communist control; eventually, the consequent fall of the regime made of Poland an independent republic. Indeed, these shifts left a visible mark in the citizens' souls. Specifically, Poland had to confront itself with a number of major issues related to the social and political sphere.
In the 1990s Poland needed stability both in political and economic terms. The fall of Communism left an unorganized and "ravaged country"38, in which people had the expectation of leaving behind the lives full of constraints they conducted under the Soviet occupation. The population linked the fall of Communism to the arrival of a more florid and free period: people demanded a profound transformation in all the aspects of Polish life. Obviously, a drastic change could not erase the preceding fifty years of Polish history and its Communist legacy, which have been affecting the nation deeply39. Notwithstanding the fast transformation and the continuous process of improvement of the economic condition, Poles were disappointed by the new situation: Poland needed a strong governance able to deal with contemporary problems like the economic crisis, alcoholism, and a bad exploitation of resources. Thus, the 1990s were characterized by a deep crisis and much discontent.
The crisis not only affected the population in political and economic terms; in the 1990s a specific question had to be answered: who are the Poles? And how to define Poland? The break-up with the past unveiled a system of values the population could not recognize with. The great disparities between different social groups between the ones that actually benefited from the fall of the regime and the ones that lost everything from its demise displayed the social emergency in which the nation entered. In this sense, the main requirement was to establish a new functional system, which could cope and react to the previous period.
38 Norman Davies, Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland Present, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 408.
39
22 Certainly, the new system did not solve the intricate situation. Emerging in the free market was a real challenge for citizens that, for fifty years, were told where and when to work, what to eat and how to move on the territory. Much was expected from the political sphere: the population was looking forward for guidance and support, in order to face the high unemployment rate caused by the monster that is the 'free market'. Although the movements preceding the collapse of Communism seemed to provide a valid political response to the national needs, the events proved the opposite: after gaining the so craved independence, Poland did not have a strong leadership able to move the national apparatus. Moreover, the fall of the Berlin Wall opened Polish borders to external influences. The barriers with the West were suddenly abolished, allowing Western, and especially American products, to enter Polish reality40.
The disappointment caused by politics was firstly linked to the figure of Lech Wałęsa, who guided the Solidarność movement but could not fulfill the citizens expectations. Succeeding Wałęsa, the nation changed seven different governments in seven years, led in turn by Bielecki, Olszewski, Pawlak, Suchocka, Pawlak, Oleksy, and Cimoszewicz41. Furthermore, the great impact of the Church, supported by the popular and nationalistic radio station Radio Maryja, which was now able to operate without constrictions, served the purposes of conservative right-wing parties that posited the strongest critiques for Poland annexation to the EU.
Additionally, the Balcerowicz Plan was implemented to restore the disastrous economic situation left by the Communist regime42. Consequently, the economic status quo was overturned and completely modified: capitalism was introduced, as well as a new currency. The sudden transformation went alongside with the privatization of all sectors of industry, which also brought foreign investors to Poland and a new hope in the future. However, Poland did not have a competitive economy on the international market, and its unemployment rate continued to fall43. Thanks to the entry into force of the Balcerowicz plan and the privatization of the major industries, after few years Poland was able to handle the crisis and a constant inflation without collapsing. Although the nation survived this dark period, many were the people that saw this
40 We can confidently state how, after 1990, Poland started to undergo a process of globalization. 41
Norman Davies, Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland Present, 427. 42 Ibid., 424.
23 economic shift "as the embodiment of a new form of demonic materialism"44. This reaction expressed the feelings of an entire population divided between enthusiasts and concerned citizens.
On the one hand, the population enjoyed the new liberal system filled with foreign products, which begun a decisive transformation of the country. On the other hand, utilitarianism became the focus of harsh critiques from both left and right wings. Moreover, the inflation and the rise of prices, alongside with unemployment, made Poles face long years of crisis and displayed the downsides of capitalism. Not only the fall of Communism implied the fall of the socialist system, but also of its certainties: various were the people who found themselves penniless and tried to adapt to the new economy without success. The widespread poverty created a substratum of citizens who turned to criminal activities and alcoholism as an escape to their personal fate. It was in this social, political and economic background that a new Polish identity was taking shape.
The Polish demand of being internationally recognized was finally satisfied, as well as the newly-acquired liberty of professing Catholicism, which consolidated the feeling of belonging to a unified nation. In this regard it is relevant to address the arguments presented by Professor Joanna Kurczewska, a Polish scholar engaged in sociological studies that relates to culture and philosophy. Kurczewska particularly investigated Polish culture, and in her words:
[Poland] was a "powerful dependent nation" which was comprised of above all a strong national consciousness [...]. This national consciousness manifested itself in two different ways. The first one was founded mainly on a number of oppositions, mostly external (against the former occupants, Germany and Russia). The second one (founded, so to say, on collective and individual participation in the same cultural resource) was the development of a national community by means of drawing upon the past -- upon the same repository of historical symbols of Polishness, most of them religious [...].45
Kurczewska presents the image of a nation that is obviously trying to define itself in opposition to a significant Other, which in this case are Germany and Russia. Polish fate was determined by the coexistence with, and domination of, these two external bodies for most of its recent history. For what concerns Polish borders, Kurczewska typifies the
44 Ibid., 425.
24 Poles in relation to the two countries that mostly influenced its very existence. However, regarding the internal factors binding the population, Kurczewska highlights two main aspects: history and religion. History defines the Poles as long as the population legitimizes its existence by referring to a common past. Furthermore, in a comparative study on the role of the church in Hungary and Poland, Eberts and Torok, two scholars dealing with the role of religion in the political sphere, pointed at the aggressive attitude of the Polish church in the elections following the fall of the Iron Curtain. Moreover, the:
Polish Catholic Church has had a harder time adjusting to the new pluralist and democratic situation. Its stronger position and higher prestige impelled the Church in Poland to engage aggressively in the elections.46
What is specific in both these visions is the role of religion in creating a common past: religion provided the majority of the symbols constituting Poland nowadays. Moreover, religion was the means to fight against the regime and offered the necessary support to this large part of the population that fought for surviving before and after the fall of Communism. Eventually, it is comprehensible the great influence religion had, and still has, on Polish identity.
In this regard, Norman Davies is one of the major historians I can address to discuss Polish history. If, as Davies claimed, "Polish politics rapidly attracted the degree of popular apathy that was familiar enough in the West"47, the same cannot be said with regard to religious institutions. Censorship and the ban of association were abolished after fifty years of blind and monolithic governance,eventually marking the achievement of Catholic Poles, who saw their efforts rewarded after long years of oppression. In a time of uncertainty, religion was in fact a stronghold for the Polish spirit, one of the few certainties in a changing world.
Lastly, the accession to the EU marked another difficult moment in the Poles' lives. The accession symbolized not only that Poland was entering a world previously denied: the new change implied a loss of sovereignty, which was regained only too recently. The fact that the EU was seen mostly as a "concrete political entity"48 could not make things
46 Mirella Eberts and Peter Torok, "The Catholic Church and Post-Communist Elections: Hungary and Poland Compared", in Religion and Social Change in Post-Communist Europe, eds. Irena Borowik and Miklos Tomka (Krakow: NOMOS, 2001), 147.
47 Norman Davies, Heart of Europe: The Past in Poland Present, 427.
48 Anna Horolets, "Conceptualising Europe Through Metaphors: A Way to Identity Formation?" in Polish
25 better; the EU's was perceived solely as a regulatory entity, which did not consider the actual needs of the person. Furthermore, an issue at stake was that Poland would become one of the Eastern border of the EU. Kurczewska reflected on the possible new attitude the Poles will assume after the accession:
In the near future, when the Poland's eastern border becomes the frontier of the European Union, these complexes may polarise: we will become aware of the multiplicity of our inferiority complexes with respect to other member states (old, well-known members), our ambivalence towards countries which joined the EU at the same time as Poland will increase, and we will develop a superiority complex with respect to our eastern neighbors49.
I would state that Professor Kurczewska provided a likely hypothesis. After eleven years of Polish participation in the EU's life and affairs, an imitating attitude towards the Western countries is visible, as well as a conformist stance. For what concerns Polish attitude towards the eastern neighboring countries, Kurczewska suggested the emergence of a superiority stance that Poland would assume towards them. After years, one can note a closure towards the East, without however being able to point at the emergence of a similar behavior.
One of the main problems related to the accession to the EU and the discontent regarding this decision might be linked to the critique brought forward by Kurczewska, who stated how the accession would initiate a "deconstruction process" that could hinder the same values on which the nation is based50. Being part of this structure (i.e. the EU) could transform Poland ad indeed, this process started already before 2004. What is evident is the emergence of nationalistic movements in the country. Although this latter case constitutes a serious problem in Poland, once again Kurczewska offers a valid reference as she states that "there are many Polands, not one"51. In saying this, Kurczewska is addressing the population, which should come to terms with the inward diversity of its country and the coexistence of opposite tendencies.
49 Joanna Kurcewska, "What is Likely to Happen to Polish Collective Consciousness After Accession to the European Union?" in Polish Sociological Review141, (2003): 87.
50 Ibid., 90. 51
26
2.1 Present-day Poland: a new closure?
The last years in Poland were characterized by an opening towards the West. However, this led a considerable part of the population to leave the country and emigrate to the West. In the last fifteen years Poles witnessed an improvement in life conditions, in foreign investments and generally in the economic field and, from 2010, polls registered a peak in the population satisfaction with national conditions of life. Considering the results provided by the Global Attitude Project a database providing statistics on the attitudes of citizens in a wide number of countries the satisfaction with the living conditions in the country increased until 2010, to then drop of 20 points (from 47% to 27%) in the following years52. A similar situation is displayed also for what concerns the country's economic situation: from 2010 to 2014 the general satisfaction with economic conditions dropped from 53% to 27%, which indicates that last year only a quarter of the sample maintained a positive stance towards Polish economy53.
Moreover, one observes a limited positive answer when the citizens express their opinions in regard to the likely economic development if, in 2010, 35% of the population believed in the economic improvement of Poland, in 2014 only 18% of the citizens answered positively to the same question54. Undoubtedly, present-day political conditions are strongly linked to the latter developments in the economic field. The presidential elections that took place in May marked a closure towards foreign influences. The new president of Poland is now Andrzej Duda, a conservative politician and one of the youngest Presidents in the history of Poland. In spite of the limited power the President has on everyday political decisions, the fact that he has been preferred to a more open, centrist, and pro-European president is the proof of the rise of a conservative stance.
The events proceeded as follows: on the first tournament Bronisław Komorowski, the previous president strongly related with the Solidarność movement stressed the fact that Poland is now free from constrictions and foreign dominations. Komorowski also appealed to that part of the population that still remembers how was life before the fall
52 "Poland: Satisfaction with Country's Direction," Pew Research Center, last modified July 2015, http://www.pewglobal.org/database/indicator/3/country/175/.
53"Poland: Country's Economic Situation", Pew Research Center, last modified July 2015, http://www.pewglobal.org/database/indicator/5/country/175/.
27 of Communism by stressing the liberalization one can avail nowadays55. However, this was not enough: Andrzej Duda finally won the elections on May 24, gathering the majority of the voters to his side.
Without doubts this result manifested features of a new Poland, which is not anymore legitimized by its endless stance against the old enemy represented by Russia56. The country expressed a more conservative and religious standpoint; there is no doubt that the vote was also a form of protest for the little improvement of life conditions in the last years. Therefore, we are assisting to the rise of nationalistic attitudes and radical movements preaching for a more Catholic, conservative and right-wing Poland. The populist ideology powerful in present-day Poland strongly denounce "homosexuality, abortion, feminism and consumerism"57 among others 'immoral' attitudes.
Nevertheless, one should also consider the voices of scholars claiming a logic development in Polish politics. As claimed by Jacques Rupnik, director of research at CERI58 and significant writer on history and politics, the situation the Poles are now facing is the consequence of the lack of a convincing political opposition, whose role is therefore played by populism:
Throughout history, populists have often won elections by railing against elites, only to be thrown out of office after becoming identified with the power structure they once denounced. In other words, while the rise of Eastern European populism and nationalism is cause for concern, this is no return to the 1930s. Liberalism faces populist challenges almost everywhere in Europe. Now Eastern Europe has simply joined the club.59
If one follows this reasoning the present-day situation does not sound dramatic but it seems part of the logical flow of events. Without mining the validity of Professor Rupnik's arguments, we should bear in mind the need of the nation for a secure guidance towards, and not against, the European Union. Furthermore, what one can ask
55
Daniele Stasi, "Le elezioni presidenziali e lo scontro tra le due memorie in Polonia", MicroMega, May 20, 2015, http://temi.repubblica.it/micromega-online/le-elezioni-presidenziali-e-lo-scontro-tra-le-due-memorie-in-polonia/.
56 It should be noted how the very existence of Duda's party has not been justified by the negative stance towards Russia, but by the understanding of Poland as a conservative, religious nation based on
traditional values.
57 Rachael Dizard, Henrike Korte and Anna Zamejc, "Right-Wing Nationalism in Poland: A Threat to Human Rights?", Humanity in Action, accessed May 25, 2015,
http://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/160-right-wing-nationalism-in-poland-a-threat-to-human-rights.
58 Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, Paris.
28 about these results is whether we are facing a drastic turn towards right-wing politics by the majority of the population, or if this result is the reflection of a dissatisfied attitude. As is said, the truth usually lies in the middle: the outcome of the last polls should be read both as an increased negative attitude towards the EU, as well as a likely form of protest against the former president Komorowski, discarded for lack of pulse on critical situations. However, the future has still much to tell: the parliamentary elections in October will provide a more complete background to study the political direction of the Polish state. Then, the population will have the opportunity to restate its preference for the conservative wing or to elect a more liberal and open government.
29 Chapter 3
Polish post-communist cinema
From 2005, when the Polish Film Institute was established and the Act on Cinematography entered into force, Polish national productions prospered both nationally and internationally and the high number of funded enterprises marked an increased interest for emergent talents60. One should consider how the fall of Communism initiated a process of liberalization that deeply transformed cinema, determining a shift in its use as well as in the way the audience was addressed. This is why the 1990s are presented; following the study introduces the period following the Act on Cinematography (2005), which incremented both national and international productions. These display the evolution of cinema in Poland, and through its trends and the models fostered one can observe the formations of a new Polish society. The latest trends are addressed in order to determine whether one can speak of the re-birth of a socially and politically involved cinema. Moreover, the chapter considers the effects of Americanization and globalization in the last decade of the twentieth century. Lastly, the four films chosen are briefly presented.
3.1 Cinema: its role in society
Before dealing with the great transformation caused by the arrival of a liberalized economy, it is necessary to spend a few words on media, cinema and its pivotal role in the recent history of European countries. First of all, the definition of cinema provided by Wendy Everett in the newest edition of European Identity in Cinema is useful as a starting point:
Invented as a means of observing the ‘real’ world, film was quickly recognized as the most powerful tool for articulating illusion as reality, thus blurring the boundaries between the two. Furthermore, its very status is contradictory and uncertain. 61
Wendy Everett is a Reader in French and Films at the University of Bath: I found her writings deeply engaging for the overall discussion on the nature of films. Cinema is a means to recreate the world around us, transposing one's own life on the screen and
60 About the new trends and filmmakers it is useful to read: Lech Kurpiewski, Young Polish Cinema (Warsaw: Adam Mickiewicz Instytut, 2008).
61
30 thus, providing a different perception of time and space for a limited time-span. Everett then proceeds questioning the nature of the tool itself:
The fact is, of course, that film is both cultural articulation and industrial product, both challenging, idiosyncratic discourse and popular entertainment for a mass audience, both reflection of reality and subversion of reality, and while these contradictory facets may constitute a source of great energy for the medium, they lead to confused national policies and polarised critical debate.62
Cinema can be acknowledged as a work of art, as a commercial product or both. What is certain in Everett's terms is the fact that cinema is indeed playing a central role in the definition of today's reality, conveying models and representing flaws and virtues of present-day society. This one is the most effective tool to reach a group that, coming together in one room thus being together in a specific context share a common experience and is given one same message. The reader should always bear in mind the endless different interpretations that can be given to a film, a video, or an image. These are acknowledged individually and thus by different, if not opposite, points of view. Additionally, considering the 'mixed' nature of films, one should investigate why cinema can be so powerful and influence people's lives so deeply.
Films can be considered the repository of memory; to quote Everett once again: "Film is the ideal time machine, the very nature of its language enabling it to recreate the complex processes of memory"63. With this short and clear sentence the scholar sums up the essence of cinema: a tool that enables us to instantly remember our history although providing the means to rewrite it for political goals. The images conveyed recreate an illusion of the past from a specific point of view: the director's personal perspective, which will be later internalized by the spectators. This concept and process of the cinematic production is essential in understanding 1989 as a turning point in the history of Polish cinema. Indeed, the year marked a milestone and a point of no return:
Such was 1989: everything that preceded it, even when it lay only a few months before, passed into history. Every film whose plot was set before then, in the Polish People's Republic, automatically became a history film, a variety of reckoning with a closed epoch. Only the customary continuity of life prevented every one being conceived thus. [...] The decisive factors were the ones mentioned already, and above all else the abruptness of
62 Ibidem. 63
31 the change: the past became as it were enclosed within itself, cut
off from the urgencies of the contemporary.64
Poles pay particular attention to their national history, and it is understandable how cinema becomes one of the most useful tools in the process of remembering and shaping one's culture. Cinema may then become a legitimizing tool, displaying ancient as well as recent historical facts (Wajda is an outstanding example of that), contributing to create a national image to be displayed on the national and international level. What is more, is that in the last part of this quote indicates an evident fracture between the representation of past and present; this rupture is visible in contemporary society. In this regard, following the outcomes of my analysis, I will explain whether the tendency among the Polish post-communist generation is of recognizing or not itself with the past prior 1989.
3.2 Revolutions in the 1990s
The sudden introduction of a new economic plan and the consequent liberalization of the market initiated a transformative period that encompassed all the arts, cinema included. Although there is little room for discussing Polish cinema before 1989 within this research, it is important compare the two in order to distinguish the most recent. Prior to 1989 cinema was considered as a means to convey political messages and to display models of acceptable social behavior. Like in many other dictatorships, the government supervised film productions to verify that these were in line with the Communist ideology: cinema's significance relied on the fact that it delivered specific messages. Moreover, Professor Ewa Mazierska and Doctor Michael Goddard, two of the most relevant scholars dealing with contemporary cinema and specifically with the Polish contemporary scene, recalled that cinema was the only widespread mass media, as in that period current ordinary devices like televisions, the phone and so forth were not owned by common citizens65.
Despite this, everything changed after 1989: the fall of censorship and the newly established system hit the cinema units, the ones allowing governmental control over productions during the communist times. Cinema units were clusters of artists under the direct supervision of the government, thus subjected to its guidelines and decisions.
64 Mateusz Werner, Polish Cinema Now! (Warsaw: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, 2010), 72.
32 These associations were established to control film directors in order to avoid the creation of dissident or polemic films able to stir the population. One of the most important features of these units was the fact that they were completely funded by the state and directors did not have to comply with market requirements.
One scholar that provided relevant documents about cinema units is the Polish film historian Elżbieta Ostrowska. The units came into existence in 1955 they were three-year long-term associations controlled by the state through the National Film Board, which verified that the works were in line with the main ideology. Interesting is the fact that directors themselves took advantage of these units in various ways: once accepted, the units permitted them to have their projects funded, so directors were able to concentrate on the artistic aspects of their creations. Furthermore, directors themselves had the chance to dismantle the units and later to recreate them following their needs. In this way, they could establish more autonomous organizations, which warranted a higher independence66. The situation suddenly changed with the arrival of the free market: the new government liberalized the arts and, as a consequence, the majority of the units ceased to exist. The filmmakers' projects were not funded anymore and consequently, filmmakers could not simply focus on the realization of their works of art. Cinema in the 1990s became a financial enterprise in Poland too.
As already mentioned earlier, one of the greatest turning points was the abolition of censorship. While considering the consequences of the fall of a dictatorship one may believe that productions following such a dramatic change were characterized by an improved artistic quality and a stronger stance giving voice to people's discontent and needs. However, this was not the case in Poland as filmmakers had first to comply with the demands of a liberalized economy. The free market suddenly established in this former Soviet nation made directors face a bitter truth they became aware of an even more powerful factor affecting cinema: the influence that the audience expectations has on film productions. As Ewa Mazierska stated:
filmmaking has become radically decentralized and depoliticized. Its beating heart is no longer the director and his dissident artistic vision but the producer and the political-economic imperatives of a globalized media industry.67
66 Ewa Mazierska and Michael Goddard eds. Polish Cinema in a Transnational Context, (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2014), 456.
