Od „słowa zwykłego” do „słowa jarmarcznego”. Profanacyjna moc słowa we współczesnej kulturze popularnej na przykładzie komiksu z serii „Wilq”
From a “common word” to a “vulgar word”. Profanatory power of the word in contemporary pop culture based on the study of a comic book from the “Wilq” series

Summary/Abstract: The following paper addresses the problem of instrumentalization of play in contemporary culture based on the study of popular culture. This tendency is a reflection of a broader process, which is the instrumentalization of culture in the consumerist society. In this context, the aim of the article was not to point to this dominant tendency; rather, to present a text of popular culture (a comic book) exemplifying a reverse relation: an attempt to regain, through the cultureinfluencing mechanism of profanation, play in general, and play with a comic book in particular, for the purpose of reclaiming play as a part of culture, and not a link in the consumerist world. The element enabling the process of profanation was the word, which, as was shown in the paper with reference to M. Bakhtin’s theory of carnivalization, was undergoing a transformation from a “common word” to a “vulgar word”. The analysis of “Wilq”, a popular comic book series by the Minkiewicz brothers allowed us to reveal the potential of the “vulgar word” in social communication, its popularity, and cultural and culture-influencing value.

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