POGRZEB BOHATERA KULTUROWEGO JAKO WYDARZENIE MEDIALNE. PRZYCZYNEK DO ANALIZY MITYCZNYCH OPOWIEŚCI O ŻYCIU I ŚMIERCI ZNANYCH POSTACI
THE FUNERAL OF CULTURAL HERO AS MEDIA EVENT. CONTRIBUTION TO ANALYSIS OF MYTHICAL STORIES ABOUT THE LIVES AND DEATHS OF WELL-KNOWN PERSONS

Summary/Abstract: The following text offers a preliminary analysis of stories about mythical heroes. The author’s attention is fo- cused not on ancient myths and legends, but on contemporary stories about well-known persons which appear in media after their deaths. These considerations concern television broadcasts of the funerals of Pope John Paul II (2005), Michael Jackson (2009) and Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria (2010). The main questions are: what kind of stories were told about these three men during the ceremonies, and what was the role played by mythical narrative structures? Initially, the author presents Joseph Campbell’s concept of monomyth. Theory of media event is then discussed as a theoretical framework for three stories about cultural heroes. In the main part of the article the author analyses three addresses given during these funeral ceremonies. These addresses are treated as stories about cultural heroes, which re ect the structure of Campbell’s monomyth.

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