STUDIA: Kicz w kinie holokaustowym
STUDIES: Kitsch in Holocaust Film

Summary/Abstract: The text deals with popular cinema that touches upon the subject matter of the Holocaust and the kitsch esthetics which is either intentionally or unintentionally often adopted in such films. The main questions to which the author seeks the answer is: why do we need kitsch to create stories about the Holocaust? The author defines the term Holocaust film and then suggests a typology of Holocaust films with respect to cultural references and narrative archetypes of stories which are often used in such films. Different types of Holocaust films are presented: Christian kitsch, Zionist kitsch, pathos kitsch and magic ending kitsch. The kitsch is treated here not as a critical category but as an esthetics having its own power and positive meaning. Nevertheless, the text refers to the ongoing debate about the subject matter of kitsch its one-sided perception, on the one hand, as esthetics destroying art and sensitivity, and on the other, as a necessary and creative element of culture.

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