Topos ludzkiego ciała w "Oblężeniu" Juliena Bryana

Author(s): Marek Hendrykowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

Marek Hendrykowski’s close-reading study remembers and re-discovers one of the most influenced documentaries of the 1930s. Julien H. Bryan (1899-1974) was widely experienced American correspondent, photographer and documentary filmmaker. His "Siege" (released 12 February 1940 in New york City) gave unique two-week personal report from Warsaw during German invasion in September 1939. All dramatic pictures presented in this movie are based on true events filmed by Bryan with authenticity of every detail connected with civilians who try to survive in the bombed and ruined city. Siege as first documentary of World War II is charged with powerful emotions, since it is difficult to pass by the tragedies, pains and misery of real people.

Ostatni seans filmowy

Author(s): Marta Brzezińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

The anthology of texts "Pamięć kina" ["Memory of Cinema"] (ed. Andrzej Gwóźdź, co. ed. Barbara Kita, 2013) is composed of eleven essays by prominent Polish film and media scholars and researchers, and is about their initiation into the world of film. Memories of visual fascinations are a commentary of sorts on the professional choices of authors, showing their paths of reflection within film studies and changes in the practice of cinema. The reviewer suggests contexts for the reading of the collection, although this of course does not exhaust all of the possible readings of the text, as the complexity of such a reading depends on film related interests and sensitivity of the readers. The area of reflection and its character, defined by the authors and creators of the anthology, suggests a metaphorical reading with the framework of palimpset and locus amoenus as respectively: the description of the work of memory and organising of the material, and the sensual figure of memory of cinema, and cinema’s memory.

Przemoc w filmach gore albo o obrzydzeniu, które obnaża współczesne stosunki społeczne

Author(s): Markus Lipowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

The question of direct presentation of violence in films has long been controversial in the scientific world, and it is also of interest to the public. Since the 1960s the subgenre of gore is increasingly present in the mainstream cinematography, and the popular cinema is increasingly willing to adapt the aesthetic of violence typical for films belonging to this genre. Direct presentation of the destruction of human body has become part of contemporary popular culture. It is therefore an issue that should be considered from the sociological perspective. Accepting this as his starting point, the author asks in the article about the impact of virtual violence on the individual, and the extent to which gore films reflect the most important features of contemporary society. Using the example of three selected gore films Lipowicz tries to demonstrate, that the subgenre points to fundamental existential problems and questions of social integration in the era of postmodernity.

Ciało niedoskonałe? Seksualny aspekt niepełnosprawności fizycznej w kinie współczesnym

Author(s): Małgorzata Kozubek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

In films dealing with disability, independently of the convention, genre or the author’s strategy, there always appears the theme of sexuality. Often the whole story is organised around this theme. Sometimes it is a starting point, or appears only in one scene, but always one of great dramatic importance. The article discusses two opposite ways of presenting a disabled body in contemporary cinema in the context of sexuality. On the one side it is the desired body ("Quid Pro Quo", "Crash", "American Mary", "Boxing Helena", "A Zed & Two Noughts"), on the other it is the unwanted body ("The Sessions", "Hasta la vista!", "The Art of Flight", "The Be All and End All", "Shall we dance?", "Mundane History"). In both cases the body is subjectified, taken out of the discourse of the universal, ideal body, created by the postmodern culture.

Byt i niebycie. Reprezentacja kobiecego ciała w pracach Anety Grzeszykowskiej

Author(s): Agata Zborowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

The author focuses on the analysis of three video works of Aneta Grzeszykowska. "Black" (2007), "Headache" (2008) and "Bolimorfia" (2008-2010) are analysed in the context of different ways of representing the female body in the history of art, but also taking into the account other works of the artist. The artist reveals the ways of showing female body and classifies them into a framework, using existing methods of presenting the female body in the work of feminist artists. Background and frame are important analytical categories in the article, as they are the basic mechanisms of presenting the spectacle. They make the body visible but also define its boundaries.

Performatywne identyfikacje

Author(s): Sebastian Jagielski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

Gays through the years referred to texts, subjects and symbols belonging to the dominant culture, giving them alternative and subcultural meanings. These texts provided them, especially in the pre-emancipation era, with the language which enabled them to express their experiences. Jagielski in his article focuses on the relations between the homosexual viewer and female stars (divas): he analyses the reasons for which gay viewers are so eager to follow film images, he considers the genealogy of gays’ fascination with divas, and doubts raised by this affiliation. He illustrates his argument with the image of Violetta Villas, a woman-monster, who by connoisseurs of good taste was rejected as rubbish. Her body was a carnival masquerade, an excess which it was impossible to accept. But this body appeared monstrous only when it clashed with the context of the socialist period in Poland. The star combined in her image that which is abjectal with camp, which through parodistic hyperbolization undermines the dominant models of gender and sexuality. Villas and “fagots” share in common the place in which they find themselves – they are beyond any boundaries.

Mama naga. Nagie ciało matki we współczesnych sztukach wizualnych

Author(s): Andrzej Pitrus / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

Andrzej Pitrus’ article is about the presence of the marginalised motif of acts of artists’ mothers. This theme is not common in visual art, as it is one of the remaining taboos. The works discussed in the article deal with this taboo in different ways. Creators of the works analysed explore various spheres – for some mother’s nakedness is a pretext for exploring intergenerational relations, for others it is a way of dealing with pop culture clichés, while some examine the sphere of sexuality. Andrzej Pitrus uses examples from a wide range of visual arts: films, photography, video art and video installations.

Krowa w łóżku, koń na fortepianie

Author(s): Marcin Giżycki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

In the history of the cinema there are several surprisingly similar scenes with horses, cows or goats standing or lying in a relaxed fashion on furniture in bourgeois interiors. The most famous come from "L’Age d’or" (1930) by Luis Buñuel, "Wrong Again" (1929) with Oliver and Hardy and "Moscow Laughs" (other English title: "Jolly Fellows" /1934/) by Grigori Aleksandrov. It seems that the impact and popularity of these lies in the fact that they break the social taboo dealing with the standards of coexistence between humans and animals, which leads to comic situations, but the popularity lies also in the fact that this is a link to the tradition of fairy tales, offering us a gentle detachment from reality.

Ciało w filmowym neomodernizmie

Author(s): Rafał Syska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

The subject of the article is the analysis of methods of presenting the body of actors and protagonists in contemporary independent cinema. The author chose three examples of artistic strategies presented by Bruno Dumont, Albert Serra and Alexander Sokurov – directors belonging to the neo-modernist trend in film. The presence of the body of an actor and protagonist is for each of them a target of interesting activities, although for each of them this results from different world-views and aesthetic notions. What they have in common is the resistance towards the classical techniques of psychological acting, the abandonment of conventional emotiveness, individualisation and personalisation of the hero and the intensive observation of the idiosyncrasies of actors and protagonists. To this, one must add the key topic of the intimacy of experience and the exploration of the physiological sphere, as well as the motif of physical sacrifice and sacralisation of the body.

Marilyn Monroe 1962

Author(s): Grzegorz Piotrowski,Karol Szymański / Language(s): Polish Issue: 83-84/2013

In Marilyn Monroe’s film creations from the second half of the 1950s, and especially the beginnings of the 1960s, and particularly in the change in her physical appearance, as well as in the steps she took in order to change her status, the authors see the symptoms of the process of the star-marionette freeing herself from the domination of rules and expectations of the “hegemons of the Hollywood spectacle”. Using the example of Monroe’s last, unfinished film Something’s Got to Give and her photo sessions from 1962 – Bert Stern’s from the “Vogue” and George Barris’ for “Cosmopolitan”, the authors analyse the way in which Monroe reached for creative (and feminine) autonomy through changing the way she used her mature, marked with age and experience body as means of artistic expression. In 1962 there is a marked shift from Marilyn Monroe as a star and a sex symbol, a metaphor or an idea towards Marilyn Monroe as a mature and independent woman and actress, a real, physical person with a real body, an Event.

Paradoxuri sociale şi politice

Author(s): Vasile Nazare / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 128/2007

Social life, through its structural and functional perspective, highlights the interference between normality and the paradoxal aspects of the consecrated fields: political, economical, social, cultural, military and so on. Their knowledge has both a theoretical and great practical value, influencing the organizational act and the social leading, the individual and organizational action efficiency. From this point of view, knowing, preventing and solving particular paradoxes of the political domain are treated as concerns and priorities because of the and dysfunctions they could generate.

Diferiţi, dar uneori la fel! Despre limitele clivajului stânga-dreapta la alegerile prezidenţiale franceze din 2007

Author(s): Sergiu Mișcoiu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 128/2007

This article investigates the limitations of the left/right cleavage in the French Presidential elections of 2007. The main hypothesis is that, despite the appearances, the right/left cleavage was weakened by the relative convergence of the two main candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal, over the nodal issues of national identity, citizenship and immigration.

Dezbateri recente cu impact asupra securităţii europene

Author(s): Liviu Tatu,Octavian Manea / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 128/2007

This article provides some early assessments on key international security developments such as the euro-Atlantic missile defense debate and the impact of the suspension of the CFE Treaty. At the same time the article elaborates on the policy rationality behind these projects and on the consequences of these developments on the whole NATO-Russia relation. In the end the authors intend to articulate an explanation and develop a rationality for the latest Russian strategic policy, making a brief assessment on the core-believes of the Russian elite.

Secolul XXI şi responsabilitatea elitelor în gestionarea problemelor planetei

Author(s): Vlad Flonta / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 128/2007

The article deals with some of the major global problems of our times. On the one side, economic inequalities and poverty tend to grow continuously, which is due to the fact that world trade, while being free, can hardly be regarded as a „fair trade”. On the other side, the contemporary world faces an alarming climate crisis, caused by demographic explosion and the increasing consumerism. The author argues that a critical mass of members of the elites should take a real responsibility, as well as make a change in their lifestyle. Such positive examples could trigger a global mentality change that would solve or at least mitigate those problems.

Serbia versus Kosovo: planuri pentru un viitor incert

Author(s): George Surugiu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 128/2007

The Kosovo issue has became one of the top issues on international agenda. While the Albanian majority in the province hopes to establish an independent state by the end of 2007, Belgrade tries to assess its possible policy to confront such a possible outcome of the 120 days of negotiations with Pristina. So far, Serbia’s ally, Russia, succeeded to block the ‘Ahtisaari Plan’ for Kosovo in UN Security Council. The article analyses Belgrade’ situation and potential of compromise, taking into consideration Moscow’ ambitions in Balkans, the pro independence pressures from United States and the hesitant approach of European Union.

Sistemul electoral românesc şi egalitatea de gen

Author(s): Alexandra Petrescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 128/2007

The article stresses the importance of gender equality in Romanian politics, analyzing the possibility of adopting in the near future the parity or the quotas. The author presents France and Belgium, two countries that were constitutional and electoral models for Romania in the past and where the parity and the quotas are applied in the present. The question is if these francophone countries can become again models for Romania.

European Neighborhood Policy and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership

Author(s): Loredana Enăchescu / Language(s): English Issue: 128/2007

Liberal democratic states have succeeded in building security and stability at regional level through partnership and cooperation. The security communities set up with organizations such as NATO or more recently the EU, while remaining two different institutions, have promoted special relationships with countries situated in the immediate vicinity of their boundaries so as to enhance trust and intensify interdependencies amongst them. This has been both a prerequisite for preserving security at the borders and projecting a soft power of engaging other nations in mutual cooperation and common projects.

Guvernare şi bugete publice europene în perioada de criză

Author(s): Mariana Stanciu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 3/2012

The article shows the increasing common trends regarding governing of the EU member states, and some important evolutions în financing the public field in EU countries, during the crise started in 2008. In the context are also described many excepting situations regarding the Romanian budgetary policies.

Forum european: Servicii sociale de calitate în fiecare comunitate ‒ provocări și oportunități

Author(s): Iulia Buttu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 3/2012

Beneficiile de asistență socială gestionate de Ministerul Muncii, Familiei și Protecției Sociale

Author(s): Adina Dragotoiu,Simona Maria Stănescu,Alina Ioana Marinoiu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 3/2012

The article analyses the social work system from the social benefits’ perspective. The starting question was: how is the trajectory of social assistance’ system in Romania, taking into account the communist legitimacy and the impact of adopting various design options of post-communist social policies? First part of the article is focused on the conceptual framework, with special attention paid on contributive – non-contributive systems, the presentation of main elements of European context, as well as communist and post-communist regulations in the field of social assistance. The second part of the article detailed the evolution of Romanian social benefits assembly, from the institution building and normative views. The analysis of social benefits assembly in Romania emphasized a rather reactive character facing the social problems, than a strategic vision able to anticipate and plan. Implementing such a vision for development of social assistance system in Romania depends on the assessment and monitoring of social benefits, including the impact of providing each of them.