The Politics of Excess in Polish Cinema

Sebastian Jagielski (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

280 Seiten

2026
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-50916-0 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Januar 2026)
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Departing from standard histories, this book draws on the theory of excess in film to provide a re-examination of Polish cinema history, following emancipatory impulses that emerged in Polish culture between the great crisis of 1968—marked by the expulsion of Polish Jews and persecution of students—and the conservative revolution of the Solidarity movement in the 1980s.

Employing a transnational and decolonial lens, Sebastian Jagielski argues that beyond the binary of state-endorsed and official 'opposition' media, there exists a range of subversive and radical films. He provides close readings of key examples such as The Devil (Diabel)(1972), A Story of Sin (Dzieje grzechu)(1975) and The Palace (Palac)(1980), considering their depiction and transformation of emancipatory ideals born out of Western countercultural movements. He also explores the filmmaking practices of directors like Andrzej Wajda to Andrzej Zulawski, examining their use of subtext, seemingly lurid narratives and subversive embedded gestures, produced against the backdrop of Communist Poland's censorship practices. In doing so he proposes a critical revision of the normative cinema of moral anxiety.

He goes on to consider how on screen depictions of sexuality intersect with various modes of difference, highlighting the impact of racism, homophobia, misogyny, and classism. Rejecting a linear narrative in favour of a fragmented history, Jagielski uncovers the untold stories of Polish cinema's subversive influences.

Sebastian Jagielski is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Audiovisual Arts at the Jagiellonian University, Poland. He is the author of Masquerades of Masculinity: Homosocial Desire in Polish Cinema (in Polish, 2013) and the prize-winning Interrupted Emancipations: The Politics of Excess in the Polish Cinema of 1968–1982 (in Polish, 2021). His articles have been published in Studies in European Cinema, East European Politics and Societies and Studies in Eastern European Cinema.

Introduction

I The haunting of the nation
1.The transnational body in 1968
2.Queer Jesus
3.A twisted world

II Scandalous feminism
1.Emancipation as an experiment
2.Sexual shock
3.Critical fetishism

III Class masquerades
1.The return of the repressed
2.A slave rebellion
3.A scream in a freeze-frame

Conclusion
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag	22.1.2026
Reihe/Serie	World Cinema
Zusatzinfo	40 bw illus
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	160 x 236 mm
Gewicht	580 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Film / TV
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Medienwissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
ISBN-10	1-350-50916-7 / 1350509167
ISBN-13	978-1-350-50916-0 / 9781350509160
Zustand	Neuware