Polish memes and digital art

Our lectures at the new campus at Jagiellonian University was interesting in learning the creative media side of Poland. Our speakers were undergrad students from the University talking with us about Polish memes. Understanding meme culture made it more interesting to see the Polish side of it.

 

They showed us examples of memes that many young people would see on social media or even create themselves. Some focused on the political side of Poland as well as religion in the country. It was interesting to see some of the similarities we share in memes from what I see in the states. We also make memes about our political system as of lately, as well as religion at times. Some differences though from the memes I always see in the states focus on a wide variety of memes using images from cartoons like Spongebob for example, to make a hilarious point about something. The jokes we use are more centered on issues you see in everyday life instead of focusing on a certain topic.

The interesting thing about meme culture is that a meme can become popular so fast from the simplest of things. Some examples they showed us were about their president and just some images that reporters took of him. The images became popular as a meme from the feelings people have of him and how simply funny the picture is. Seeing a different side of memes in another country like Poland had me realize how similar we are in this type of creative media culture, but as well as different.

Collective Memory: what is remembered about Jedwabne and why

During a presentation at Jagiellonian University, Professor Marek Kucia explained interesting aspects related to collective memory as it relates to history in Poland after 1945. Collective memory is communicative memory, such as stories told to you by your grandmother. It also includes cultural memory, such as books, monuments and commemorations. One thing we quickly learned about Poland is there is a memorial or commemoration for practically everything.

The professor also explained there are memorials that excluded details related to the event being memorialized. This relates to collective memory because if the compete story is not told, or if it misrepresented on a memorial, then the true history dies with those who know it.

An interesting and sad case occurred in Jedwabne, Poland. In 1941 non-Jewish men of the town were forced by the nazis to massacre their Jewish neighbors. Although there was a small plaque placed in the town to memorialize get the event, it did not explain the victims of the attack were Jews nor that the attackers were their neighbors at the demand of the nazis. I thought this story was especially powerful because it means the tragedy of the massacre was magnified because the victimizers (the non-Jewish men who murdered) were the victims of the SS as well.  The event was not talked about and almost forgotten, until research began in the 1990s and in 2001, a new monument was placed in the town containing the complete details.

Polish Culture and Society

Our lecture from Marta Shaw on Polish Culture and Society was one of the most interesting lectures.  It was a great way to start our trip and introduced us to some of the topics we would be learning more about later on.  The speaker made it very enjoyable.  You could just feel how much she loved the topics she was discussing.

One of my favorite things to learn about was Jadwiga Andegawenska.  She was a female King of Poland and was passionate about education.  She was actually the founder of Jagiellonian University, the university in Poland where our lectures are taking place.  The Jagiellonian dynasty started by her and her husband ruled until the 1500s.  Jadwiga was also a very giving person and was declared a saint after her death.

Another interesting thing that was discussed was the role of women in Polish culture and society.  The men were often out fighting wars so the women were left to do everything else.  Because of this, Polish women are extremely hard-working.  This is true even today.

Another aspect of Polish culture and society that is true today is a sense of social hierarchy.  This has been a part of Polish society for a long time and greatly differs from the way things are in the United States.

One of the most unique things about Poland’s history is that they were invaded by their neighboring countries so there was no Poland on the map for 123 years.  It was only after the first world war that Poland resurfaced.  Because of this, I find it extremely impressive that Polish culture and society still exist today.

Polish Media and Technology in historical Perspective

The phenomenon of “the raising of the Iron curtain” played an important role in the history of freedom of Media in Eastern Europe. In November 1989, people from everywhere observed, on a live television coverage, the fall of the Berlin wall. A wall built by Joseph Stalling in order to stop the flow of people coming in and out of the East- West border. It was a symbolic moment that unified the two sides and pivotal time in the Eastern European media Before 1970, radio was considered to be the main medium in Poland. Television was not very popular, channels were very limited and the quality of transmission was substandard. Polish leaders started to appreciate television in the beginning because they used it as a channel of communication to induce the population to follow their ideology and propaganda. Later on, they became unhappy with it. First, they did not yet know how to control it, especially when prominent social, economic, and political topics would represent less the party. Second, it could no longer be used as a tool to convince people. Starting in the 70’s, Media in Poland saw different transitions. 40years of turmoil coming from too much suppression, to assuming freedom, to going back to suppression. The state owned and had total control of the media, then they gained an autonomy, and then went back to what was considered to be a communistic system. In 1997 the Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression which forbids all sort of censorship, but also guarantees imprisonment for any profanity that could offend anyone. Today, Poland comprises of 30% of the broadcasting market, making it the largest one in the Eastern Europe. It possesses major broadcasters: TVP (state owned), TVN and Polsat (private) and PR ( Polskie Radio) Currently there have been some arguments between the populist ruling party and the political opposition with regards to the restriction on media access to the work in the parliament. With the rise of the new power of president Andrzej Duda, the government wants more control of the media. The treasury minister appoints the National broadcasting council. The president wants to “Repolonize” the media in Poland and make them impartial, objective and reliable. But journalists think that political meddling can compromise the freedom and the autonomy of press that it is so deserving. This is a matter that deeply concerns the European union because it undermines the EU values. Thus an investigation was launched in order to resolve the issue.