Anna Misiak - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Anna Misiak
This article offers a timely analysis of a recent shift in feminist politics around the globe, pr... more This article offers a timely analysis of a recent shift in feminist politics around the globe, providing research evidence for convictions previously vocalised by the press and online critics. Citing social and dominant media responses to Trump's frequent sexist remarks along with reactions from feminist activists and scholars, the author illustrates that the resurfacing of the white masculine threat to gender equality in American politics has catalysed feminist thinking. This detailed examination leads to a socio-cultural diagnosis or a claim that the feminist renaissance has arrived. Not only is this feminist renaissance a reaction to 'enlightened sexism' and the backlash against feminism, but also the past two decades dominated by western post-feminist agenda. Trump's symbolic and ideological attack on women revealed that de-politicised post- and neoliberal feminist discourses of empowerment through pleasure and self-expression made many western women deceptively ...
Środkowoeuropejskie Studia Polityczne, 2005
ogromnej ilooeci przytaczanych tu Ÿróde³. Na uwagê jednak zwraca fakt, ¿e Autor w odró¿nieniu od ... more ogromnej ilooeci przytaczanych tu Ÿróde³. Na uwagê jednak zwraca fakt, ¿e Autor w odró¿nieniu od np. Allana Bullocka, odrzuci³ ca³kowicie "Rozmowy przy stole" Rauschnigga, uznaj¹c je za nieautentyczne. Za to ciekaw¹ ilustracj¹ wielu wydarzeñ s¹ fragmenty pamiêtników Goebbelsa. Ostatecznie myoel¹ przewodni¹ epilogu staje siê stwierdzenie, ¿e bestialski re¿im mia³ g³êbsze korzenie ni¿ dzia³alnooeae jednego cz³owieka, móg³ liczyae na wspó³pracê wszystkich warstw. Nie by³a to wiêc tyrania narzucaj¹ca sw¹ wolê wrogim masom. Obszerna, dwutomowa ksi¹¿ka nie jest wiêc jedynie biografi¹ Hitlera. Stanowi ona niezwykle bogate Ÿród³o wiedzy na temat genezy, rozwoju i upadku nazizmu równie¿ z perspektywy ówczesnych stosunków miêdzynarodowych. Opisano tu niezwykle ciekawie reakcje spo³eczeñstwa niemieckiego na powstanie, rozwój i agoniê hitleryzmu. Jest to wiêc ca³ooeciowe, wartooeciowe kompendium wiedzy o Trzeciej Rzeszy. Jacek Bochiñski Poznañ Cudowny Kinemo. Rosyjska myoel filmowa, pod red. Tadeusza Szczepañskiego i Bogus³awa¯y³ki, Wydawnictwo s³owo/obraz terytoria, Gdañsk 2001. W 1926 roku znany sk¹din¹d teoretyk rosyjskiego formalizmu Jurij Tynianow napisa³: "Kino coraz szybciej ewoluuje. Oblicze jego coraz bardziej komplikuje siê i podniesienie kultury filmowej masowego widza figuruje na lioecie koniecznooeci... Kino przy pozornej ³atwooeci swego elementarza jest sztuk¹ niezwykle z³o¿on¹" 1. Choae wypowiedŸ ta ma ju¿ blisko osiemdziesi¹t lat, wci¹¿ zdumiewa swoj¹ aktualnooeci¹. Wspó³czeoenie stare-nowe medium, jakim jest dzioe film, zdaje siê nadal galopowaae naprzód, zadziwiaj¹c widza coraz to nowymi technologiami oraz innowacjami w zakresie formy i treoeci. Ta dynamika rozwoju sk³ania do refleksji nie tylko profesjonalnych krytyków, ale tak¿e zwyczajnych widzów. I tu napotykamy trudnooeci. Niejednokrotnie nie potrafimy poradziae sobie z ³adunkiem intelektualnym przekazu filmowego, bynajmniej nie dlatego, ¿e brak nam ogólnego kulturowego obycia, ale przez to, ¿e mamy ma³e przygotowanie do odbioru mediów audiowizualnych. Wszystkich nas uczono czytaae, analizowaae i interpretowaae literaturê, jednak tylko nieliczni znaj¹ siê choaeby w stopniu podstawowym na semantyce czy semiotyce kina. Tam, gdzie powinnioemy umieae przenieoeae nasze zdrowo-rozs¹dkowe intuicje na wy¿szy poziom abstrakcji, by dyskutowaae o bardziej za-274 Recenzje SP 2 '05
An English-language abstract of the chapter has been included in the file with the copy of the fu... more An English-language abstract of the chapter has been included in the file with the copy of the full published piece. The book is in Slovak (translated from English originals) with abstracts in English.
This research based study was peer reviewed and published in the leading film studies journal in ... more This research based study was peer reviewed and published in the leading film studies journal in Poland. Elia Kazan is seen as a controversial artist; on the one hand he is regarded as a director of masterpieces, but on the other he is remembered as a “friendly witness” in the 1950s when Hollywood was politically infiltrated by the Senator Joseph McCarthy committee. There is no doubt Kazan was an individualist who had always fought for freedom in the cinema. The author here shows the artistic road of the director Elia Kazan, his problems with censorship, demonstrating in this way the paradox of democracy and American culture. Research materials included traditional and visual texts from various academic disciplines, including sociology, political studies, and film studies. The piece opens the new research paths for both film studies and American studies in Poland and touches upon contemporary scholarly and political debates.
Book Review of 'A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Vol.4: The Globalizing Era, 1984-2010'... more Book Review of 'A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Vol.4: The Globalizing Era, 1984-2010' by Hamid Naficy
An Interview with Anna Misiak about her archive research into Polish women & film and her project... more An Interview with Anna Misiak about her archive research into Polish women & film and her project http://womenundercommunism.com/. Published online by one of the leading film & culture web platforms in Poland www.dwutygodnik.com
Anna Misiak painted a portrait of Polish censorship – with emphasis placed on the 1970s. While in... more Anna Misiak painted a portrait of Polish censorship – with emphasis placed on the 1970s. While introducing the formal structure of the system (from pre-production to distribution license), she demonstrated its intrinsically flexible character as well as the negotiable and cyclical nature of control; the same point was also well demonstrated by Daniel Bird’s detailed case study of the troubled production history of Andrzej Żulawski’s NA SREBRNYM GLOBIE / ON THE SILVER GLOBE. Misiak’s paper showed convincingly that Polish censorship cannot be described in terms of a linear model of progress, i.e. in terms of change over decades from a rigid and strict structure to comparatively lenient forms of control. Rather, argued Misiak, the situation is best perceived as a push-and-pull system characterized by cyclic change. What was particularly striking about this description was that similar claims could also have been made about the dynamics of Hungarian censorship, which to-date have been co...
Kinema: A Journal for Film and Audiovisual Media, 2003
POLITICALLY INVOLVED FILMMAKER: ALEKSANDER FORD AND FILM CENSORSHIP IN POLAND AFTER 1945 AFTER Wo... more POLITICALLY INVOLVED FILMMAKER: ALEKSANDER FORD AND FILM CENSORSHIP IN POLAND AFTER 1945 AFTER World War II civil rights were restricted in Poland as in most of the countries that fell into the zone of Soviet influence. Polish citizens experienced censorship in almost every field of their daily existence. Within the film industry censorship did not function solely as a means of checking final products from the standpoint of ideology. The controlling machine was not only the domain of the Party itself, even though its officials held decisive voice in restricting the autonomy of artists. The highly elaborate system also involved many moviemakers, who often proved to be very efficient in establishing methods of censorship and propaganda within Polish cinema. There was no clear-cut division between the Party and the filmmakers. Both groups became mixed, and the latter often willingly cooperated with the first. Just after the war there was...
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2018
Journal of Film and Video, 2013
Female Agency and Documentary Strategies, 2018
This essay explores the director’s documentary tactics of granting the voice to the oppressed wom... more This essay explores the director’s documentary tactics of granting the voice to the oppressed women through a number of visual and textual distancing strategies. It also shows that Sadat’s films offer multi-layered analyses of reasons behind violence against women in the country along with the lamentable powerlessness of Afghan women’s rights activist. The author concludes, that Sadat at the same time manages to convey the complexity of the gender situation in her country in order to” resist the Eurocentric approaches that essentialise Afghan culture”.
MAI offers its readers intersectional feminist criticism of global visual culture. We publish cre... more MAI offers its readers intersectional feminist criticism of global visual culture. We publish creative and academic research on women in art and media. We are a collective of scholars, artists, writers, activists and thinkers who challenge patriarchy while celebrating women’s creativity and achievements.
Based on research in Polish archives, this paper examines films made by women, who under Communis... more Based on research in Polish archives, this paper examines films made by women, who under Communism worked at the Documentary Film Studio in Warsaw. Although Polish female documentarians from the era could be counted on the fingers of two hands, intentionally or not, with time they collected a rather abundant audiovisual evidence that resisted the dominant Communist metanarrative of gender equality, which first came to prominence in the immediate post-war decade. Back then, several newsreels and documentaries foregrounded satisfied women—high-achievers both in their jobs and at home—whom the new Soviet-planted government apparently offered with endless opportunities to pursue their lifestyle choices. However, from the 1960s, many factual films—and especially those directed by women—started revealing bleaker experiences of the Polish female. In these documentaries, women often appeared caught between the official utopian discourse of equality and the everyday life in the society where...
Journal of Popular Film and Television, 2005
The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with p... more The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, 2009
This article probes contemporary Polish cinema, examining it through the sociological theory of c... more This article probes contemporary Polish cinema, examining it through the sociological theory of cultural trauma. The majority of post-1989 Polish films correlate with national 'tragic narratives' that emphasize the negative social effects of the fairly recent systemic transformation. The author chooses to analyse two films (The Wedding (2004) and The Debt (1999)) as her case studies. Both productions received many awards in the home country. To Polish critics, the two films demonstrated a significant achievement of the country's film industry that should be capable of exporting and promoting Polish culture in the international arena. Yet, the worldwide success proved to be beyond the reach of the directors and with only a few honourable mentions and special jury awards, they won no major trophies outside Poland. Going straight to DVD, The Debt has never been widely released in the cinemas either in the United Kingdom or in the United States, while The Wedding opened with a three-year delay in the United Kingdom in a few cinemas only, but there has not been an international DVD release as yet.
This article offers a timely analysis of a recent shift in feminist politics around the globe, pr... more This article offers a timely analysis of a recent shift in feminist politics around the globe, providing research evidence for convictions previously vocalised by the press and online critics. Citing social and dominant media responses to Trump's frequent sexist remarks along with reactions from feminist activists and scholars, the author illustrates that the resurfacing of the white masculine threat to gender equality in American politics has catalysed feminist thinking. This detailed examination leads to a socio-cultural diagnosis or a claim that the feminist renaissance has arrived. Not only is this feminist renaissance a reaction to 'enlightened sexism' and the backlash against feminism, but also the past two decades dominated by western post-feminist agenda. Trump's symbolic and ideological attack on women revealed that de-politicised post- and neoliberal feminist discourses of empowerment through pleasure and self-expression made many western women deceptively ...
Środkowoeuropejskie Studia Polityczne, 2005
ogromnej ilooeci przytaczanych tu Ÿróde³. Na uwagê jednak zwraca fakt, ¿e Autor w odró¿nieniu od ... more ogromnej ilooeci przytaczanych tu Ÿróde³. Na uwagê jednak zwraca fakt, ¿e Autor w odró¿nieniu od np. Allana Bullocka, odrzuci³ ca³kowicie "Rozmowy przy stole" Rauschnigga, uznaj¹c je za nieautentyczne. Za to ciekaw¹ ilustracj¹ wielu wydarzeñ s¹ fragmenty pamiêtników Goebbelsa. Ostatecznie myoel¹ przewodni¹ epilogu staje siê stwierdzenie, ¿e bestialski re¿im mia³ g³êbsze korzenie ni¿ dzia³alnooeae jednego cz³owieka, móg³ liczyae na wspó³pracê wszystkich warstw. Nie by³a to wiêc tyrania narzucaj¹ca sw¹ wolê wrogim masom. Obszerna, dwutomowa ksi¹¿ka nie jest wiêc jedynie biografi¹ Hitlera. Stanowi ona niezwykle bogate Ÿród³o wiedzy na temat genezy, rozwoju i upadku nazizmu równie¿ z perspektywy ówczesnych stosunków miêdzynarodowych. Opisano tu niezwykle ciekawie reakcje spo³eczeñstwa niemieckiego na powstanie, rozwój i agoniê hitleryzmu. Jest to wiêc ca³ooeciowe, wartooeciowe kompendium wiedzy o Trzeciej Rzeszy. Jacek Bochiñski Poznañ Cudowny Kinemo. Rosyjska myoel filmowa, pod red. Tadeusza Szczepañskiego i Bogus³awa¯y³ki, Wydawnictwo s³owo/obraz terytoria, Gdañsk 2001. W 1926 roku znany sk¹din¹d teoretyk rosyjskiego formalizmu Jurij Tynianow napisa³: "Kino coraz szybciej ewoluuje. Oblicze jego coraz bardziej komplikuje siê i podniesienie kultury filmowej masowego widza figuruje na lioecie koniecznooeci... Kino przy pozornej ³atwooeci swego elementarza jest sztuk¹ niezwykle z³o¿on¹" 1. Choae wypowiedŸ ta ma ju¿ blisko osiemdziesi¹t lat, wci¹¿ zdumiewa swoj¹ aktualnooeci¹. Wspó³czeoenie stare-nowe medium, jakim jest dzioe film, zdaje siê nadal galopowaae naprzód, zadziwiaj¹c widza coraz to nowymi technologiami oraz innowacjami w zakresie formy i treoeci. Ta dynamika rozwoju sk³ania do refleksji nie tylko profesjonalnych krytyków, ale tak¿e zwyczajnych widzów. I tu napotykamy trudnooeci. Niejednokrotnie nie potrafimy poradziae sobie z ³adunkiem intelektualnym przekazu filmowego, bynajmniej nie dlatego, ¿e brak nam ogólnego kulturowego obycia, ale przez to, ¿e mamy ma³e przygotowanie do odbioru mediów audiowizualnych. Wszystkich nas uczono czytaae, analizowaae i interpretowaae literaturê, jednak tylko nieliczni znaj¹ siê choaeby w stopniu podstawowym na semantyce czy semiotyce kina. Tam, gdzie powinnioemy umieae przenieoeae nasze zdrowo-rozs¹dkowe intuicje na wy¿szy poziom abstrakcji, by dyskutowaae o bardziej za-274 Recenzje SP 2 '05
An English-language abstract of the chapter has been included in the file with the copy of the fu... more An English-language abstract of the chapter has been included in the file with the copy of the full published piece. The book is in Slovak (translated from English originals) with abstracts in English.
This research based study was peer reviewed and published in the leading film studies journal in ... more This research based study was peer reviewed and published in the leading film studies journal in Poland. Elia Kazan is seen as a controversial artist; on the one hand he is regarded as a director of masterpieces, but on the other he is remembered as a “friendly witness” in the 1950s when Hollywood was politically infiltrated by the Senator Joseph McCarthy committee. There is no doubt Kazan was an individualist who had always fought for freedom in the cinema. The author here shows the artistic road of the director Elia Kazan, his problems with censorship, demonstrating in this way the paradox of democracy and American culture. Research materials included traditional and visual texts from various academic disciplines, including sociology, political studies, and film studies. The piece opens the new research paths for both film studies and American studies in Poland and touches upon contemporary scholarly and political debates.
Book Review of 'A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Vol.4: The Globalizing Era, 1984-2010'... more Book Review of 'A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Vol.4: The Globalizing Era, 1984-2010' by Hamid Naficy
An Interview with Anna Misiak about her archive research into Polish women & film and her project... more An Interview with Anna Misiak about her archive research into Polish women & film and her project http://womenundercommunism.com/. Published online by one of the leading film & culture web platforms in Poland www.dwutygodnik.com
Anna Misiak painted a portrait of Polish censorship – with emphasis placed on the 1970s. While in... more Anna Misiak painted a portrait of Polish censorship – with emphasis placed on the 1970s. While introducing the formal structure of the system (from pre-production to distribution license), she demonstrated its intrinsically flexible character as well as the negotiable and cyclical nature of control; the same point was also well demonstrated by Daniel Bird’s detailed case study of the troubled production history of Andrzej Żulawski’s NA SREBRNYM GLOBIE / ON THE SILVER GLOBE. Misiak’s paper showed convincingly that Polish censorship cannot be described in terms of a linear model of progress, i.e. in terms of change over decades from a rigid and strict structure to comparatively lenient forms of control. Rather, argued Misiak, the situation is best perceived as a push-and-pull system characterized by cyclic change. What was particularly striking about this description was that similar claims could also have been made about the dynamics of Hungarian censorship, which to-date have been co...
Kinema: A Journal for Film and Audiovisual Media, 2003
POLITICALLY INVOLVED FILMMAKER: ALEKSANDER FORD AND FILM CENSORSHIP IN POLAND AFTER 1945 AFTER Wo... more POLITICALLY INVOLVED FILMMAKER: ALEKSANDER FORD AND FILM CENSORSHIP IN POLAND AFTER 1945 AFTER World War II civil rights were restricted in Poland as in most of the countries that fell into the zone of Soviet influence. Polish citizens experienced censorship in almost every field of their daily existence. Within the film industry censorship did not function solely as a means of checking final products from the standpoint of ideology. The controlling machine was not only the domain of the Party itself, even though its officials held decisive voice in restricting the autonomy of artists. The highly elaborate system also involved many moviemakers, who often proved to be very efficient in establishing methods of censorship and propaganda within Polish cinema. There was no clear-cut division between the Party and the filmmakers. Both groups became mixed, and the latter often willingly cooperated with the first. Just after the war there was...
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2018
Journal of Film and Video, 2013
Female Agency and Documentary Strategies, 2018
This essay explores the director’s documentary tactics of granting the voice to the oppressed wom... more This essay explores the director’s documentary tactics of granting the voice to the oppressed women through a number of visual and textual distancing strategies. It also shows that Sadat’s films offer multi-layered analyses of reasons behind violence against women in the country along with the lamentable powerlessness of Afghan women’s rights activist. The author concludes, that Sadat at the same time manages to convey the complexity of the gender situation in her country in order to” resist the Eurocentric approaches that essentialise Afghan culture”.
MAI offers its readers intersectional feminist criticism of global visual culture. We publish cre... more MAI offers its readers intersectional feminist criticism of global visual culture. We publish creative and academic research on women in art and media. We are a collective of scholars, artists, writers, activists and thinkers who challenge patriarchy while celebrating women’s creativity and achievements.
Based on research in Polish archives, this paper examines films made by women, who under Communis... more Based on research in Polish archives, this paper examines films made by women, who under Communism worked at the Documentary Film Studio in Warsaw. Although Polish female documentarians from the era could be counted on the fingers of two hands, intentionally or not, with time they collected a rather abundant audiovisual evidence that resisted the dominant Communist metanarrative of gender equality, which first came to prominence in the immediate post-war decade. Back then, several newsreels and documentaries foregrounded satisfied women—high-achievers both in their jobs and at home—whom the new Soviet-planted government apparently offered with endless opportunities to pursue their lifestyle choices. However, from the 1960s, many factual films—and especially those directed by women—started revealing bleaker experiences of the Polish female. In these documentaries, women often appeared caught between the official utopian discourse of equality and the everyday life in the society where...
Journal of Popular Film and Television, 2005
The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with p... more The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, 2009
This article probes contemporary Polish cinema, examining it through the sociological theory of c... more This article probes contemporary Polish cinema, examining it through the sociological theory of cultural trauma. The majority of post-1989 Polish films correlate with national 'tragic narratives' that emphasize the negative social effects of the fairly recent systemic transformation. The author chooses to analyse two films (The Wedding (2004) and The Debt (1999)) as her case studies. Both productions received many awards in the home country. To Polish critics, the two films demonstrated a significant achievement of the country's film industry that should be capable of exporting and promoting Polish culture in the international arena. Yet, the worldwide success proved to be beyond the reach of the directors and with only a few honourable mentions and special jury awards, they won no major trophies outside Poland. Going straight to DVD, The Debt has never been widely released in the cinemas either in the United Kingdom or in the United States, while The Wedding opened with a three-year delay in the United Kingdom in a few cinemas only, but there has not been an international DVD release as yet.