80s AGAIN! A MONOGRAPH ON THE 1980s 80s AGAIN! A MONOGRAPH ON THE 1980s edited by Aneta Jabłońska Mariusz Koryciński translated by Jacek Wełniak Agnieszka Piskorska JOLANTA SŁOBODZIAN FILM CLUB WARSAW 2018 „THE TIME MACHINE SERIES”, Volume I: 80s Again! Academic review: Paweł Tański Academic edition: Aneta Jabłońska, Mariusz Koryciński Translation: Jacek Wełniak, Agnieszka Piskorska Copy-editing: Dan Sax, Paulina Plata Cover project and logotype of the Time Machine Series: Stefan M. Ronisz Picture of the sky on the cover: Paweł Gołąb Typesetting and text makeup: Joanna Poroś-Głuchowska The publication is financed from the funds of the Faculty of Polish Studies of the University of War- saw and the Institute of Applied Polish Studies of the University of Warsaw. Indexing: 1. Cinema 2. Literature 3. History I „THE TIME MACHINE SERIES” II. 80s Again! III. Jabłońska, Aneta, Koryciński, Mariusz First digital edition (referential) ISBN: 978-83-64111-83-9 Warsaw 2018 Publisher: Klub Filmowy im. Jolanty Słobodzian, Uniwersytet Warszawski Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28, 00-927 Warszawa [email protected], facebook.com/klubslobodzian Some rights reserved. Open access publication under Creative Commons BY 4.0 license (recognition of authorship). The publication’s contents and graph- ics may be cited in non-commercial and educational compositions. When cit- ing, it is necessary to provide both the names of the composition’s author, and the names of the whole volume’s editors. Printing and cover: Zakład Graficzny UW, order: 1089/2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Note on the editor ................................................................... VII Note on the series ................................................................... IX Editorial note .......................................................................... XI Acknowledgements ................................................................. XIII Authors .................................................................................. XV Introduction ............................................................................ XXI Part 1 In the orbit of politics Introduction......................................................................... 1 Robert Zybrant: Wrocław’s opposition and counter-cultural organizations of the 1980s and their impact on the formation of the Orange Alternative ......................................................... 5 Aneta Jabłońska: How Witkacy turned into a woman or theatre of the absurd in communist Poland ........................... 23 Michał Pranke: „And that was the exit!”. Maciuś Wariat by Marcin Świetlicki ............................................ 47 Wojciech Lewandowski: “Good evening London…”. The socio-political revolution in comics, based on the example of the graphic novel V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd ...................................................................... 59 Part 2 Crossing musical borders Introduction......................................................................... 75 Dariusz Piechota: Emancipation according to Madonna .............. 79 Paweł Jaskulski: The origins of oblivion: Nirvana in the 1980s ............................................................... 93 Adriana Brenda-Mańkowska: The Rutles, Medusa, Spinal Tap – musical mockumentary in the 1980s ...................................... 109 Part 3 The past directs the future Introduction......................................................................... 123 Kamil Kościelski: Pastiche in the shadow of parody – a certain adventure of the American horror fi lms of the 1980s. ................. 127 Joanna Kostana: „Retromania” of the 1980s: on the different faces of neo-noir cinema .................................. 151 Agnieszka Kiejziewicz: Dystopia, new society and machines. The 1980s as the period of emergence and development of cyberpunk cinema ..................................... 169 Mariusz Koryciński: Into the cinema? Yuppie nights, innocent noirball and new classicism .................. 189 Jolanta Słobodzian Film Club was founded to commemorate a Polish director and a relentless film educator. In the 80s and 90s Jolanta Słobo- dzian showed young people across Poland that cinema shapes our sensitivity and helps to sur- vive even the most difficult moments. We wish to continue her mission by organizing meetings at schools and universities, and by publishing essays and books about cinema. The club’s logo refers to the neon lights from Warsaw, lightening the Polish capital before and after World War II. After the enforcement of mar- tial law in Poland (1981-83), the neon lights were turned off, and the citizens of Warsaw have grad- ually forgotten about them. Years later, their fans took all possible efforts to restore the neon ads. Thanks to her passion for cinema, Jolanta Słobo- dzian – just like the neon signs – lightened the dark times of communism. Unfortunately, in 1999 she committed suicide. It is time for the memory of her to shine over Warsaw again. VII The Time Machine Series will consist of mono- graphs concerning subsequent decades of the 20th century. Each book will contain essays de- voted to culture and important social issues. The cross-sectional nature of the publications will af- ford a possibility of presenting the diversity of the decades and the ways in which the mainstream interacts with its margins. Publishing the book in two languages (Polish and English) in a digital ref- erence form, and, what is more, in open access will help popularise the issues it addresses both among Polish and foreign readers. In the past only libraries provided access to knowledge – the library of today is the Internet. That is why the Time Machine Series crosses the borders set by the traditional media, meeting the needs and interests of contemporary culture re- cipients. The graphic design of Time Machine Series re- fers to the series published in Poland after World War II, which included popular literature novels: mystery fiction, thrillers, or science fiction ones. Time Machine Series is thus a return to that tradi- tion, yet from a different, theoretical perspective. IX EDITORIAL NOTE The monograph is divided into three parts, each of them preceded with a short introduction, which summarizes particular texts and navigates the reader through the structure of each part. XI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to show our gratitude to all those who helped us to pub- lish this volume. For financial help and support for our initiative, we would like to thank the following individuals from the University of Warsaw: Professor Zbigniew Greń, PhD (Dean of the Faculty of Pol- ish Studies), Professor Grzegorz Leszczyński, PhD (Deputy Dean in charge of academic research of the Faculty of Polish Studies) Profes- sor Stanisław Dubisz, PhD, and Professor Grzegorz Bąbiak, PhD (heads of the Institute of Applied Polish Studies, Faculty of Polish Studies). Special thanks are also due to Natalia Kacprzak from the Institute of Applied Polish Studies, University of Warsaw, and to Urszula Krzysiak from the publishing unit Wydawnictwo Polonistyki UW. Moreover, we are grateful to Grażyna Purtak and Joanna Poroś-Głuchowska from the UW printing house. XIII CONTRIBUTORS Adriana Brenda-Mańkowska [email protected] Graduated from the Faculty of Polish Studies, University of Warsaw. Co-organiser of conferences “80s Again!” and “N O L A N”. Her re- search interests include the form of paradocumentary and epistolari- ness in culture texts, fantastic and horror motifs in popular art, inter- action between the media and art, adverstising and PR activities in social media. Member of the 20th Century Literature Group. Aneta Jabłońska [email protected] Author of chapters in monographs Niezwykłe inspiracje spoza kadru, Witkacy 2014: co jeszcze jest do odkrycia?, Oblicza miłości, Ja – My – Oni; published in “Topos”, “Nowe Książki” and “Bliza”. Co-funder and president of the 20th Century Literature Group, coorganised a number of conferences on 20th century literature. Host of a literary program „Co pan pisze?” (What Do You Write?) in Radio Liryka. Her research interests focus on philosophy, literary work by Stanisław Ignacy Wit- kiewicz and by Witold Gombrowicz, as well as fiction and non-fiction writing of the period 1918-1939. XV Agnieszka Kiejziewicz [email protected] Coeditor of Powieści graficzne. Leksykon (The Graphic Novel. A Lexicon), author of chapters published in the volumes Anatomia wyobraźni. 12 esejów o fantazjowaniu w kinie, telewizji, komiksach i literaturze popularnej (Anatomy of Imagination. 12 Essays on Fanta- sizing in Cinema, TV, Comics and Popular Literature); Świat zmysłów. O znaczeniu zmysłów w kulturze (The World of the Senses. On the Significance of the Senses in Culture) and Sacrum w kinie dekadę później. Szkice, eseje, rozprawy (Sacrum in Cinema a Decade Later). Her research interests include cinematic avant-garde and the new vi- sual experiment. Paweł Jaskulski [email protected] Coeditor of the interactive volume Różne oblicza edukacji audiowi- zualnej (Facets of the Audiovisual Education) and author of chapters in the following monographs: Kultura rocka. Twórcy – tematy – moty- wy (2) (The Rock Culture. Creators – Topics – Motifs 2); Niezwykłe inspiracje spoza kadru (Amazing Inspirations from Beyond the Frame) and Różne oblicza edukacji audiowizualnej (Facets of the Audiovisual Education). Published in many Polish journals; co-organised confer- ences and courses on cinema and audiovisual education. Member of Polish