Search results

Sort By:

Limit search:

From the American Wild West to Bojszowy: Józef Kłyk’s Westerns as Social Rituals

100%

Szymkowska-Bartyzel J.

Review of International American Studies

2014

vol. 7

issue 1

Jolanta Szymkowska-Bartyzel Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. Józef Kłyk is an over 60 year old amateur film maker from Silesia region of Poland who for over 30 years has directed over 50 westerns. All his western movies are made with 16mm Russian camera and the shooting is done on location in or near the village of Bojszowo, with the use of local people as actors and film crew Kłyk’s films are a premier on the icons and symbols of the American Wild West: cowboys, Indians, saloons and ‘Wanted ‘signs. In his film stories the Author invokes the history of the American West and the history of Silesian villagers who in 1854 left for Texas and founded Panna Maria. The paper aims to examine the incorporation of the concept of this classical American film genre with its main distinguishing features in amateur production of the Polish director. It will focus on the ritual character of the genre movie and demonstrate how Kłyk’s western production is used by local community of the village of Bojszowo for ritual purposes. Reconstruction of village and rebuilding the history of Polish emigrants in Panna Maria within the form of film genre serve basic social function of expressing, fixing and reinforcing the shared values and beliefs of a community.

Między Śląskiem a Teksasem – śląskie westerny Józefa Kłyka jako przykład pamięci protetycznej

100%

Szymkowska-Bartyzel J.

Studia Migracyjne - Przegląd Polonijny

2015

vol. 41

issue 1 (155)

161-178

The article aims to present how the classical American western formula is used to build and preserve memory about Silesian history. Jozef Kłyk, one of the most recognizable amateur fi lm makers from the Silesia region, adopted the classical western form to tell stories based on Silesian emigration to Texas in the nineteenth century. He was inspired by Andrzej Brozek’s work: Ślązacy w Teksasie. Relacje o najstarszych osadach polskich w Ameryce (1972) and since late 1970s, together with the local community members of Bojszowy village he has been making films telling the stories of Silesian emigrants and, through these stories, presenting Silesian culture and tradition. Kłyks’ activities exemplify Alison Landsberg’s observations on the crucial role of mass culture in creating memory, which she calls the prosthetic memory – a new form of cultural memory in which mass culture texts act as a prosthesis between an individual and a historical narrative about the past.

Refine search results

1 Review of International American Studies

1 Studia Migracyjne - Przegląd Polonijny

2 Szymkowska-Bartyzel J.

1 2015

1 2014

Search results

From the American Wild West to Bojszowy: Józef Kłyk’s Westerns as Social Rituals

Między Śląskiem a Teksasem – śląskie westerny Józefa Kłyka jako przykład pamięci protetycznej