Coming to terms with Communist propaganda: Post-communism, memory and generation

Abstract

This article has two main aims. First, it seeks to contribute to existing research on the mediation of post-communist memory by considering the Polish case and specifically by focusing on audience memories of an iconic television series produced in communist Poland, Four Tankmen and a Dog (TVP, 1966(TVP, -1970, set during World War Two. Second, the article pays particular attention to the generational stratification of audience memories, and thereby makes a contribution to recent literature that examines the links between generation and mediated remembering. The analysis draws on life-course interviews with viewers of two different generations, conducted in Poland in 2014. The results indicate that the ways in which Polish audiences remember communist-era programming, and specifically the extent to which they perceive such programming as propaganda, vary significantly with generation. We argue that these differences stem from generationally-specific experiences in the past, which gave rise to distinct modes of engaging with the communist era and its heritage.

On the harsh realities of researching television in Poland: Traditions, obstacles and perspectives

“…Czterej Pancerni i Pies lost any grounding in historical reality, as Soviet–Polish friendship served to erase the history of Soviet raids and mass murders of Polish soldiers during the war, attracting significant scholarly attention (Kotański, 2004; Majer, 2005). As a recent study of vernacular memories of Czterej Pancerni i Pies conducted in Poland in 2014 shows, viewers of all generations appreciate the entertainment value of the series, yet those born between 1940 and 1959 also mention the propagandistic intentions and historical inaccuracies of the series, while those born in 1960 or later largely treat these controversies as insignificant or fail to mention them altogether (Szostak and Mihelj, 2017). One of the legacy shows from socialist TV that continually generates scholarly attention is Czterdziestolatek [The 40 Year Old] (1974–1977), which is investigated as a satirical take on the successes of socialist Poland in the Gierek era, and a show that pointed to a social system that was in the process of decaying (Bloch, 2013; Majer, 2005).…”

Growing up with a long-awaited nation-state: Personal struggles with the homeland among young diasporic Armenians

“…Later studies have provided empirical evidence in support of the of political events (Schuman and Scott 1989). Generation theory M differences in attitudes towards historical events and their representation (West and Aarons 2016;Szostak & Mihelj 2017). Meanwhile, studies of the effects of changing media environments suggest that the format of technologies mediating external events during youth may impact on how people relate to them, with the emergence of shorthand terms media g (Bolin and Ståhlberg 2015, Buckingham M B a generation or indeed a diaspora, we seek to contribute to understandings of diaspora as process (Mavroudi 2007) and consider commonalities and differences within the post-independence generation of Armenians in diaspora, with regard for diversity of family migration histories and host country contexts.…”

“…Later studies have provided empirical evidence in support of the ‘generational imprinting’ of political events (Schuman and Scott, 1989). Generation theory based on Mannheim’s definition has been applied in memory studies to understand differences in attitudes towards historical events and their representation (Szostak and Mihelj, 2017; West and Aarons, 2016). Meanwhile, studies of the effects of changing media environments suggest that the format of technologies mediating external events during youth may impact on how people relate to them, with the emergence of shorthand terms such as ‘digital generation’ and ‘media generation’ (Bolin and Ståhlberg, 2015; Buckingham, 2006).…”

The cultural politics of commemoration: Media and remembrance of the Russian revolutions of 1917

“…In so doing, we build upon the work of a number of recent EJCS contributors on cultural commemoration and heritage (e.g. Pamment and Cassinger, 2018; Reading, 2011; Szostak and Mihelj, 2017). We bring this work into dialogue with theorisations of cultural remembrances of a ‘problematic past’ (Huxtable, 2017), writing on the intersections of national and transnational commemoration (Velicu, 2011), theorisations of media and memory (Garde-Hansen, 2011), and ethnographic and computational analyses of news audiences and social media users, on Twitter especially (Burchell et al, 2015; Gillespie and O’Loughlin 2015).…”