Still from Andrzej Wadja's 1958 Polish Melodrama ASHES AND DIAMONDS
Because paradigms of Polish cinema reflect situations of the archetypal figure of Jewish intersections, we must investigate the proper resources to better illustrate sociocultural depictions of the Heroine, and the male Protagonist, in Polish film. Women were expected to fulfill traditional roles, such as childbearing and housekeeping -yet they were simultaneously already working in factories and on the land. The myth of the Polish Mother is therefore debunked in Mazierska & Ostrowska’s academic guide, as they discuss how ideological restraints & status shaped the future of Polish discourse.
Lest we forget, the collapse of communism was in 1989, not so long ago -albeit this apparition, post-communist cinema changed everything for present day filmmakers, writers, and authors; whether or not they escaped the Gestapo, or were born into a modern Jewish family. Since then though, the introduction of democracy has barely allowed for any real positive changes for the Polish woman's freedom. Examinations of these topographies are explored through the success of Polish women filmmakers: Dorota Kędzierzawska, Wanda Jakubowska, Barbara Sass and Agnieszka Holland, to name a few influential figures.