Disco polo na ekranie. Kinofilska fantazja

Abstrakt

There are only a few movies devoted to the significant of the polish mass culture topic of „disco polo”: two feature films (Kochaj i rób co chcesz, 1998 i Disco polo, 2015) and two documentaries (Bara, bara, 1996 oraz Miliard szczęśliwych ludzi, 2011). They are an illustration of the two different streams of phenomenon: the first is from the first half of the 90’s (with the peak in 1996) and the second is after the years 2007/2008 up to today.Generally speaking in those movies we can see more of the author’s imagination than the description of the topic itself. The most interesting of those movies is the documentary Bara bara, as it attempts to show this phenomenon sine ira et studio – in its cultural and economical complexity. You can still, however, find in this movie ironic scenes, which aim to laugh what was considered in 90’s culture as „lame”.The two feature films are love stories (the authors thought that since disco polo songs are about love, movies may as well be like romantic comedies). Both movies are full of references to the other films, especially Disco polo, in which we can see so many citations from American cinema that it becomes the ‘transnational movie”. The phenomenon of disco polo itself is only a ‘trigger” to create the cinephilia’s fantasy. It is true, however, that young artists born in the 80’s are not ashamed of disco polo and tend to treat it as camp fun.