ABSTRACT
The first years of this new millennium brought an interesting debate on
the representations of gender in Polish cinema. Graz˙yna Stachówna’s
“Suczka, Cycyfon, Faustyna i inne” discusses the roles women played
in Polish films during the transition decade (1990-2000).1 While her
discussion of feminine stereotypes in recent Polish film harks back
to Molly Haskell’s seminal study,2 Stachówna does not relate these
visualizations to social developments but rather to the fact that in Poland
(as arguably elsewhere) men own the film industry. She notes that men
“are the absolute owners of mass imagination . . . [they] write film scripts;
they are producers. . . . a Male value system, male interests impact the
choice of themes and problems; male sensitivity permeates the film style;
male dreams and longings, male stereotypes, male fears and frustrations
are presented on screen directly or obliquely.”3
