New Londoners Immigration Narratives in Contemporary Polish Culture Kris Van Heuckelom K.U.Leuven
A Polish emigrant boarding the 'General Grant' (1907, Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Adam Mickiewicz, The Books of the Polish Nation and the Polish Pilgrimage (Paris 1832)
Manuela Gretkowska, We Are Immigrants Here & Paris Tarot (Warsaw 1991 & 1993)
Londoners, Polish Public Television (TVP 1), (2 seasons, 29 episodes)
Mazierska 2009 Polish migration to the UK in the 'new' European Union: after 2004 (in K. Burrell (ed.), Polish migration to the UK in the 'new' European Union: after 2004)
Mazierska 2009 Polish migration to the UK in the 'new' European Union: after 2004 “they [Polish films] treat an emigrant as an anomaly from the norm and a problem for which somebody is to blame” (p. 123) “Polish emigrants are rarely featured in films produced in other countries” (p. 109)
UK 1982 dir. Jerzy Skolimowski
The Grass Is Greener Everywhere Else BRD 1989 dir. Michael Klier
The Illegal France 1994 dir. Jean-Louis Bertucelli
Ant Street Austria 1995 dir. Michael Glawogger
The Ballad of the Windscreen Washers Italy 1998 dir. Peter Del Monte
The Polish Bride The Netherlands 1998 dir. Karim Traïdia
Austria 2003 dir. Ruth Mader
Four Weeks in June Sweden 2004 dir. Henry Meyer
UK 2007 dir. Ken Loach
UK 2007 dir. Dominic Lees
UK 2008 dir. Shane Meadows
Strong identification of labor migration and Polish ethnicity ”Labor migrants are (often) Poles” “Poles are (often) labor migrants”
Two categories The action takes place 1. during communism 2. after the fall of communism
First category 1. Polish main characters 2. Rare & unpleasant contacts with locals 3. Tragic elements
Moonlighting
Second category 1. Polish & local main characters 2. “Interethnic” love story 3. The newcomer ”helps” the locals and ”solves” their problems
“postmodern migrant”
“political emigrant”
Exile vs. Gastarbeiter
Andrzej
Andrzej’s future father-in-law
Polska vs. Obczyzna
Nina
Interethnic romances & marriages
Season 1, final episode (engagement of Darek & Mariola)
Season 2, final episode (wedding of Darek & Mariola)
Season 2, final episode (wedding of Andrzej & Asia)
Polish couples in Londyńczycy
Nina
Paweł defends Polish interests
Andrzej the Polish problem solver
New Londoners Immigration Narratives in Contemporary Polish Culture Kris Van Heuckelom K.U.Leuven