Punctum.

By: Dorota Brzozowska and Władysław Chłopicki

ABSTRACT

his paper aims to illustrate the semiotic and pragmatic basis of the humorous opposition between past and present scripts, which underlie many examples of multimodal humor. Highly popular among Polish viewers, the Netflix series 1670 (produced in 2023) is taken under scrutiny as a good illustration of the possibilities that the historical mockumentary as a broadly conceived genre offers to comment on contemporary global conflicts, especially between liberalism (cosmopolitanism) and conservatism (patriotism), and specifically on the political and ideological situation in Poland. The main characters of the series are
depicted in rural contexts, which serve as an environment to mock the class system, different ethnic groups and religions in Old Poland, gender roles, social attitudes, technology of the past and present, and the stereotypically Polish communication style, which we discuss based on representative examples. Past topics, historical events, and stereotypes recur as vehicles for current debates, while catchy comments by characters make dialogs memorable and allow the screenplay to avoid predictability. The series tends to assume a grotesque or even farcical nature and thrives in simplifying and stereotyping Polish tradition to resonate with the audience. As contemporary problems are dressed in historical costumes, the twenty-first-century socio-political context is then viewed from a fresh point of view that allows the reinterpretation of tradition and is a good source of humor at the same time.

 
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