KMT 2013 nr 3 Download PDF

Bartosz Wieczorek

The vision of the Swedish Apocalypse in film by Roy Andersson „Songs from the Second Floor”.

Cite: Bartosz Wieczorek, Wizja szwedzkiej apokalipsy w filmie „Pieśni z drugiego piętra” Roya Anderssona, "Kultura - Media - Teologia", 2013( 14) nr 3, s. 48-63.

DOI: 10.21697/kmt.14.3

This article presents an analysis of the film „Songs from the Second Floor” by Roy Andersson in socio-cultural and theological perspective. When we read the film in the spirit of the critique of the West, pursunig Witkacy, Horkheimer and Marcuse, we can interpret this picture in categories of extreme alienation of the contemporary human being. This interpretation becomes proved and enhanced by comparing Andersson’s film with theological work of his great fellow countryman, Emanuel Swedenborg, who claimed that Judgment Day will come when “living love” will disappear and, thereby, the truth will be damaged. These both concepts have the same message. According to Andersson, contemporary societies, living without the hope (but needing it above all) are not able to exist without religion, which gives people sense of their lives and provides a point of reference for making ethical decision.

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Bartosz Wieczorek

ORCID: 0000-0001-7724-5821