The Metaphysics in “The Labyrinth” by Jan Lenica

Marek Hendrykowski

kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań (Poland)

Abstract

In the article on The Labyrinth (1962) by Jan Lenica, Hendrykowski – with the help of a series of micro-analyses focused on the semantic functions of individual elements (action, plot, narrative, protagonist, characters, music etc.) – discovers new layers of interpretation of this famous short feature film. The author points to the links between the Aristotelian poetics of this film with the original vision of modern civilization. He concludes that: The animator has the ability to free his imagination from that which binds and restricts it. In order to do it he uses the language of moving images loaded with symbolic meaning, images that can show things as they really are. As a cinema artist he is not limited by the world created, or the laws of physics that govern the filmed (photographed) ‘in crudo’ reality, nor by the body of the actor.


Keywords:

Jan Lenica, animation, Polish cinema

Arystoteles. Metafizyka, tłum. K. Leśniak. Warszawa: PWN, 2009.
  Google Scholar

Giżycki, Jerzy. „Ucieczka ze Strasznogrodu”. Ekran 11 (1963).
  Google Scholar

Głowiński, Michał. Labirynt, przestrzeń obcości. W: Michał Głowiński. Mity przebrane. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1990.
  Google Scholar

Irzykowski, Karol. Dziesiąta Muza. Zagadnienia estetyczne kina. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1982.
  Google Scholar


Published
2016-12-31

Cited by

Hendrykowski, M. (2016) “The Metaphysics in ‘The Labyrinth’ by Jan Lenica”, Kwartalnik Filmowy, (96), pp. 165–174. doi: 10.36744/kf.2146.

Authors

Marek Hendrykowski 
kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań Poland

Historyk i teoretyk filmu, medioznawca, badacz kultury audiowizualnej, profe­sor zwyczajny w Katedrze Filmu, Telewizji i Nowych Mediów Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, redaktor senior czasopisma naukowego „Images”, autor monografii książkowych: Film jako źródło historyczne (2000), Kanał (wspólnie z Donem Fredericksenem, 2007), Popiół i diament (2008), Ko­meda (2009), Eroica (2011), Film i moda (2011), An­drzej Munk (2011), Do widzenia, do jutra (2012), Morgenstern (2012), Najlepsze kasztany. Księga cy­tatów polskiego filmu (2013), Semiotyka ruchomych obrazów (2014) oraz Współczesna adaptacja filmowa (2014).



Statistics

Abstract views: 83
PDF downloads: 34


License

Copyright (c) 2016 Marek Hendrykowski

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The author grants the publisher a royalty-free non-exclusive licence (CC BY 4.0) to use the article in Kwartalnik Filmowy, retains full copyright, and agrees to identify the work as first having been published in Kwartalnik Filmowy should it be published or used again (download licence agreement). The journal is published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. By submitting an article, the author agrees to make it available under this licence.

In issues from 105-106 (2019) to 119 (2022) all articles were published under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. During this period the authors granted a royalty-free non-exclusive licence (CC BY-ND 4.0) to use their article in „Kwartalnik Filmowy”, retained full copyright, and agreed to identify the work as first having been published in our journal should it be published or used again.