Od gruźlicy do elektrycznego oka. Medycyna, niepełnosprawność i technologia w Polskiej Kronice Filmowej

The author of the text draws on the Polish Film Chronicle (PKF, Polska Kronika Filmowa) in which the subject of disability and illnesses is presented in a very original manner compared to the Chronicle’s typical propaganda contents. Appearing as early as in the first episodes after World War II, with minor exceptions, it remains free of propaganda accents. Instead a stronger emphasis is put on issues related to advancements in medicine, medical technologies and therapies. One of the most interesting topics addressed in the Chronicle are Polish health resorts and sanatoriums, among which the ones intended for children were of particular importance. The article also discusses the poetics of the films, ways of presenting the diseases and therapies in the PKF. The author examines popular episodes about disabilities, medicine and physical therapy, exploring what and how was accentuated by the filmmakers, what characters, patients and convalescents, they were particularly interested in, and how the narrative of the chronicles changed between the 1940s and 1970s.