Od „miasta silników” do „popielnika historii” – o filmowym fantazmacie Detroit i kryzysie idei polis

This article analyses the cultural phenomenon of Detroit. The author tries to reconstruct the phantasm of the fall of this metropolis based on artistic representations (primarily film productions) of the ‘Motor City’, while reflecting on the crisis of the idea of polis in the times of postmodernity. The analysis opens with RoboCop by Paul Verhoeven which is contrasted with 21st-century film productions, such as Lost River by Ryan Gosling, Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch, It Follows by David Robert Mitchell and Don’t Breathe by Fede Álvarez. Studying RoboCop through the prism of topographical turn and philosophy of the city makes it possible to see this picture as a testimony of how polis was perceived in the late 20th century (technological optimism, crisis of the idea of the centre pointing to its strong embedment in urban imagination). Juxtaposed with Verhoeven’s picture, the features by Gosling, Mitchell, Álvarez and Jarmusch show how urban phantasms have changed in the 21st century, coinciding with the newly developed forms of urban aesthetics (urban exploration, ruin porn, fascination with the post-catastrophic urban form).