Obraz Stanów Zjednoczonych Ameryki w Polskiej Kronice Filmowej 1948-1953

The article contains an analysis of the contents of fragments of the Polish News Reel from the years 1948-1953 concerning the United States of America in the context of political, international, military, economic and social issues. The image of the USA shown in the Polish News Reel did not have a lot in common with the reality and it was part of the vision of the world created for the needs of the propaganda. The propaganda machine, a part of which was the Polish News Reel, in order to achieve the aims it planned used a whole palette of propaganda techniques and rules: selecting the prepared material, generalizations, the use of characteristic clusters of ideas (“war incendiaries”, “American perpetrators of genocide”, “new SS--men”, “dollar bondage”), joining the information layer with the interpretation one. All this was done with the use of the modern medium, that is the film. Joining the picture, sound and commentary layers, as well as the peculiar physical conditions obtaining during the Polish News Reel show gave the viewer a possibility to experience deeply the presented scenes, to get involved emotionally in them, and hence to identify with the imposed interpretation of the viewed material.