Murky Images. Essays on Literature, Film and Advertising

How do we know that the title character of Edgar Allan Poe¿s famous "The Man of the Crowd" is actually the devil? Why did a propaganda film in the Soviet Union refer back to the Old Testament? How does contemporary apocryphal cinema draw on sacred imagery and what is the result? How to make a plain loaf of bread an object of lust in a society of prosperity and abundance? What links footwear adverts with posters from the Stalin era? - You will find answers to these and other questions in this book. This publication is a collection of five sketches on quite different themes, joined, however, by an analogous interpretative perspective: the use of references to European painting in the analysis and interpretation of cultural texts from different media (literature, film, advertising posters). The author urges the reader to open their imagination to the trans-semiotic and trans-medial play on meaning that is typical of modern culture ¿ both to fully appreciate the depth and complexity of artistic cultural texts, and to allow them not to be passively influenced by persuasive messages.