Women in the Digital Streams of History. Women's Themes on Polish YouTube History Channels

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379819686 WOMEN IN THE DIGITAL STREAMS OF HISTORY. WOMEN’S THEMES ON POLISH YOUTUBE HISTORY CHANNELS ArticleinHistoryka Studia Metodologiczne · December 2023 CITATIONS 0 READS 54 8 authors, including: Wiktor Werner Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań 54 PUBLICATIONS67 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Zuzanna Szymczak Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań 2 PUBLICATIONS0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Nell Sypniewska Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań 4 PUBLICATIONS0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Borys Staszak Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań 1 PUBLICATION0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Wiktor Werner on 06 June 2024. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Wiktor Werner (UAM), Nell Sypniewska (UAM), Zuzanna Szymczak (UAM), Maciej Stachura (UAM), Adam Stryjakowski (UAM), Borys Staszak (UAM), Adrian Trzoss (UAM), Cyprian Kleist Women in the digital streams of history. Women’s themes on Polish YouTube history channels, Historyka Studia Metodologiczne (2023): 409-435. Research funded by the NCN grant № 2020/39/B/HS3/01237 Keywords: YouTube, Web 2.0, herstory, historical narrative, correspondence analysis Abstract: In this article, the authors confront the thesis found in historical discourse about the dominance of male figures in historical narratives. In order to do so, they analyse the new research field that is the social networking site YouTube and the most popular channels on historical topics contained therein. The main research question is whether women are marginalised in the narratives contained in the sources discussed, in which contexts they appear and what is the reception of the films in which they appear. In addition, the authors look at the question of the form of historical narratives. The study combines quantitative methods (descriptive statistics, correspondence analysis) as well as qualitative methods (Northrop Frye’s typology of story motifs). For this purpose, 551 films were analysed and then annotated using seven groups of tags corresponding to the content of the sources - concerning the functioning of female characters and the subject matter of the films. As a result of the analyses carried out, it was observed that the thesis of the absolute dominance of male characters in historical narratives does not fully hold true under the conditions of Web 2.0 sources in terms of quantity, while in terms of content it cannot be accepted unreservedly in the context of the very diverse use of female themes in social media resources. 1. Research problem: The article is dedicated to the question of the presence of women as protagonists of the multimedia productions presented on the Polish-speaking YouTube. The research problem of the text refers to the thesis found in the literature of the subject that historical narrative is an area dominated by men both as the authors of this narrative and the protagonists of historical events.1 It can be inferred from the above thesis that, in historical descriptions of the world, women appear to a lesser extent than they are actually present in historical events because either the authors of such descriptions are not inclined to show the actual role of women in history or the recipients of various narrative forms are not interested in women as subjects of history. Our research interest focuses on the peculiar form of historical narrative (story) which is the multimedia production presented on YouTube. A special feature of these productions, found in private channels, is that they depend on the financing and other activities of recipients which determine the reach of films (due to recommendation algorithms). Due to monetisation (the ability to gain advertising remuneration dependent, among other things, on the number of views), as well as partnerships (marketing campaigns, product placement) and the direct financial support from viewers (e.g., via the Patronite service), channel owners are keenly interested in maintaining contact with their viewers and in satisfying their needs by providing appropriate knowledge and entertainment. We assume then, that the specificity of films created so is linked to the expectations of the channel’s viewers. The presence or absence of female figures in the productions of historical YouTube channels (regarding the 1 Iwona Chmura-Rutkowska, Edyta Głowacka-Sobiech, Izabela Skórzyńska, “«Niegodne historii». O nieobecności kobiet w dziejach w kontekście analiz wybranych podręczników do nauki historii w Polsce”, Sensus Historiae 13, 4 (2013): [no pagination]; Izabela Skórzyńska, “Historia. Raport przedmiotowy”, in Gender w podręcznikach Projekt badawczy. Raport, t. III, red. Iwona Chmura-Rutkowska, Maciej Duda, Marta Mazurek, Aleksandra Sołtysiak-Łuczak (Warszawa: Fundacja Feminoteka, 2016), 7–38; Billie Melman, “History and Memory: the Invention of Women's Past in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries”, History and Memory 5, 1 (1993): 5–41; Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, “From a «Memorable Place» to «Drops in the Ocean»: On the Marginalization of Women Philosophers in German Historiography of Philosophy”, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 28, 3 (2020): 442–462; Brahim El Guabli, “Gender-Unaware History: Ordinary Women as the Forgottens of Moroccan Historiography of the Present”, Journal of Applied Language and Culture Studies 2 (2019), 57–78; Charl Blignaut, “Untold History with a Historiography: A Review of Scholarship on Afrikaner Women in South African History”, South African Historical Journal 65, 4 (2013), 596–617; Daria Hejwosz-Gromkowska, Dobrochna Hildebrandt-Wypych, “Solidarity Movement in the School History Textbooks in Poland-Selected Contexts of Gender, Religion and Politics”, Pedagogy, Culture & Society (2022): 1–18. most popular ones and those of clearly commercial nature) is not just a private initiative of the makers of such films: it also follows the particular expectations of viewers, since (content) creators and their recipients exist in a mutual positive interaction (feedback) system. It is the fundamental feature driving the Web 2.0 phenomenon, that is, such a reorientation of communication between senders and recipients in social media that both exist in a continuous and constantly changing relationship. Such interactivity takes not only the form of the already mention financing but also “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” reactions and discussions in comments2, which constitutes clear feedback for the authors of the production on how their materials were received. Our research covers not only the subject matter and content of films but their reception (number of views) as well. Therefore, we are considering both the creation of the narrative and its social reception, concerning which the strong position of YouTube as the medium to gain historical knowledge is an important fact.3 The next research problem in our article is the context in which women are presented in historical productions on the YouTube platform. Both qualitative research methods (based on the analysis of film content) and quantitative (using film metadata) were employed in that part. Films were annotated (using categorised tags4) with regard to the extent to which women’s themes were present and to the nature of those themes: geolocation, chronological period, and how the film’s main figure was framed. The purpose of the tagging was to study the quantitative relationships between the specificity of framing women in films and the other thematic properties of films. 2. Methodological remarks 2.1 The empirical basis of the research consisted of films from five Polish-speaking historical channels on YouTube, selected from among the most popular channels which did not belong to state institutions. The choice of those channels was based on their leading position in terms of reach on the Polish-speaking historical YouTube at the time (understood as the total and 2 Wiktor Werner, Adrian Trzoss, Dawid Gralik, “History and YouTube. Historical narrative in the age of Web 2.0”, Nauka 3 (2020), 119–140. 3 Anna Barańska-Szmitko, “Dyskurs historyczny a dyskurs popularnonaukowy w serwisie YouTube na przykładzie wybranych kanałów”, KULTURA – MEDIA – TEOLOGIA 46 (2021): 160–187; Wiktor Werner, Adrian Trzoss, Dawid Gralik, “Media społecznościowe a funkcjonowanie wiedzy historycznej w Polsce. Raport z badań”, Przegląd Archiwalno-Historyczny VI (2019): 211–232; Anna Barańska-Szmitko, “Wyznaczniki tabloidyzacji popularnonaukowego dyskursu historycznego w kanale serwisu YouTube «Historia bez Cenzury»”, Stylistyka 31 (2022): 137–175. 4 Terms “annotated” and “tagged” are used interchangeably in the meaning of assigning a value (tag) within a given qualitative category. mean numbers of views, comments, and subscribers5). Moreover, those channels displayed a broad range of subjects, contrary to hermetically sealed channels (such as IrytującyHistoryk, focused on the history of arms and armour). The study includes data from the period between December 2013 to April 2021, where the start date marks the launch of the oldest channels, which we assumed as the date of the chronologically earliest film published on one of the studied channels. The end date, 1 April 2021, is the date when the data were archived (scraped). A total of 551 films published on the following channels were included in the study: the oldest and largest of them, Historia bez cenzury6 (220 films), Thrashing Mad7 (139 films), Historia w 5 minut8 (69 films), Oblicza XX wieku9 (66 films) and ciekawehistorie10 (63 films), that is all productions on historical subjects published by these channels. The films were annotated using two sets of categories (tags). The first set, related to the specificity of films as historical narratives, included the following elements: 1) indication of subject matter: political, military, social, cultural, economic, 2) indication of subject location: history of Poland and world history, 3) indication of period: Antiquity, Middle Ages, Modern Era, 19th C., 20th C., contemporary post-1989 and general, comprehensive films, 4) indication which type of phenomenon was the main object of the film and the object of history on which attention was focused: person, event, process or thing. The other set of categories specifically addressed the presence of women in film: 1) Category one, gender, indicated films in which women were featured in any way or not at all (for films devoted solely to men), as well as those where the approach to the subject did not allow to differentiate genders at all (e.g., where states were discussed as wholes), 2) Category two addressed the specifics of women’s presence: only implicitly suggested or indicated explicitly “by name”, 3) Category three measured the degree of presence of the topic of women on a scale from 1 to 4. Values on this four-grade scale have the following meaning: 5 Werner, Trzoss, Gralik, „History and YouTube”. 6 Historia bez cenzury, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/HistoriaBezCenzuryMB (accessed: 1.07.2021). 7 Thrashing Mad, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/user/ThrashingMadPL (accessed: 1.07.2021). 8 Historia w 5 minut, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/c/Historiaw5minut (accessed: 1.07.2021). 9 Oblicza XX wieku, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/c/ObliczaXXWieku (accessed: 1.07.2021). 10 ciekawehistorie, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/c/ciekawehistorietv (accessed: 1.07.2021). 1 – a brief mention of the female figure (e.g., as a factual information: “In 1386, Jagiełło married Jadwiga”), 2 – multiple mentions of various female figures and underlining their role in the main theme, 3 – emphasising female figures in the form of a separate, well-developed problem thread (e.g., the role of Margaret Thatcher in the fall of Communism), 4 – woman as the main figure of the film. Also, data such as the number of views and the date of publication were collected for each film using the YouTube application programming interface (API) and an original computer programme written in Python for this purpose. The collected data were stored as a database. 2.2 The quantitative research was conducted in two stages. First, in order to study the interrelations between the specificity of historical narrative and the presence of women in film, we conducted a two-dimensional correspondence analysis of category pairs. Correspondence analysis (CA) is a method which allows to determine relationships between categorised traits of studied objects. It is based on a contingency table containing the frequencies of objects sharing a certain pair of traits (where rows and columns represent each of the categories). Conceptually speaking, correspondence analysis is similar to principal component analysis (PCA). The difference between the two is that, instead of covariance matrix (which determines the deviation of continuous variables from linear correlation), inertia matrix is decomposed. Inertia is defined as the value of χ2 (Chi-square) calculated on the basis of a contingency table for individual pairs of traits, normalized by the total number of objects (the terminology is derived from the analogy to the moment of inertia known in classical physics). Therefore, low inertia means a lack of or very small relationship between traits in a given row and column of the contingency table, whereas a high value of inertia indicated a strong relationship between traits. The result of correspondence analysis is a collection of components and singular values (similar to the components and eigenvalues of PCA). The ratio of each singular value to the sum total of all singular values determines how much of variability can be described by the coordinate designated by corresponding components. Choosing components corresponding to two highest singular values as the basis makes it possible to present individual traits as points on a two-dimensional plane, where the distance between points in the plane is inversely proportional to the frequency of co-occurrence of traits. The higher the inertia corresponding to a given coordinate, the more significant are distances along that coordinate. Correspondence analysis11 enables the reduction of dimensionality of problems and can be used irrespective of the statistical significance of the χ2 test. The limitation of correspondence analysis is that the distance between points in row and column categories is not mathematically defined. Therefore, the interpretation of results requires caution and paying special attention to the degree of aggregation or proximity of points, depending on their position in the coordinate system The example below is one of two-way cross tables used in the study, showing the frequency of co-occurrence of subject matter categories compared with the context of presence of women in films. economic cultural military political social explicite 8 27 25 42 40 implicite 2 5 12 10 13 none 3 4 20 2 6 Figure 1: two-way cross table, topic and context of presence of women in films The correspondence analysis for the above two-way cross tab was presented in a twodimensional coordinate system with unequal inertia coefficients for each axis (99.71% and 0.29% for the X and Y axes, respectively). 11 Dylan Glynn, Correspondence analysis. Methods for Semantics: Quantitative Studies in Polysemy and Synonymy (Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2014), 443-485; Michael J. Greenacre, “Correspondence analysis”, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Statistics 2, 5 (2010), 613–619. Figure 2: Correspondence relationship: topic–context (for all channels) The second stage involved the analysis of data distribution for two fundamental parameters of the population of films: the number of views in a given category, designated as W, and the number of films in it, or N. The aim of such analysis was not only to find the significance (of size) of each category, but also to compare the numbers of views (W) and of films (N), which we defined as variable k=W N . The values of the k ratio, which is our original development, are rounded up to two decimal places. The k value can be interpreted in three ways: 1. k > 1 means that the given category generates proportionally more views per film within the studied population, 2. k = 1 means that the given category generates the same number of views per film as other categories in the studied population, 3. k < 1 means that the given category generates proportionally fewer views per film within the studied population. In the study we performed, only options 1 and 3 were present. Therefore, the question we ask in the context of each category is whether it is more popular than other categories according to the proportion designated as k. These data were visualised in pie charts distinguished by categories and their N and W parameters. Detailed values of k, related to the main research problem, that is, the comparison of k values for films in which men or women predominate, can be found below in the text. This comparison provides an answer to the fundamental question, whether the reception of films featuring men as main characters is proportionally higher than of those where the main characters are women (that is, if the condition k > 1 occurs for men, and the condition k < 1 for women, where the value in the category of scale is 3 or 4). 2.3 The research with qualitative methods involved identifying the specifics of selected films (with the most clearly portrayed female figures) in the context of rhetoric, prevailing metaphors, schemas, and story motifs.12 The method of interpretation is rooted in Northrop Frye’s concept of criticism of story motifs and archetypes proposed in his fundamental work Anatomy of Criticism (written in 1957; the 2000 edition was used).13 The typology of story schemes: comedy, epos, tragedy, irony and satire, along with their accompanying themes and prevalent metaphors, is of crucial importance to the interpretation of studied films. The intended use of Frye’s concept, developed in the context of essential texts of culture and literature, was to analyse various narratives.14 Frye’s typology was adapted for use in historiographical analysis, with success, by Hayden White in his monumental Metahistory15 12 Wiktor Werner, “Poznawcza rola metafory w polskim dyskursie historyczno-politycznym po 1989 roku”, in Pamięć i polityka historyczna. Doświadczenia Polski i jej sąsiadów, red. Sławomir M. Nowinowski, Jan Pomorski, Rafał Stobiecki (Łódź: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2008), 91–105. 13Northop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism. Four Essays (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000). 14 N. Frye, Anatomy, 48-49, 104. 15 Hayden White, Metahistory. Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe (Baltimore-London: JHU Press, 1975). Figure 5: Correspondence relationship: theme – gender (for the channel ThrashingMadPL) 4. Summary results of the study A total of 551 films were included in research, of which 430 were qualified as including female figures, 112 as devoted to men only, and 8 as films where the topic of gender could not be clearly determined (as the films referred to entire “states” or “nations”). For films featuring women, the median of views was 493.28 thousand views per film, whereas for “purely masculine” films it equalled 145.5 thousand views. The correspondence analysis conducted for the summary table containing the data of all channels indicated the proximity between films featuring women and the political, cultural, and economic thematic categories, whereas the exclusively “masculine” films clearly corresponded with military topics. Figure 6: Correspondence relationship: theme – gender (for all channels) The quantitative data for all channels can also be presented as the relationship between the number of films in specific categories and the number of views of those films, as shown in the pie charts below. Figure 7: The percentage share of films and views in individual research categories. The inner and outer doughnuts show, respectively, the percentage of the number of views and the number of films in each given category. Figure 8: The percentage share of individual categories in all films. The presented pie charts show that films displaying the full picture of history (with both female and male figures) predominate in the global overview, while the films focusing exclusively on masculine topics are a minority in terms of both the number of films and of viewership. On the other hand, films where women are main protagonists are not a majority either. 5. Qualitative interpretation The qualitative interpretation, which we based on Northrop Frye’s typology of fictional schemes and motifs, involved 26 films selected from the whole collection subjected to quantitative analysis. Only the films in which women were main characters, that is, which were rated 4 on the scale we developed, were selected. It was important for us to focus on narratives wholly devoted to women, and not on anecdotal factual mentions (rated 1, e.g., “in 965 Mieszko married Doubravka”) or short and shallow threads (rated 2), devoid of any significant narrative significance (metaphors, symbols, evaluations) for the entire film. Even though the analysed productions have the characteristics of the distinct style of each channel, they differ in the specific ways of describing women and the events associated with them. In the Historia bez cenzury channel, there is a clear division of “feminine” films into those sharing fictional schemes of comedy, satire, and the epic scheme. The scheme of comedy, defined by Frye as the scheme or mythos of spring21, is characterised by a narrative levity. It is joyful and ribald, frequently willing to engage in erotic themes. It emphasises the tensions between the liveliness and youth, and decrepitude and old age; between cunning and gullibility, and between luck (prosperity) and misfortune. As a rule, comedy avoids moral valuation. Instead, victories and defeats tend to result from the natural order of things (old age has to give way to youth, gullibility must lose to cunning, a lucky man prevail over a luckless one, a strong man beat a weakling). The film “Napalona Caryca - Katarzyna Wielka”22 (Horny Empress - Catherine the Great) is definitely comedic in character. While the authors joke about her sexual temperament, they do not pass a moral judgment of it but appreciate her political and economic achievements. The Empress is presented as a comedic character: a personification of certain traits (vigour, cunning, strength) rather than an individual to be judged morally. The jokes are neither bitter or malicious, and the admiration of the achievements is genuine. The films by Historia bez cenzury about sexual mores, “Starożytna prostytucja”23 (Ancient prostitution) and “Seks w średniowieczu” (Sex in the Middle Ages) are generally comedic in character (the latter shows some traits of satire at times, which we shall discuss later). Sexuality is treated here more as a sign of normality than 21 Frye, Anatomy, 163–180. 22 “Napalona caryca – Katarzyna Wielka”, Historia bez cenzury, 11.07.2019, YouTube, 15:44, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rks4lr7NFZw (accessed: 1.03.2022). 23 “Starożytna prostytucja”, Historia bez cenzury, 5.10.2015, YouTube, 11:47, https://youtu.be/ LbalY5GJPjA (accessed: 1.02.2022). an aberration, and the hostile attitude of medieval clergy towards erotic life is shown as an attempt to create a topsy-turvy world.24 Women featured on the Historia bez cenzury channel are quite often describes as epic characters. The epic scheme25 (“romance” in Frye’ work, which sometimes leads Polish authors to translate it as “romantic”, causing misunderstandings) is predominant in the film devoted to Emilia Plater26 and is also present in the film about Marie Skłodowska–Curie.27 The essential motifs found in the epic scheme, characterised with greater maturity and thus called the “summer” scheme by Frye, are the motif of struggle (agon) against the adversities of fate, the narrative mood of threat and combat (pathos), and the process of maturation and gaining social recognition in the fire of battle and adversity (anagnorisis). The term anagnorisis literally means “recognition”, as the heroine recognises her strength, her value, and also gains the recognition of her milieu. The film of a clearly epic character is “Polska Królowa Wikingów”28 (Polish Queen of the Vikings) by Historia bez Cenzury, where the importance of agon and anagnorisis is crucial. The narrator of the film emphasises the heroic deeds of the protagonists and the regard she enjoyed. Moral valuation is present in the epic scheme, as the deeds of the heroines prove their worth. There is also an indication of good and evil, between which the heroines choose: this aspect is particularly poignant in the films about Emilia Plater and Świętosława. In narrative practice, the epic scheme may show features of both comedy and tragedy. The epic scheme with comedic traits can be found in films dedicated to Queen Jadwiga (both the one shown on the channel Historia bez cenzury29 and the one on ThrashingMadPL30). In both cases, the frame of the narration includes sudden plot twists (peripeteias), expose tumultuous events, albeit presented as comical, such as the failed “consummation” of marriage between Jadwiga and William of Habsburg, since she was prevented from axing down the door (through which she wanted to escape to her fiancé) by Polish lords, who then expelled the miserable groom from Kraków. In this context historical figures are being shown 24 “Seks w średniowieczu”, Historia bez cenzury, 22.09.2016, YouTube, 14:30, https://youtu.be/2bwp2lOK4xc (accessed: 1.02.2022). 25 Frye, Anatomy, 186–200. 26 “Dziewica bohater – Emilia Plater”, Historia bez cenzury, 26.01.2016, YouTube, 16:11, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nE65OpyqvY (dostęp: 1.02.2022). 27 „Dziewczę z charakterem – Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Historia bez cenzury, 6.03.2014, YouTube, 11:47, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw2YU9TdnOA (dostęp: 1.02.2022). 28 “Polska Królowa Wikingów”, Historia bez cenzury, 5.07.2015, YouTube, 10:15, https:// youtu.be/2oUDCXl3zC0 (dostęp: 1.02.2022). 29 “Baba z berłem – Jadwiga”, Historia bez cenzury, 29.12.2016, YouTube, 15:38, https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=kpWZoUX55q0 (accessed: 1.02.2022). 30 “Jadwiga (Historia Polski #79) (Lata 1384-1386)”, ThrashingMadPL, 5.09.2019, YouTube, 17:03, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHGe5whQIuY&t (accessed: 1.02.2022). in a typically comedic style. Both Habsburg and Siemowit IV appear as “false heroes”: one as a “sham” would-be husband, the other as a false, “unlucky” suitor–kidnapper. Simultaneously, the background of the narrative shows a serious political struggle for power that would decide the future of several thrones, adding epic elements to a comedic plot. Another film of such an epic character (with a strong comedic element) is devoted to Krystyna Skarbek.31 Within, her heroic actions and recognition as an exceptionally gifted special forces operative are mixed with the emphasis on her sexual temperament and numerous erotic adventures. The combination of epic and tragedy underscores the suffering of the heroes and the sacrifice they made in their struggle with adversities and to achieve positive goals (freedom of the country, human life). The video by Historia bez cenzury about Irena Sendler32 is an epic film containing elements of tragic rhetoric (related to the traits of the world where the events take place). A combination of the epic and tragic schemes is also present in the film “Auschwitz. Niesamowita ucieczka zakochanej pary”33 (Auschwitz: The amazing escape of a couple in love) on the channel ciekawehistorie. It shows the struggle against adverse fate (destiny), characteristic of the tragedy scheme34, albeit with the epic remark that the adversities can be overcome, and that love can prevail over hostile fate. The pure scheme of tragedy, where the emphasis is on the suffering and sacrifice, quite often correlates with historical narrative, and can very frequently be found in the film presented on YouTube. Such is the character of some films showing the history of Poland produced by state institutions (e.g., IPN).35 Even though commercial channels do not refer to this style that often when covering the same subject (the history of Poland), one can find some films created in that style. One such example is the film on the channel Historia w 5 minut entitled “II Rzeczpospolita. Historia w Pigułce”36 (Second Republic: History in a nutshell). The film is black-and-white and made with great care. Most noteworthy, it is a fully fledged film etude with decorations and actors wearing period garments. Its plot is the story of Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz who, upon request by Melchior Wańkowicz, travels across 31 “Sex, wojna i dynamit – Krystyna Skarbek”, Historia bez cenzury, 14.03.2015, YouTube, 14:37, https://youtu.be/Jk6icnCkySA (accessed: 1.02.2022). 32 “Jak Polacy ratowali Żydów #1. Irena Sendlerowa”, Historia bez cenzury, 15.02.2018, YouTube, 16:42, https://youtu.be/Axs2OP3nOlY (accessed: 1.02.2022). 33 “Auschwitz. Niesamowita ucieczka zakochanej pary”, ciekawehistorie, 7.02.2018, YouTube, 13:17, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67xIucpbldo (accessed: 1.02.2022). 34 Frye, Anatomy, 206–220. 35Wiktor Werner, Dawid Gralik, Adrian Trzoss, “Polish Historical Narration and National Identity in the Light of Studies at Youtube”, Historyka Studia Metodologiczne 51, Spec. Iss. (2021): 223–249. 36 II Rzeczpospolita. Historia w Pigułce”, Historia w 5 minut, 10.11.2019, YouTube, 22:49, https://youtu.be/waFQlT2xcWQ (dostęp: 1.02.2022). Poland accompanied by a female assistant (a fully developed film character) interviewing people important for the Second Polish Republic. Despite the apparently idyllic character of the story, the viewers are always aware of the tragic fate, the dark destiny awaiting the figures presented in the film. We meet Father Maximilian Kolbe, Janusz Kusociński, and Witold Zacharewicz, all murdered by Germans, as well as other people, whose lives are bound to end in tragedy. Such is also the case of the narrator himself, Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz, who died on 20 September 1939. The world presented in the film is a doomed world, which we, the viewers, know very well. The happiness of its characters, their life optimism, and serenity only amplify the tragic meaning of the narrative. The analysed films also contain mature, “winter” schemas of irony and satire.37 Satire focuses on showing an upside-down world38, that is a reality dominated by absurd, scandalous, and even criminal phenomena and events. Such a world can either be real enough (while remaining an aberration in terms of its existing “moral order”) or be a mock reality, which awaits demystification. The film by Historia bez cenzury entitled “Krwawa hrabina? Elżbieta Batory”39 (Bloody Countess? Elizabeth Báthory) is clearly satirical in character. Initially, the narrator tells a frightening story about the crimes and deviancy of Elizabeth Báthory, with the emphasis characteristic of himself and the mood of the channel, only to admit at one point that these revelations were all false (though from the period), created to divest the protagonist of her wealth in favour of the Habsburgs ruling in Hungary. The film “Czarująca s.ka – Agnieszka Machówna” (Charming b.tch – Agnieszka Machówna), also by Historia bez cenzury, is also a satire (with comedic elements), where the upside-down world results from the violation of laws and mores by the protagonist, a seventeenth-century marriage fraudster of peasant origin, who could not only seduce magnates of the epoch but even lead them to the altar. The title character is a “false bride”, a false hero figure typical of satire and comedy. The influence of the satire scheme is also visible in the film about Tamara Łępicka (Historia bez cenzury).40 The specific upside-down world is punctuated by the strong emphasis not on the protagonist’s artwork (indeed, her paintings are shown in the visual layer of the film) but on her unbridled sexual life. An “upside-down world” can also mean the Byzantine empire 37 Frye, Anatomy, 223–239. 38 Frye, Anatomy, 225–226. 39 “Krwawa hrabina? Elżbieta Batory”, Historia bez cenzury, 27.06.2017, YouTube, 16:09, https://youtu.be/u3ddO73cYt0 (accessed: 1.02.2022). 40 “Orgie, koks i sztuka – Tamara Łempicka”, Historia bez cenzury, 10.06.2021, YouTube, 17:56, https://youtu.be/pFUUiWu9lfM (accessed: 1.02.2022). where a prostitute sits on the throne.41 Satire is a very flexible scheme, able to absorb a variety of contents. Its similarity to comedy is conspicuous due to the similarity of characters: first of all, due to the presence of “false heroes”, whose actual natures clash with the public functions they perform. Such juxtapositions as matron–whore or knight–coward are characteristic of satire but also familiar to comedy. The difference, however, lies in the atmosphere of the story and the way how the world is described. Being the juvenile style, comedy depicts the world in its most vital aspect: its propensity not to mind its words when highlighting the flaws and weaknesses of characters is the child’s ability to tell the truth that the king is naked. The reality of comedy is a world in which laws are in place, and the characters are subjected to those laws, whereas in the universe of satire, laws give way to anomalies. We see it from the perspective of an old man who discerns the errors and deviations stacked upon one another. It results in different attitudes towards sexuality. The juvenile narrator of comedy sees sex as the energy and embodiment of laws existing in the world: the laws of fertility, vitality, and joy of life. As the mature, even senile author of satire seeks perversion, deviation, indulgence, and abuse. his perception is tainted with acerbity and much more distanced than that of affirmative comedy. Sexuality, however, is not tied to the schema of satire, which may not adduce this aspect of human life at all, like in the film “Trzy osoby w jednym ciele - historia Chris Sizemore” (Three people in one body: The history of Chris Sizemore), published on the channel ciekawehistorie42, where the upside-down world is related to the title character’s dissociated personality, or like in the film by Historia w 5 minut entitled “Wywiad po narkotykach, 1953 rok”43 (Interview on drugs, 1953), where the false reality refers to the world experienced by the protagonist answering questions under the influence of drugs. An interesting process, already begun in satire, develops in the schema of irony, a process that creates distance between the narrator and the described events. A distance that might mean that the story suggests that the true meaning of the narrated events is entirely different from that which flows directly from the story. The film on the ciekawehistorie channel, “Stalinowska propaganda na przykładzie filmu «Upadek Berlina»”44 (Stalinist propaganda on the example of the film «The fall of 41 “Dziwka na tronie – Teodora”, Historia bez cenzury, 1.03.2018, YouTube, 13:46, https://youtu.be/tYmF5aEk_Mw (accessed: 1.02.2022). 42 “Trzy osoby w jednym ciele – historia Chris Sizemore”, ciekawehistorie, 3.02.2019, YouTube, 9:38, https://youtu.be/D3prSAi-pm8 (dostęp: 1.02.2022). 43 “Wywiad po narkotykach, 1953 rok”, Historia w 5 minut, 16.01.2019, YouTube, 3:21, https://youtu.be/Sm77bt_9QpU (dostęp: 1.02.2022). 44 “Stalinowska propaganda na przykładzie filmu «Upadek Berlina»”, ciekawehistorie, 12.07.2018, YouTube, [no duration], https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1lwDb6VqV8 (accessed: 1.02.2022). Berlin»), has such an ironic, distanced character. Watching this film we see an epic and romantic tale of lov and the triumph of good against evil, yet we remain aware that the (historical) reality was entirely different. As the narrator distances himself from the narrative, the character as the main person on whom the narrative is focused fades away. The centre of attention shifts to the mechanisms of reality: pointing them out turns out to be the actual aim of the narrative, the character figure merely a pretext. This component of the irony/satire scheme is clear in the film “Reklamy, które dziś byłyby zakazane”45 (Advertising that would be forbidden today), which shows the stereotype of a woman focused on the kitchen, children, and pampering her husband as the product of a certain social practice expressed though ads. The scheme of irony (with elements of satire) is also prsent in the film “Putin vs Megyn Kelly (amerykańska dziennikarka)”46 (Putin vs Megyn Kelly, American journalist). There are two levels of irony there: Putin himself is ironic, using his informational advantage (not to mention the advantage from training at the Leningrad school of Committee for State Security, hereafter as KGB) over the journalist to deride her questions. He makes fun of her lack of access to secret information he obviously does have. Finally, there is a deeper level of irony, not available to all viewers, involving the fact that at least some of them may assume that Putin is most likely lying, and that, actually, the operational activities he denies may have taken place. Even so, we are under the impression that he is right, and the journalist is wrong. A similar irony can frequently be found in literature, where a naive or even silly character tells the truth, whereas a brilliant and intelligent protagonist lies. The classic example of it is the confrontation between elegant Don Juan and his rude servant Sganarel in Molière’s play. The irony in the Putin–Kelly interview is that the not too feisty and highly nervous woman is most likely the bearer of truth, whereas the man – backed by enormous self-confidence and the power of intelligence services of a great power – lies. 6. Conclusions To interpret the results, we cannot avoid the context of the medium as the place where the narratives we analyse are created and function. On the one hand, history on YouTube takes on a ludic aspect.47 On the other (especially in the case of channels other than Historia bez 45 “Reklamy, które dziś byłyby zakazane”, ciekawehistorie, 5.07.2019, YouTube, 8:10, https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksrrW0GHSfE (accessed: 1.02.2022). 46 “Putin vs Megyn Kelly (amerykańska dziennikarka)”, ciekawehistorie, [no publication date], YouTube, [no duration], https://youtu.be/s9fQEPVUZCQ (accessed: 1.02.2022). 47 Adrian Trzoss, “Cyfrowy Homo Ludens. Historia jako element obszaru rozrywki na portalu społecznościowym Youtube, Popularyzacja nauk historycznych – teoria i praktyka”, in Popularyzacja nauk historycznych – teoria i praktyka. Zbiór studiów, red. Dominika Gołaszewska-Rusinowska, Małgorzata Mielewska, Tomasz Sińczak (Toruń: Instytut Promocji Historii, 2018): 194–209.