„Rehabilitacja” Judasza. O apokryfach w kulturze popularnej

Abstract

Contemporary commercialization of cultural texts is of political nature. The area of popular culture is formed by two contrasted discourses. Understanding of the “battle front”, conflicts and interactions between differentiated discourses is important for reflexive constructing of both individual and collective subjectivity. The Easter promotion of “The Gospel According to Judas” and his popularity as a media star, both in the global and the local Polish context I am discussing as an example of contemporary career of the apocryphal work as well as the techniques of its actualization; as the reaction for increasing popularity of the discourse represented by the film “The Passion” by Mel Gibson. I am defining apocrypha from the anthropological perspective, considering the features attractive for the makers of popular culture. Apart from discussing the global promotion of “The Gospel According to Judas”, I also focus on its Polish reception that intertwined with the public debate on treason providing it with a new dimension. To me the effect of “return of Judas” seems ambiguous: the retrieval of religious memory is accompanied by appropriations of Judas for the sake of political particularistic interests which is clearly deconstructing the religious message, as well as the related model of human autonomy. Undermining religious, political and social sense of the notion of treason becomes an inherent part of the old argument about historical role of individual.