io9 misses the point of Eastern European 80s and 70s Sci Fi Posters
io9 makes fun of some awesome, albeit non-standard, Eastern European Sci-Fi posters from the 1970s and 1980s. Some of them, especially the Polish ones, are truly artistic… They were produced by Polish or Czech graphic artists of the first rank who were banned from displaying their works in galleries or museums. Since movie posters were ignored by the authorities, most dissident art found an outlet in poster making. In Eastern Europe posters were a form of artistic expression. Plus, it made those poor persecuted people some money.
The problem with the io9 sarcasm is that some of the posters it ironizes, especially Big Trouble in Little China, Short Circuit, Witches of Eastwick, or Back to the future, are truly awesome modern art… In certain situations, the campy twist of the graphic rendition of the plot is intentional, as a one of a kind social c0mmentary on the escapism implicit in Sci-Fi movies.
It is true that not all Easter European Sci-Fi movie posters are “great.” Yet, most are no worse than the schlock produced by the US distributors (see the black and white Indiana Jones Polish poster). Only a few are indeed naive, and only one or two truly awful (the Hungarian Alien).
To conclude, just because the artwork is different does not make it ridiculous. Ridiculously pubescent is the narrow mindedness that can be read between the lines of the io9 post: “foreign” is “stupid,” mainstream Hollywood marketing is glorious…
To see more awesome Polish movie posters, go to http://www.polishposter.com/ or to Retrocrush
Back in the day, Eastern European posters for English-language science fiction films sometimes rearranged the movies’ plots, jigsaw-style. For example, the Hungarian posters for the Star Wars trilogy transformed Darth Vader’s helmet into an unusually nefarious bundt cake pan.
via Stoned Polish E.T. and twenty more insane old European movie posters.
