This article examines the role of laughter in overcoming crises. Based on the study of different materials produced in the Basque Country between 1987 and 2017 and analyzed using the CDA, we will see how punk culture a pioneer in the desacralization of ETA and how mass culture subsequently took hold of this topic, thus facilitating a collective catharsis.

The article begins by briefly introducing the main points of Freud’s approach to dream interpretation. Then, against this background, we discuss Wittgenstein’s understanding of dream interpretation, referring to both his personal dreams and his comparison of dreams with movies. The purpose of this article is to analyze some of Wittgenstein’s descriptions of dreams. At the core of his interpretation, unlike with Freud’s unconscious, is the idea of consciously perceiving a meaningful relationship between the dreamer’s mental state when awake and the content of his or her dream. The discovery of this relationship can, according to Wittgenstein, be achieved in various ways, for example by comparing dreams to movie presentations.

The presence of the Bible in the movies is a complex reality: besides direct interpretations of the stories from the Holy Scriptures, a number of films has been inspired by other cultural sources (passion-plays, arts, literature, music, other films). By reason of its subject and its non-religious origin, a biblical film is important for theologians: numerous audiovisual adaptations of the Gospel have raised the issues of the faithfulness of this particular kind of translation (transmediatization) of the Bible. A particular attention should be paid to Jesus-movies because of their impact on the audiences and very different ways of portraying of Jesus (from a relatively simple „historical" Jesus till elaborated Christ-figures).

The action of Vladimir Khotinenko’s 1612 (2007) takes place in Time of Troubles (1605-1613). Polish hetman’s love affair with Tsarevna is shown in the context of the fi ght for power. Various genre patterns, among others the melodrama code. The historical myths serving the contemporary national propaganda. 1612 allows us to see how Russians use the pop culture to create the myths combining the history with the contemporary political needs.

The film art of the Russian Empire, in the light of the current state of research, may not be completely terra incognita, and yet a number of issues on this topic still need to be elaborated and saved from oblivion. The subject of the present research are the lost or only partially preserved horror movies filmed in the country of the last tsar of Russia – Nicholas II. The author recalls the circumstances of the creation of specific films, as well as the critical reception of such productions as Vasily Goncharov’s Viy (1909), At Midnight in the Graveyard (1909/1910) by the same director, The Vampire Woman (1915) by Viatcheslav (Victor) Tourjansky or two films by Ladislas Starevich: The Portrait (1915) and another screen adaptation of Viy (1916?).