In December 2014, CBOS conducted a survey "Poles about architects"[1]. This was the first study on this topic conducted on such a large scale in Poland. According to the report, at the time, one-third of our society was not interested in architecture at all. The others, in turn, looked for information about architecture on the Internet (17%), and slightly less, 16%, gained knowledge... from TV series.
The images created by television, repetitively reaching millions of viewers in Poland at the same time, became a code of reality. This code was used in practice[2]. The interiors depicted in the series were noticed, analyzed and, as a rule, positively received[3]. Agnieszka Kruk, screenwriter of such series as Na wspólnej and Pierwsza miłość in an interview with Anna Kilian, noted that "from aspirational or 'ordinary' series Polish audiences learn the world"[4]. Of course, she had much more in mind here than mere interior design. Serials, on the one hand, are a source of imagination, on the other hand, they reflect current problems of modern society and help to understand reality, as well as can be a space for non-traditional adult education[5]. Thus, tastes were ruled in a certain way by popular Polish series.
Peaceful countryside, cheerful countryside
The opening credits of the series open with views of the Polish countryside, idyllic shots, almost fairytale-like, summer memories. The first episode of M jak miłość begins with a shot of apple picking, followed by Barbara's mother and grandmother kneading dough. Symbolically, then, we already have a foreshadowing referring to generational memories of vacations at grandma's house, which hosted the best in the world. The role of marriage is emphasized - we learn that Barbara and Lucjan have just celebrated their 40th anniversary, and a party is about to be thrown. The home of the doyens of the Mostowiak family is located in Grabin. The very first shots sell us a vision of idyllic, concentrating life around family matters. Barbara's conversations with Malgosia and Lucjan take place in the kitchen, this is also where Kasia comes in, to ask about the Mostowiak's son. Everything takes place while cooking.
vod.tvp.pl / Frame from "M jak miłość" series (TVP2)
vod.tvp.pl / Frame from the TV series "M jak miłość" (TVP2)
Nearby, in Gródek, lives their daughter Maria originally with her husband Krzysztof and sons, while in Warsaw lives the judge Marta Mostowiak. They all meet at their parents' house. We are dealing with a typical model of living at home, the kitchen understood as the heart of the house, feasting together as family time. The interior of the kitchen is kept in beige, subdued colors, we also see vintage elements, such as a tiled stove and exposed hanging plates. The dining room is also decorated in typical style - in the center of the room stands a lavishly set table, the walls have been painted in warm, light green, in the window we can see orange curtains. Thanks to a wall-hung rug, framed paintings or ornate dressers, the interior gives the impression of actually remembering family events. The whole house is also a symbol of generationalism, stability and a place of security - it is being rebuilt after a fire, this is where the daughter returns to after the death of her husband, and this is where Barbara returns to after the death of her husband, despite her earlier departure. The telenovela about the fate of the Mostowiaks' family and their friends, was the most watched Polish drama series. In March 2005, the series reached a record audience of over 12.5 million viewers.
vod.tvp.pl / Frame from "M jak milosc" series (TVP2)
vod.tvp.pl / Frame from the TV series "M jak miłość" (TVP2)
Klan in the villa
The television series Klan also reaches back to the family tradition. It is the longest series of Polish production. The very name indicates a gravitation toward family and generationalism. The property here, however, is located in the center of Warsaw, rather than in its vicinity. This topographical shift from the periphery to the city was needed to create, "the family world of the possible" - a vision of urban modern daily life with a ready and consistent set of rules[6]. The Clan, unlike M for Love depicted prestige, wanted to combine nobility and urbanity, pointing to the family property in Sadyba. The house here is a solid villa, evoking associations with a brick nobleman's manor. A staircase leads to the entrance, the balcony and terrace are decorated with balusters, the facade is white, minimalist similarly the window woodwork. The villa is surrounded by century-old trees and a brick and wrought iron fence. In front of the building, a driveway can be seen, which the daughter - Monika - enters in the first minutes.
vod.tvp.pl / Frame from the TV series 'Klan' (TVP2)
However, on the occasion of a sharp exchange between father and daughter, we can notice the interior of the house. It has preserved antique floors, stairs and doors. We can also see pre-war decor elements - a sideboard, a table, but also porcelain, lamps, but also the decor of the pharmacy, which was arranged in one of the rooms of the villa. The Lubicz family is a family of intellectuals, doctors and professors. As in the first episode of M like Love, and here we celebrate an anniversary already at the beginning - but this time the birthday of the doyenne of the family. The setting of the meeting is completely different. We do not meet the birthday girl, who prepares the dishes, there is a housekeeper at home. So we read a completely different social class of the family, and the interiors seem to be a reflection of this affiliation.
A frame from the TV series 'Klan'
vod.tvp.pl
Na Wspólnej, or it's all about cooperativeness
The opening of the series Na Wspólnej, on the other hand, falls into a completely different tone. The format was modeled on the German series Unter Uns. Although there is also a party theme here, the newly built block of flats and the celebration of moving in are the canvass of the friends' fates. Seven of them, Wiktor, Michal, Andrzej, Basia, Leszek, Veronika and Gabriela, come from an orphanage, where they met and became friends. Years later, Wiktor, who became the owner of a construction company, decided to put up a residential house and invited his friends to form a cooperative. In this way, he wanted to fulfill his vow and dream of having his own home and family. The construction of the cooperative house is overly symbolic here. Although the identity place of Polish series is the house, both in the metropolitan and provincial editions, in the case of Na Wspólnej the house is a block - a cooperative.
Warsaw or province
The other best TV series of the 2000s can be considered such items as The Ranch, First Love, Plebania, Barwy szczęścia or Kasia i Tomek, Niania, Magda M. Juxtaposing all these items, one can see that the landscape is presented in two variants: urban and rural. Warsaw is most often synonymous with the city. The results of a study of the media presence of the capital in the context of television series in 2016 showed that it was a successful city placement [7]. City placement is one of the tools of city promotion. It means the placement of a city in a film, TV series, program, book or game. As we can read in the report[8], the highest advertising equivalent of the publication went to Warsaw for the TV series M jak miłość (over PLN 25 million). It is significant, also, that in addition to the symbolism of the capital as a city, but also of success and career, the depicted landscape of the capital is formed by well-known, iconic objects and places for Poles: Palace of Culture and Science, Royal Castle, Krakowskie Przedmieście, but also modern architecture, symbolized by skyscrapers built of steel and glass[9].
In contrast to metropolitanity in the series, we can find provinciality and small-townness, as well as the countryside, with fictional place names. The familiarity, however, is powdered and has a tourist-butch character[10]. We can easily find views that are considered the national rural landscape, references to the local community, often cemented by people such as the priest.
Inspiration from serials
Probably few people wanted to furnish an apartment exactly like the one in the first episode of any of the Polish TV series. Pawel Jurek, head of the scriptwriters of the series Na Wspólnej, mentioned that "apartments in TV series are supposed to be as average as possible,"[11] they are supposed to resemble the apartments of those in which viewers live. However, the study already cited here indicates that people watching the series were eager to preview interior solutions, wall colors and the furniture itself[12]. It was also found that the level of styling of the TV series rooms was modern, while their own apartments did not reach the level of the TV series. Interior designer Anna Mazur spoke in a similar vein, mentioning that watching interiors in Polish TV series can be frustrating, as trendy and expensive solutions are often used there[13].
Is a TV series a reflection of reality or does it create reality? It's hard to unequivocally answer this question. However, since all of the aforementioned series have gained popularity and viewer sympathy, they have become an important part of the perception of styles, fashions and landscapes in the early 21st century. Did this translate into reality as a result? Some certainly, probably more in what kind of life attitude we have developed than the interior itself, but if one looked closer, the answers would probably surprise us.
Magdalena Milert
[1] https://www.cbos.pl/SPISKOM.POL/2014/K_161_14.PDF
[2] T. Edensor, National identity, popular culture and everyday life, transl. A. Sadza, Cracow 2004, p. 181. after KISIELEWSKA, A. Spaces of Television-Spaces in Television-Spaces of Television. Serial Practices of Domesticating Spaces.
[3] Markiewicz, Joanna & Węglińska, Agnieszka. (2015). Interior design in contemporary Polish soap operas on the example of "First Love" - a media and economic perspective.
[4] Anna Dwojnych, Polish soap operas - between mimeticism and creation in: SERIALS IN CULTURAL CONTEXT GATUNS - MOTIVES - MUTATIONS, Olsztyn 2016.
[5] Konieczna Ewelina. (2021). Serials and their reception as a reflection of socio-cultural changes. "Discourses of Young Andragogists" No. 22 (2021), pp. 85-97,
[6] Szczekała, B. (2016). The fall of the Lubicz family:" Klan" as an antisaga of the Polish family.
[7] Werenowska, A. (2018). City placement as an instrument of city promotion. Tourism and Regional Development, (9), 89-96.
[8] https://psmm.pl/informacje_prasowe/miasta-gwiazdorza-w-serialach-tv/
[9] Kisielewska, A. (2018). Serial performances of national identity of Poles. Popular Culture, 57(03), 100-112.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Drajewski Stefan, 2010, Cała (serialowa) Polska nie czyta, http://www.kurierlubelski.pl/artykul/239937,cala-serialowa-polskanie-czyta,id,t.html.
[12] Markiewicz, Joanna & Węglińska, Agnieszka. (2015). Interior design in contemporary Polish soap operas on the example of "First Love" - a media and economic perspective.
[13] https://lublin.wyborcza.pl/lublin/7,48724,28493401,wedlug-seriali-mieszkamy-swietnie-w-prawdziwym-zyciu-desing.html
