| Abstract: | The main aim of the paper is to recreate a cognitive portrait of insects, which
emerges from the preserved folk culture of the Polish lands, and then to check
durability of folk images of insects in selected phenomena of popular culture.
Applying the methodology of cognitive research on folklore there was reconstructed
the world of insects preserved in the texts of such genres as folk fairy tales, parables,
anecdotes, jokes, riddles, felicitations, but also in the preserved idioms, which in the
vast majority were inherited by the Polish general language. Although insects often
stayed on the outskirts of interest of carriers of folk culture, as a part of the world of
nature, they were directly related to the daily struggle for survival of members of
agricultural culture which undoubtedly was the old Polish traditional culture. At the
same time, the folk category of "worms" was wider than the group of arthropods
nowadays called "insects", and the users of folk culture projected various symbolic
meanings on "worms" (e.g. demonic, harmful, devouring from the inside, deadly,
devilish versus useful, valuable, hardworking, accelerating vegetation).
In the second part, the methodological base was broadened, the category of
folklore was supplemented by the phenomena of netlor, contemporary participatory
culture together with the swarm of "prosumers", and the flagship genre of netlor: the
Internet meme was defined in the perspective of its long existence. Material research
was carried out which took into account the flagship genres of popular culture:
Internet memes, youth fantasy literature (a derivative of a magical fairy tale) and
popular films and animations. There was confirmed their continued imagination,
idioms, insect evaluation and their projection on new phenomena of popular culture,
especially digital culture. Although conditions have changed significantly since the
times of traditional culture, insect's imago still provides a strong incentive for carriers
of popular culture. The result is that the images of insects and their swarms are still
generative. They are reflected in so many phenomena, such as texts illustrating the
ambivalent status of technology, solutions used in robotics, business management
technologies or functioning of a participatory culture. |