Basically in the story I’m working on, the story takes place in modern times in a cold town based on Big Bear Lake in California, where he moved to in the 80’s. He’s the owner of the Manor/Apartment Complex the story takes place in. His full name is Wiktor Brzezinski and is quite independent and quiet compared to most of the other characters. He’s in his 60’s and doing quite well for his age.
I’m not Polish and don’t want to disrespect the country & culture, and don’t want him to fall into any stereotypes if they’re offensive. I’d like help knowing what to avoid, and information on y’all’s culture. I would perhaps also like some assistance in coming up for a reason for why he moved from Poland to the story’s location.
Also his design is partially based off Gacek.
https://i.redd.it/fwdts4xzh1mf1.png
Posted by UpasTree
33 Comments
Why is he smiling
Imo… Stereotypes aint so bad for cartoon character’s if s ne i clever way and have some play in the story. I always get a good laugh when I discover how people see us in different countries.
> I would perhaps also like some assistance in coming up for a reason for why he moved from Poland to the story’s location.
Communist-era Poland was a place people ran away from – and fast – if they were able to find a way out.
You could also easily have him as a child of people displaced by WWII, the Soviet deportations of Poles from the annexed areas or simply escaping from state terror in the early Communist era. This would also provide a handwave explanation for any oddities as his experience of Polish culture would have been second-hand from his parents (just take a look at how absurdly weird American Polonia can get, you can hardly do *worse* if you try).
What are some characters he will be interacting with and what will he be doing?
The most basic choice in why he moved there would probably be to escape communism. If he’s owner of manor he probably was resourceful enough to know that in PRL he won’t get any better.
weź tego kocura
He can eat pierogi and get deadpan angry when someone calls them “pierogies”
Here’s something you may find interesting
I go to university, and one day one of the professors told a story about how some French students came to us as part of an exchange program. Nothing unusual, but after some time it became clear that the exchange students started isolating themselves from the rest. When asked why, they said it was because whenever they tried to talk to Polish students, the Poles would always take a step back. The French students understood this as reluctance toward them, whereas in reality Poles have such a strong sense of personal space that we don’t even think about it, and giving someone more space feels completely normal to us.
Don’t say “Polish concentration camps” (they were german camps built in Poland) and remember it is Marie Skłodowska-Curie not Marie Curie and you’re golden
Name is spot on, couple of Polish sterotypes:
– Complains a lot, even when doing well in life
– Rarely smiles
– Polish people are reserved and skeptical of strangers, but are very warm nad loyal when you befriend them
– Likes a drink, obviously lol.
– Wary of Russians and/or Germans
You can include those, in fact, we joke about those stereotypes a lot. The only bad ones that I can think of is “stupid polack” stereotype, “toilet cleaner” etc.
As for moving to USA, Polish people especially boomers have a hard on for USA due to their anti-communist stances, could be that he moved to move away from the soviet bloc.
You need more white. Polish cats are white with black spots and he looks like he’s black with white spots.
So this means he was born in the 20’s ? This actually could give some opportunities for his character ! So, i 1925, a popular military leader couped the democraticly electro goverment and installed a dictatorship, this tore many families Apart, for example, my great grandfather, only met his granpa when he was ten, because his Father was on the otherside of the debate when it came to the „sanation” (meaning healing or something to that extend in greek)the family was quite divided. He is in that Agę bracket where he could have Heard the rumors circulating the cities, when WW2 started, that germans were rounding up young men and executing them, and (just like my grandfather) could have tried to make a run for Warsaw. If you would like hear some more, Dm me ! I had the luck to meet the man, and told me quite a lot actually ! And if you would like I would love to help !
Call him Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz and you will win everyone’s hearts (paste this name into youtube).
Stererotypes are not always bad/untrue – 90% of people who emigrated from Poland into US like 40 years ago still think they know better what’s better for Poland and they vote in national elections (in embassies) according to what they see on Facebook/TV.
I got an idea for a backstory! He moved to the US to escape prison time because he was a member of NSZZ Solidarność, which was a major labour union in Poland that was responsible for the fall of the PRL and the rise of a democratic Poland.
Sorry if this sounds stereotypical. When I saw he is an owner of a manor I immediately thought he is a Jew. Poland had one of larger if not a largest Jew community before WW2. Many of them were assimilated into Polish nationality, taking polish names. After WW2 started many of them fled to US. This may be one of the origin of your character but you need to verify if it makes sense as I know nothing about Jewish culture and those times.
why not give him a distinctly Polish name? for example Leszek was common for that generation
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leszek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leszek)
It’s reaaally easy. First, you better change the surname to Brzeziński ,,ń’’ is important. He should sometimes say something about WWII, and the most important thing: he’ve got to like beer and vodka. Polish vodka. Then, nobody will have any doubts
Give him beaver friend :0 ,You could make here some interesting old friend thread
If Mr. Wiktor Brzezinski emigrated from his homeland in the 80’s then most probably the main reason for it was deep economical recession and difficult political situation in Poland. There were massive strikes and the communist regime declared martial law between 1981-1983. Many people faced repressions. After many hardships eventually communist regime yielded and allowed for partially democratic elections in 1989. It led to introduction of free market economy and further democratisation. You can use as it part of your chatacters past, but it depends on how deep you want to delve into history and how dark/tragic you want to make it. Polish people are seen as grumpy for a reason, most probably because of negative past experiences.
On other note: the Big Bear Lake area kinda reminds me of Czorsztyn Lake or Solina Lake located in southern mountauinous region of Poland. Those lakes are artificial and were built as reservoirs for dams. Several villages were evacuated and disappeared under water. Maybe Mr. Brzezinski settled in this part of California because it reminded him of his hometown?
I also find your idea for using Gacek the cat as inspiration as pretty brilliant.
You can have a scene where he is making a scene “my name is Brzeżiński, with ż and ń, why didn’t they include that in my id card?”
Siemka
You could also interview Polish immigrants to the US, who are 60, and left in the mid 90s. Or their kids (most also born in Poland) who are now in their mid 30s.
Me, I’m the kid.
To add a little touch that could bring him to life without him suddenly pulling out a plate of pierogi or swearing – he should always take off his shoes before entering a place people live in. If possible, he should offer some slippers for people visiting him.
I’d recommend watching a couple of good American movies/shows with Polish characters in it. The one that I like a lot is(although I haven’t seen it for years) is Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood. The main character Walt Kowalski(obviously) is Polish and he strangely resembles my dad which says a lot.
The other good show which comes to my mind is the 2nd season of The Wire, where the whole season is around polish community in the industrial city in the US.
In Sopranos, the family’s maid is Polish and in one the episodes you’ve got her husband around. I think he was a bit exaggerated, but you could sense some of his Polishness from him.
In general, remember that the generation of Polish immigrants who left the country in ‘60 was forced to do so by either Political or economical situation. In this case I would create a character who’s either well educated, knows geopolitics and escaped Poland because of a political reasons or simple physical worker who was lucky enough to leave the country and got to the US illegally. In both cases the character should be family oriented, patriotic(both Polish and American) and miss his homeland a lot.
Hi, I like your artstyle!
I think it’s pretty cool that the Polish guy is a cat! (unless all the characters are cats, but still)
Cats are often described as ,,selfish” animals who only walk their own paths, way more closed off when compared to dogs. They won’t bother snuggling up to you if you don’t give them space and respect first.
Polish people are stereotypically seen as very serious, rarely smiling and not liking small talk. People from other cultures might find them cold or scary, while for us it’s normal and we usually act pretty ,,professional” until we start to know someone a bit better.
So I think it’s very fun! Other than that, the most typical negative stereotypes of Poles (and most Slavics in general) is making us unintelligent and/or criminals. I’d suggest avoiding making specifically Slavic characters that way, but I can see that’s not the case here.
Anyway, I wish you all the luck with your story!
Here’s a suggestion If he is trying really hard to mantain his polish identity: His surname “Brzeziński” is written with a “ń”, not an “n”. You could make him get annoyed everytime someone misspelled his name.
Also, since this is taking place in the 80’s, you could make him have a backstory about having ties with Solidarność, which was an anti-communism movement in Poland. At it’s peak, it had around 10 million members, so you can imagine that Polish government felt threatned. So, in 1981 the communists started a country-wide lockdown and arresting a lot of Solidarność’s higher-ups. You can imagine that for a lot of people have run away. He might be depressed by what was happening in his country.
Now, since he is also the owner of an apartment building, it might be weird for him to move to the USA, and just like, 2 years later own a very profitable apartment complex while most Polish migrants would struggle a lot to find a simple job and learn english. I suggest 2 options:
1: He already has a family here, which helped him get back on his legs a lot quicker than others and he managed to get his hands on an apartment complex / get one as part od his family business (I wouldn’t recommend this one ’cause usually if you had a possible way out, you’d use it)
2: He’s already living in the US for quite some time now, let’s say since 50’s. His family used to work with AK (Polish army that started the warsaw uprising e.g.) in WW2. The thing is, in right-after-war Poland, for colaboration with the Nazi’s you’d get a smaller sentence than for working in the AK. Why? ‘Cause they wanted democratic Poland of course! And so with his family constantly oppressed by the communists, migration seemed like a great option. His family and he himself supports a lot of groups like solidarność. (I’d go with this one)
Here are my suggestions! And also, since the 80’s in Poland were a decade of constant changes, meaning every year something important would change, please tell me what exact year you have in mind so I can clarify some stuff.
He should be able to repair everything and make his own moonshine (bimber). He hates communism and has a boomer sense of humour.
Make him get mad when someone says he is from eastern Europe xD
early eighties? The time where there was MARTIAL LAW enacted you dont need reason you need a guide HOW TF HE ESCAPED.
Dude :
1. chill out, unless you present him as a car thief leeching of social benefits, while every other character is a professor, then ok…. but you are nowhere close to it
2. the reasons to immigrate in 80s for a Pole would be
a) economical reasons (but in practice difficult as passport was tricky to get, unless you were elderly and on pension, not impossible, just difficult, sometimes people just got it, sometimes were asked to rat on other people to secret police)
b) escape from state-sponsored antisemitism (though this mainly in 70s./late 60s)
c) pursuit of academic career
d) industrial espionage (google Marian Zacharski)
I think what usually people are missing is not the food, relationship with drinking or something like “likes to complain”. But very strong opinions about irrelevant things.
It’s not that he likes polish bread and hates the American one. He likes bread that is specifically from one bakery that did it with blended rye and wheat sourdough.
It’s not like he doesn’t care for American Football and watches soccer. He supports some 2nd league polish local team, absolutely hates the highest league and has a strongly worded opinion about the polish football association.
He despises drinking wódka and actually likes IPAs and complains about his polish brethern alcoholism personally preferring wine.
The complain a lot, reserved, stoic slav is very plain. What you have above gives him authenticity.
He might not be a fan of pierogi but absolutely addicted to ferments and having a whole diagram of the salt content for his special Kiszone Ogórki po Tatarsku with a shitton of garlic and pepper.
If your character left Poland in the eighties, then the natural reason would be that he or more likely his father (given the timeline) became persona non grata after communists introduced martial law to curb anti-communist sentiments in December 1981. He and his family might have been given one-way tickets by the government. Try autotranslating this document from the Polish National Memory Institute: https://ipn.gov.pl/pl/dla-mediow/komunikaty/175116,Milion-uchodzcow-Emigracja-stanu-wojennego.html
He might have also been caught abroad by the event and chosen not to return (although then you need a good reason why he was allowed abroad in the first place).
His last name is spelled as it was in his Polish passport, but sounds different when read in English. If he likes another character he might teach them to pronounce it correctly (Google translate will give you the correct Polish pronunciation, remember the tick above ń), which they will not be able to learn, or even hear the difference.
If he’s in his 60s now, he left Poland in his early 20s or maybe earlier, and had 40 years to assimilate – he’ll be nostalgic about Polish food, Christmas and Easter and such, but he wouldn’t be some kind of cultural fossil.
If he likes any of the stereotypically Polish food then you’re all good. Just don’t call them “pierogies”, “pierogi” is already plural. Just not ruskie cuz he’s a cat and onions are harmful to cats.