Abstract:
In this chapter, I assert that in the contemporary culture the role of folklore is
partially occupied by tabloids. Based on the analysis of the texts published in two
Polish tabloids (“Fact” and “Super Express”) I show that, you can talk about three basic aspects of the functioning of folklore in this type of newspapers, which
are: 1) topics, themes and motifs taken from old or modern oral stories; 2) the
tendency to fictionalisation and dramatization of events described which results
in the emergence of different variants of the same story; 3) the use of traditional
friend-foe opposition to explain many current situations and events and the
creation of certain aspects of collective identity.