Naman Shrestha
Created by Anna Maliszewska, ‘Infamy’ is a Polish coming-of-age drama series that stars Zofia Jastrzębska as a 17-year-old girl named Gita who spends a significant amount of her childhood in the United Kingdom. When she returns to her Polish hometown along with her conservative family, her life turns upside down. With aspirations of becoming a hip-hop artist and making it big, Gita has a bigger task at hand — taking a stand for herself against her parents’ strict rules and regulations in order to realize her dreams.
At the same time, Gita must try and lead the life of a normal teenager as she falls in love and makes matters all the more complicated with her family. Originally titled ‘Infamia,’ the Netflix production features compelling onscreen performances from a group of talented actors, including Zofia Jastrzębska, Kamil Piotrowski, Sebastian Łach, Magdalena Czerwińska, Artur Dziurman, and Wanda Ranii Kozłowska. Since the series highlights several true-to-life themes, including larger-than-life dreams of teenagers and their complicated lives, the viewers are bound to wonder whether or not ‘Infamy’ has anything to do with true events. However, the story is not true.
Infamy is Based on an Original Screenplay
The series is the collaborative effort of the screenwriters — Anna Maliszewska, Dana Lukasinska, and Julita Olszewska. Given the experience of all three writers in the industry, they joined forces and with the help of their creative minds and exceptional writing skills, the trio conjured up the enthralling yet true-to-life script for the Netflix series.
The show involves various themes and elements, including conventional family values, complicated teenage lives, friendships, and ambition of becoming a musician, all of which reflect reality in one way or another. Most of us are either a part of one or know someone with a family who has traditional values and rules, which automatically is susceptible to make the life of a teenager all the more complicated, not to mention the obstacles one might have to face to become a musician without the family’s support.
Another one of the primary reasons why many of you might find the subject matter of ‘Infamy’ familiar is that these themes have been touched upon in a number of movies and TV shows, including ‘Begin Again,’ ‘Gully Boy,’ ‘A Star Is Born,’ and ‘8 Mile.’ One of the aptest examples has to be that of the 2021 coming-of-age drama movie ‘CODA.’ The English adaptation of the 2014 French-Belgian film ‘La Famille Bélier,’ the Sian Heder directorial revolves around the 17-year-old Ruby, the only hearing member of a deaf family.
Ruby not only acts as the interpreter for her parents but also works on the family’s struggling fishing boat, all while juggling her school life. However, when she joins her school’s choir club, she discovers her talent for singing and soon, finds herself attracted to her duet partner Miles. When her enthusiastic choirmaster recognizes her talent, he encourages her to apply to a prestigious music school to pursue a career in music. Now, Ruby must make a tough choice between her family and her dreams, just like Gita in ‘Infamy.’
The two movies in question — ‘Infamy’ and ‘CODA’ — share several similarities, not only in some aspects of the storyline but also when it comes to some characters. So, all in all, even though there are some hints of authenticity sprinkled throughout the narrative, it doesn’t change the fact that ‘Infamy’ is not rooted in reality and is a work of fiction.
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