Thinking About the Nordic Noir as a Global Genre - Movie Review Example

Thinking About the Nordic Noir As a “Global Genre”

For many years now, Scandinavians have narrated stories to the extent that this story-telling tradition is deeply entrenched in the region’s ancient literature. Towards the twentieth century, Nordic crime fiction had evolved and transformed into complex stories that explore crime from a broader perspective, as the sign of a ruined society (Sjørslev, 2014). In that respect, the last decade has witnessed a bourgeoning of the Scandinavian crime fiction, which has gradually become a household genre in global bestseller listings. Scandinavian fiction is primarily famed for its simple prose as well as dramatic plots and social criticism (Waade & Jensen, 2013). This type of fiction has significantly advanced into a multi-billion pounds industry. The term “Nordic Noir” has become popularized among the fans of Nordic crime fiction; also known as Scandinavian noir or Scandi noir, this genre fundamentally features Scandinavian crime fiction.

Nordic noir has been highly successful over the years, gaining massive audiences, fans and critics in equal measure all over the world while influencing regional trends respectively (Eichner & Waade, 2015). Equally, the acclaimed success of the Nordic crime fiction has inevitably resulted to the adoption of many novels into film and TV series. Nevertheless, new Nordic crime fiction films and TV series have also been created based on the ideals or principles of the Nordic noir genre. These Nordic noir films and TV series have gained massive popularity and following over the years, thereby getting neatly weaved within local, regional and global popular cultures (Waade & Jensen, 2013). With the rise of the Nordic noir genre and its unstoppable popularity, pertinent questions have emerged particularly about the global appeal of the genre. In that respect, this paper explores the question of the Nordic noir as a global genre; this discussion will show how the Nordic noir genre can be regarded as an international genre.

Origins of Nordic noir

The Swedish crime films can be traced to the 1940s, the same period within which the welfare state model emerged; thus, this explains contemporary Scandinavian crime fiction’s preoccupation with the violence and corruption of the state welfare (Sjørslev, 2014). Significantly, the Scandinavian crime fiction explores the dark side of the ideal modern society, as encapsulated in the concept of state welfare (Waade & Jensen, 2013). Thus, the cultural anxieties and subsequent contradictions of the emergent welfare state became the central thematic concerns of the Scandinavian crime films. While the term “film noir” was coined in 1946 by a French critic, Nino Frank, the 1940s and ’50s film noir trend was comprehensively conceptualized and popularized by Paul Schrader’s 1972 essay. In accordance with Schrader, the film noir trend was a response to the post WWII disillusionment and the desire for realism; thus, the Nordic noir integrated principles of the film noir with the Swedish crime narratives and concerns of the welfare state model.

The 1940s and 1950s film noirs were largely American crime dramas and psychological thrillers with certain definitive narrative and visual aspects such as low-key lighting, sad and desperate antiheroes, as well as unconventional use of lighting and shadows, among others (Waade & Jensen, 2013). The second wave of noir films, the so-called “neo noir”, emerged in the 1970s, focusing on thematic concerns of the present society (Helding, 2014). For instance, the neonoir concerned itself with issues such as identity crisis, technological issues as well as memory problems and the question of subjectivity. The Nordic noir is inspired by the narrative as well as stylistic and thematic ideas of the film noir, only that the former localizes these concepts through Nordic phenomena, setting, as well as climatic conditions, and language, among other strategies (Sjørslev, 2014).

While it can be agreed that the Nordic noir genre combines both the Scandinavian crime fiction and the film noir genre, the conceptualization of the Nordic noir is still a highly debatable issue. Nevertheless, the Nordic noir as a genre can be understood on the basis of three fundamental aspects namely, language, heroes and setting (Waade & Jensen, 2013); however, given that language is more to fiction than to film, heroes and settings are the most crucial elements of the Nordic noir. Following in the footsteps of the noir conventions, the Nordic noir depicts morally ambiguous characters who are social misfits, goal-oriented and fiercely assertive; the realism of the characters makes them easily identifiable by the audience (Waade & Jensen, 2013). Given Sweden’s pioneering role in sexual revolution (Shaw, 2015), the Nordic noir largely has strong female lead roles; they are not only flawed, but also sympathetic. In that respect, the Nordic noir portrays its characters as truly as possible, thus, they emerge as real people with their own acknowledged flaws; they do not always act as heroes or heroines (Sjørslev, 2014).In terms of setting, the Nordic noir narratives often unfold in desolate, unsettling landscapes, characteristic off isolation and loneliness (Waade & Jensen, 2013); the bleak Scandinavian landscapes are is most pertinent narrative component that mirrors the mental disposition or thoughts of the characters.

Nordic noir as a global genre

Scandinavian crime fiction, or basically Nordic noir as it is commonly referred to, has become a predominant brand not only in North America, but also across Europe since the 1990s (Helding, 2014). These Scandinavian crime films are widely distributed all over Europe and North America within geographically and linguistically varied markets, a feat that is yet to be achieved by any other European popular cultural form. Thus, the view that the Scandinavian crime film has become a transnational success, despite being a regionally based European popular cultural form, is one of the most fascinating and engaging topics today. In that respect, the following discussion considers the extent to which the Scandinavian crime film or basically the Nordic noir can be considered to be a global genre.

The gradual rise and subsequent prevalence of the Nordic noir genre across the Scandinavian countries and beyond has inspired significant fundamental questions in recent times. Having explored the origins of the genre, it is also essential to discuss some of the motivational factors that have transformed the Nordic noir genre into a global success in recent decades. Generally, the massive success of the Nordic noir genre has been attributed to the interplay of broader historical, socioeconomic, as well as cultural and demographic factors (Waade & Jensen, 2013). As a point of departure, the present discussion pursues the view that the concept of the Nordic noir can be viewed as an international genre, precisely because of a series of specific production values, which will be highlighted herein as follows.

The Nordic noir concept foregrounds the principle stylistic aspects cited earlier, including setting, heroes and settings, which make the genre recognizable internationally (Waade & Jensen, 2013). The portrayal of typical Nordic rural settings, visual styles, as well as seasonal climate and lighting is pertinent to the genre’s global appeal. Generally, the Nordic settings, language, climate and light conditions are not only used for their practical and dramaturgical effects, but also for their exoticism associations for the global audiences (Waade & Jensen, 2013). In other words, besides their unique stylistic appeal, the characteristic aspects of the Nordic noir are significant markers of the genre as something typically Nordic, particularly to international audiences. In that respect, the Nordic noir appeals to international audiences because it offers an alternative view of the Nordic countries through the landscapes it represents (Shaw, 2015), thereby giving them a rather exotic identity.

The Scandinavian crime fiction and/or films can generally be conceptualized as encounters between marginal and regional traditions and the American or global popular culture (Helding, 2014). This implies that the Nordic noir fundamentally follows in the tradition of earlier European experiments such as the Italian spaghetti western category, which was also inspired by the interplay between cross national and global attributes. In that case, it is clear that both Nordic noir and Scandinavian crime series are built on a strong Nordic tradition of aesthetic references; nevertheless, the genre also draws from the French, as well as British and American crime/thriller aesthetic tradition, in film, fiction and TV (Waade & Jensen, 2013). For instance, the most striking phenomenon of the Nordic noir as an international genre is its trademark “Nordic melancholy”, which has been the most pervasively acknowledged attribute of Nordic art, fiction, as well as film and music in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries respectively (Waade & Jensen, 2013). The genre’s characteristic Nordic melancholy is portrayed through the film’s protagonists’ inner psychological and personal situations, as well as conflicts; moreover, the Nordic melancholy is also expressed through external features such as landscapes, climate and nature, among others (Waade & Jensen, 2013). The film’s protagonists struggle to deal with profound issues in their relationships as well as personal emotional conflicts; thus, they are often lonely and contemplative.

Popular cultural forms such as films, fiction and music, among others, from individual European nation states, except the British variety, have largely been received with immense suspicion, not only by distributors, but also by audiences in neighbouring countries (Helding, 2014). For that matter, it has generally been acknowledged that popular films produced by national or subnational genres have not been circulated widely beyond the European markets, which implies that international audiences may not be familiar with them. Nevertheless, the Nordic noir seems to have broken all barriers, especially because of its wide distribution among geographically and linguistically diversified audiences (Waade & Jensen, 2013). The marketing and wide distribution of Nordic noir films has also contributed to their popularity as a global genre; for instance, Yellow Bird is one of the most expansive pan-Scandinavian production company that rose to prominence through the highly acclaimed Stieg Larsson adaptations. The company’s bold production and marketing strategies have largely contributed to the increasing visibility and popularity of the Nordic noir as a global genre. For instance, the company has largely been famed for turning Nordic bestsellers into blockbusters, thanks to itsfoundational globalized structure of approach to marketing and the global-oriented product distribution approach. The company strives to reach international audiences with its Nordic noir product offering, through its aggressive product marketing and distribution strategies and international co-productions with leading international production companies.

The concept of transculturation, the process through which marginal cultures select and reinvent themselves from the material culture of dominant cultures, aptly accounts for the global appeal of Nordic noir among geographically and linguistically diverse audiences (Helding, 2014). Transculturation fundamentally entails a vast range of practices, including, but not limited to the adoption of the co-production model, as well as thetransnational star power, and dubbing of films into English. All these practices and many others can be regarded as strategies for cultural adaptation and familiarization; in that case, these strategies aid in the creation of and promotion of a transnational European cinema. These strategies have been deployed effectively across other forms of Scandinavian or European popular culture with both critical and commercial success (Waade & Jensen, 2013).

The core objective of transculturation is to diminish the so-called cultural discount effect, whereby a cultural-specific media product becomes less appealing to audiences elsewhere (Helding, 2014). In other words, transculturation practices outlined above aim to reduce cultural-specificity in the Nordic noir, so that it can appeal to universal audiences through its stylistic references even as it remains distinctly Nordic in origin (Waade & Jensen, 2013). When popular cultural products remain distinctively localized within a single culture they may be unfamiliar to viewers from other cultures, who may find it extremely difficult to identify with their thematic and stylistic aspects, among other significant signposts. In that respect, the Nordic noir aspires to be global or universal, despite being a distinctive European popular cultural form in general and Nordic in particular.

Nevertheless, despite the widely acknowledged achievements of the Nordic noir in terms of circulation among geographically and linguistically disparate audiences, it does not necessarily imply that the genre has achieved a global viewership (Helding, 2014). Presently, Scandinavian crime films are still met with mixed reactions, particularly in the form of persisting forms of suspicion and slight tolerance akin to that accorded to other forms of European popular culture. This implies that the transnational and/or global circulation of the Nordic noir genre may not be as widespread as previously imagined after all, especially when limiting factors such as unfamiliarity of the Swedish stars, varied production values and language barrier are considered.

Language is a major determinant of the global reach of films, especially because it influences accessibility of their material by geographically and linguistically diverse audiences (Helding, 2014). The use of native Scandinavian languages in the film inevitably limits their circulation and consumption by audiences beyond the Nordic national states, thereby disqualifying the idea of the Nordic film as a widely consumed popular cultural product. Nevertheless, the Scandinavian crime fiction has attempted to overcome this barrier by translating spoken language through subtitles and dubbing into English. Nevertheless, dubbing is often perceived negatively, primarily because it undermines the realism of the Scandinavian crime film, thus it is rejected (Helding, 2014). On the other hand, subtitles are perceived to be the most acceptable mode of translation; nevertheless, the language problem generally causes most audiences to treat Scandinavian crime fiction with suspicion. This implies that the Nordic noir is not so readily accessible and may not be so widely consumed as a global popular cultural form as it is assumed.

Ultimately, this paper explored the question of the Nordic noir as a global genre, particularly with respect to how the Nordic noir genre can be regarded as an international genre. The preceding discussion has demonstrated that the Scandinavian crime fiction or basically Nordic Noir, as it is commonly referred to, is a predominant brand not only in North America, but also across Europe since the 1990s. These Scandinavian crime films have been distributed widely across Europe and North America, within geographically and linguistically varied markets, a feat that is yet to be achieved by any other European popular cultural form of its kind from the history of time. Thus, the view that the Scandinavian crime film has become a transnational success, despite being a regionally based European popular cultural form, may not be totally unfounded or so far-fetched after all. The Nordic noir has been highly successful over the years and is still gaining popularity, massive audiences, fans and critics in equal measures all over the world while also influencing regional and global trends respectively. The new Nordic crime fiction films and TV series have been created based on the ideals or principles of the Nordic noir genre and are continuously being neatly weaved within the fabric of the local, regional and global popular cultures. Generally, the remarkable success of the Nordic noir as a genre can be attributed to the interplay of broader historical, socioeconomic, as well as cultural and demographic factors. The preceding discussion shows that the concept of the Nordic noir can be viewed as an international genre, precisely because of a series of specific production values, which attempt to reduce the effect of cultural discount in the genre. As a global popular cultural form, the Scandinavian crime fiction and/or film can be conceptualized as an encounter between marginal and regional traditions and the American or global popular culture.