The female detective as the child who needs to know. Saga Norén as an example of potent yet dysfunctional female detectives in contemporary Nordic Noir

Camilla Schwartz; E. Ann Kaplan

doi:10.1515/ejss-2018-0017

Article

The female detective as the child who needs to know. Saga Norén as an example of potent yet dysfunctional female detectives in contemporary Nordic Noir

Camilla Schwartz and E. Ann Kaplan

Published/Copyright: October 17, 2018

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Author Information Explore this Subject

From the journal European Journal of Scandinavian Studies Volume 48 Issue 2

Abstract

The global popularity of Nordic Noir, such as the Danish/Swedish production Broen, The Danish production Forbrydelsen, its U.S. and U.K. remakes, the Danish/Swedish production The Millennium Trilogy seems to depend on its insistent interest in a set of maladjusted female detectives. The by now seven seasons of the U.S production Homeland have a similar focus. In this essay, we argue that the struggle these female protagonists endure between extreme potency on the one hand and shameful psychic problems on the other is linked to how these female detectives represent the female position in film in general. Turning to traditional and ongoing discussions in feminist film theory, and combining queer studies and sociological and psychoanalytic perspectives with recognition theory (Felski/Coplan), we ask how we as spectators relate to these women in terms of recognition. In line with that, we ask whether these female detectives should be considered feminist icons who challenge traditional gendered poses on film, or whether, due to their dysfunctionalities, they came to represent some kind of otherness that we sympathize with but also fail to identify with.

Funding source: Danmarks Grundforskningsfond

Award Identifier / Grant number: DNRF127

Funding statement: The authors are associated with the research project “Uses of Literature. The Social Dimensions of Literature at University of Southern Denmark.” They wish to thank the Danish National Research Foundation – grant nr. DNRF127.

References

Films

Alfredson, Daniel 2009: The girl who played with fire and The girl who kicked the hornet’s nest (The Millennium Trilogy). Sweden.Search in Google Scholar

Apelgren, E. Stephan et al. 2005–2013: Wallander. Based on the novels by Henning Mankell. Sweden.Search in Google Scholar

Arden Oplev, Niels 2009: The girl with the dragon tattoo (The Millennium Trilogy). Sweden.Search in Google Scholar

Barfoed, Kasper et al. 2013–2016: Dicte. Based on the novels by Elsebeth Egholm. Denmark.Search in Google Scholar

Campion, Jane 2017: Top of the Lake: China Girl. UK.Search in Google Scholar

Cubitt, Allan 2013: The Fall. UK.Search in Google Scholar

Gordon, Howard/Ganza, Alex 2011–2017: Homeland. USA.Search in Google Scholar

Hamrell E. Harald et al. 1997–2016: Beck. Based on the novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlö. Sweden.Search in Google Scholar

Petrelius, Rickard 2012–2014: Fjällbackamorden (The Fjällbacka Murders). Based on the novels by Camilla Läckberg. Sweden.Search in Google Scholar

Price, Adam 2006–2008: Anna Pihl. TV2. Denmark.Search in Google Scholar

Martin, Philip/MacCormick, Niall 2008–2010: Wallander. Based on the novels by Henning Mankell. UK.Search in Google Scholar

Moffat, Steven/Gatiss, Mark 2010–2014: Sherlock Holmes. Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. UK.Search in Google Scholar

Mårlind, Måns/Stein, Björn 2016: Midnight Sun (Midnatssol). Sweden/France.Search in Google Scholar

Nyholm, Kristoffer et al. 2007–2012: Forbrydelsen. Denmark.Search in Google Scholar

Richards, Ben 2013–2017: The Tunnel. UK.Search in Google Scholar

Rosenfeldt, Hans 2011–2018: Broen. Denmark and Sweden.Search in Google Scholar

Siwe, Lisa/Maserrat Agah, Mani 2015–2017: Modus. Based on the novels by Anne Holt. Sweden.Search in Google Scholar

Stiehm, Meredith/Reid, Elwood 2013: The Bridge. USA.Search in Google Scholar

Secondary literature

Ahmed, Sara 2000: Strange Encounters: Embodied Others in Post-Coloniality. London.Search in Google Scholar

Butler, Judith 2006: Gender Trouble.Search in Google Scholar

Coplan, Amy 2004: “Empathic Engagement with Narrative Fictions.” In: The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 62:2.10.1111/j.1540-594X.2004.00147.xSearch in Google Scholar

Felski, Rita 2008: Uses of Literature.10.1002/9781444302790Search in Google Scholar

Halberstam, Judith 1998: Female Masculinity. London.10.1515/9781478002703Search in Google Scholar

Hochscherf, Tobias and Heidi Philipsen 2017: Beyond the Bridge. Contemporary Danish Television Drama.10.5040/9781350985520Search in Google Scholar

Hyldgaard, Kirsten 2014: Eksistensens galskab. Freudo-Lacanianske tilgange til videnskab, kunst, kultur. København.Search in Google Scholar

Kaplan, E. Ann 1983/2000: Women in Film: Both Sides of the Camera. New York.10.4324/9780203328149Search in Google Scholar

Kaplan, E. Ann 1992: Motherhood and Representation: The Mother in Popular Culture and Melodrama. New York.Search in Google Scholar

Kärrholm, Sara and Kersten Bergman 2011: Kriminallitteratur. Lund.Search in Google Scholar

Kennedy, E. 2012: “The Killing 3: Was this really a fitting end for Sarah Lund?” In: The Guardian Dec. 17. https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/dec/17/killing-perfect-ending.Search in Google Scholar

Klitgaard Povlsen, Karen 2010: “Anna Pihl – Mor(d) på Bellahøj Politistation.” In: Agger, Gunhild/Waade, Anne Marit (red.): Den skandinaviske krimi. Bestseller og blockbuster.Search in Google Scholar

Leffler, Yvonne 2013: “Lisbeth Salander as a Melodramatic Heroine: Emotional Conflicts, Split Focalization, and Changing Roles in Scandinavian Crime Fiction.” In: Åström, Berit/Gregersdotter, Katarina/Horeck, Tanya (red.): Rape in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy and Beyond.10.1057/9781137291639_4Search in Google Scholar

Leffler, Yvonne 2015: “Lisbeth Salander as Pippi Longstocking.” In: Post45 (6/7.2015): http://post45.research.yale.edu/2015/06/lisbeth-salander-as-pippi-longstocking/.Search in Google Scholar

Martin, Emily 2009: Bipolar expeditions. Mania and Depression in American Culture. Princeton.Search in Google Scholar

Mikula, Maja 2004: “Lara Croft, Between a Feminist Icon and Male Fantasy.” In: Schubart, Rikke/Gjelsvik, Anne (red.): Femme Fatalities. Representations of Strong Women in the Media. Göteborg.Search in Google Scholar

Mulvey, Laura 1975/1999: ”Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” In: Braudy, Leo/Cohen,Marshall (red.): Film Theory and Critisism: Introductory Readings. New York.10.1007/978-1-349-14428-0_27Search in Google Scholar

Mccorristine, Shane 2011: “The Place of Pessimism in Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander Series.” In: Nestingen, Andrew/Arvas, Paula (red.): Scandinavian Crime Fiction. Wales.Search in Google Scholar

Tapper, Michael 2010: “Hans kropp – samhället själv. Manliga svenska mordspanare på älderns höst. Kommissarie Jensen, Martin Beck, Kurt Wallander och Van Veeteren.” In: Agger, Gunhild/Waade, Anne Marit (red.): Den skandinaviske krimi. Bestseller og Blockbuster.Search in Google Scholar

Townsend, Lucy 2015: “How The Bridge’s heroine became a role model for women with autism.” In: BBC News, 9/12.2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/disability-34995327.Search in Google Scholar

Thomson, Zoë Brigley 2013: “Male Fantasy, Sexual Exploitation, and the Femme Fatale: Reframing Scripts of Power and Gender in Neo-Noir Novels by Sara Paretsky, Megan Abbolt and Stieg Larsson.” In: Åström, Berit/Gregersdotter, Katarina/Horeck, Tanya (red.), Rape in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy and Beyond.10.1057/9781137291639_9Search in Google Scholar

Žižek, Slavoj 1992: Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan Through Popular Culture. Cambridge.Search in Google Scholar

National Autistic Society, Twitter: https://twitter.com/Autism?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2018-10-17

Published in Print: 2018-10-25

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/ejss-2018-0017