SFT C 2011: Home Exam Swedish Film&Television Culture

Sebastian Hger (790530-P417)

_Part 1
2. Television and Film in Sweden On this course, you have been introduced to the history of Swedish cinema as well as aspects of Swedish television culture. The relationship between television and film in Sweden can be compared to developments in other parts of the world, and it is possible to identify technology, genres and formats as to some extent transnational. At the same time, there are also tendencies that can be seen as specific to the Swedish national context. Discuss how the introduction of television affected moving image culture in Sweden, explaining the difference between the two media and placing Swedish television in an international context.

The following text will focus on different affects that the introduction of television had on the moving image culture in Sweden. I will start with a short overview of the post-war situation in Sweden around the 1950s in terms of the film industry, then followed by different possible aspects of influences that the establishment of TV had on the moving image culture in Sweden. When it comes to the causes of the decline of cinema in Sweden and the transformation of the moving image culture, there are different theories. The most prominent argument is a convenient starting point of my argument, the thesis of the introduction of television in 1956 as the triggering factor of this change. This thesis is substantiated by a study of Swedish feature film productions by Alfred Paulus, who notes: "A decline of visitors [of movie theatres, S.H.] from a total of 20 million occurs during the construction phase of television, between 1957 and 1959."1 In my description of the different changes I will focus less on the structure of television from a historical-structural perspective but rather on the development of form and content of program formats and genres and the role of technical innovations in the wake of the increasing establishment of the medium. In this discussion I will refer to developments in the period between 1956 and 1970. In my opinion, the "revolution of television" cannot be looked at without the involvement of structural prerequisites of the previous years in terms of society and the film industry I would like to mention them here. The postwar period was a difficult time for the film industry, because the film production became a decreasingly lucrative undertaking. Production costs rose by 20% with simultaneous decrease of the income of the population by 10%. The entertainment tax was increased in 1948 to 39% by the state. The film industry responded to the increasing state restrictions with the "Stop Movie" in 1951. In

1 Paulus, Alfred, Schwedische Spielfilmproduktion 1955-1963. Analyse ihrer Voraussetzungen und Tendenzen (Tbingen: Gunter Narr Verlag,1984), 59

SFT C 2011: Home Exam Swedish Film&Television Culture

Sebastian Hger (790530-P417)

this "strike" phase, no new movies were made. 2 As a result, the financial restrictions were relaxed for the film industry and taxes were paid back in parts. But also the audience saw itself confronted with a new situation in post-war Sweden. Society formed itself anew, became increasingly pluralistic and people began to pick up leisure pastimes and began to save their money.3 Thus we can say that the Swedish film at the time of the introduction of television was in a crisis. Looking at literature, we find the term "crisis" used in the context of economic aspects, but also in terms of artistic and qualitative aspects.4 The response to the "new" medium of television was very different. A publication about the correlation of the absence of visitors of movie theatres and certain Saturday-evening entertainment programs on TV in the consultation organ Biografgaren No.6 (1958), triggered a vehement lobbying of the association of cinema owners- up to calls for a boycott of TV.5 On the other hand, there were also voices that pointed out the innovative potential of the new medium. The Swedish writer Goran Palm welcomed the new medium because it could promote a competition with film in artistic term and represent a challenge for the film industry to develop and improve artistically.6 As for the cinematic landscape the increasing slump in visitor numbers resulted in the closure of many movie theatres in particularly rural areas. 7 It is worth mentioning, that this was not only caused by the crisis of the film and the increasing establishment of television, but also by demographic changes within the population and increasing urbanization. While in rural areas, especially the small independent cinemas fell victim to the larger companies in bigger cities, the latter were mostly spared. Quite the contrary, they benefited from the "death" of the small cinemas and by buying them up they were able to expand their distribution. 8 An important thing to acknowledge is that television in Sweden, like in the rest of Europe, was a public service institution to a large degree- unlike the United States, where television was more of a commercial enterprise.9 Speaking about Swedish television it can be mentioned, that from the time of its establishment and for around two decades to follow, there was only one single channel. The BBC and the National Film Board of Canada (NFBC) served as a role model for the Swedish television channel.10 Television was a kind of illustrated radio with entertaining and educational

2 cf. Soila, Tytti, Sweden in Nordic National Cinemas, eds. Tytti Soila, Astrid Sderbergh Widding, Gunnar Iversen (London and New York:Routledge, 1998), 193 3 cf. ibid. 4 cf. Paulus, 58 5 cf. Paulus, 66 6 cf. Paulus, 58 7 cf. Paulus, 65 8 cf. Paulus, 64 9 cf. Olsson, Jan, One Commercial Week: Television in Sweden Prior to Public Service. In Television After TV: Essays on a Medium in Transition, eds. Lynn Spigel and Jan Olsson (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2004), 249 10 cf. Wahlberg, Malin, Art Film on Prime Time: Documentary, Public Education and Intermediality in Early Swedish Television. (Chapter in forthcoming book), 7

SFT C 2011: Home Exam Swedish Film&Television Culture

Sebastian Hger (790530-P417)

topics. The tasks of television conveyed by politicians and investigators were popular education, spreading of culture and general improvement of the public taste.11 Shortly after the introduction of television, a Film Unit was established, of which filmmaker Lennart Ehrenborg who had an artistic background was the director and producer. The Film Units tasks were to produce documentary films and to purchase, rent and edit foreign films.12 With Ehrenborgs artistic background the Film Unit became a creative playground for a new generation of young Swedish film makers, who were given the chance to produce content without any restricted dogma. Due to technical innovations, such as the distribution of the 16mm camera technique which was manageable for amateur, the medium of film was democratized. The film unit with its open structure represented a significant part in this development; it broadcasted the much more practical and cheaper 16mm material and discovered it for television. 13 Filmmakers, actors and musicians, were offered a platform by the film unit to practically deal with the medium and to explore its potentiality in different directions and to "research" it. "Working together with young filmmakers with no previous experience developed into something of a film school at the Film Unit."14 Since of a TV program comprised of cinematic content, there was a constant demand for new material. Films were also acquired through tenderings and competitions, making everyone with access to a camera a potential filmmaker. The winning entries were broadcasted on television. Essential to the use of the medium of film was the recovered understanding of it as an innovative form of play. The decline of movie theatre visitors was not solely caused by the advent of television, but also by a qualitative crisis of film, a missing perception of changing structures of audiences- and the absence of a strategy to handle new developments. 15 Television was the more dynamic medium, because the code for its structure was just being written. Kleberg therefore speaks of the "TV's experiment and training period".16 While the film industry continued to be based on tradition and trends, and trusted on tried and tested formats such as adaptations of famous Swedish literature, 17 television did not only experiment with the medium in a technical way, but also formally in terms of innovative new program formats and genres which resulted from it. The organizational structure of the channels program was divided into equal parts of broadcasting time of the following programs: children and youth, culture, social issues, public life, theater and entertainment. 18 The output could thus be

11 cf. Kleberg, Madeleine, The History of Swedish Television three stages. In Television in Scandinavia. History, Politics and Aesthetics., eds. Ib Bondebjerg and Francesco Bono (Luton: John Libbey Media, 1996), 189 12 Wahlberg, 4 13 cf. Wahlberg, 1 14 Wahlberg, 4 15 cf. Paulus, 69 16 Kleberg, 190 17 cf. Paulus, 68 18 cf. Kleberg, 190

SFT C 2011: Home Exam Swedish Film&Television Culture

Sebastian Hger (790530-P417)

"characterized by great variety and satisfy different interests of the audience". 19 With this codex, the differentiated needs of the audience were complied with much more than it previously was the case in film. The wish was formulated: "TV could take part in fostering and entertaining in a traditional spirit of general education. People would be cultivated and popular taste refined."20 This is what the Film Unit defined as its top priority on its agenda. The audience should be "educated" through the medium of film in the direction of an aesthetic Bildung. 21 Art films and cultural programs were the central focus of the Film Units productions. In the 1950s and 1960s there wasnt any specific or defined term of documentary yet. Documentary was more a general term for a blend of amateur and short films and itself subordinated to the art film genre. The freedom given to the filmmakers led to a playful variation of the three typical categories: the portrayal of an artist, the lecture and the drama biography.22 It became stylistically more and more a kind of visual collage, as talking heads, interviews, represented art and footage material were mixed up together. The art film got more and more important and broadened the spectrum of the program.23 This phenomenon reflects an international situation as in many other European countries art films represented an important feature in TV broadcasting. A program bank which was the result of annual meetings of producers from different European countries, helped to establish a structure for the distribution of international TV films and here predominantly documentaries about art, architecture and cultural history. 24 Thats why art film itself constantly developed in numerous directions and most significantly as it started to shift from the object of art to the subject, the artist. 25 The artist was given a voice and his everyday life has been depicted vividly by shooting with two cameras that focused on different aspects that were edited parallel together.26 The idea behind was to get a live-look outside the studio, something that became Ehrenborg and his companions dominant aim over the years. There we see that it is important to emphasize that the art documentary was not merely a TV programme about art, but was also regarded in terms of film art as a potential expression of the creative possibilities engendered by the film medium.27

What conclusions can be drawn from the preceding facts? Starting from the question to what extent the introduction of television influenced the moving image
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 ibid. ibid. Wahlberg, 6 ibid. cf. Wahlberg, 10 cf. Wahlberg, 5 cf. Wahlberg, 16 cf. Wahlberg, 8 ibid.

SFT C 2011: Home Exam Swedish Film&Television Culture

Sebastian Hger (790530-P417)

culture of Sweden, different factors were identified and classified. It can be said that with the spread of television, the cinema landscape of Sweden was minimized and restructured. Smaller theaters in rural areas and in small towns fell victim to the revolution of television or were bought up by larger companies. With the increasing popularity of television the consumption of films shifted from the public space of the cinema to the private area of the living room. Thus film became part of everyday life.28 Furthermore, technical innovations within the extended area of television -camera techniqueenabled amateurs to participate in the creative process and the cinematic implementation of commercial television. In Sweden, a new generation of innovative young film directors was brought forth, who gave new forms the novel medium. One of these new formats that were given its final touch by television was the documentary, in Sweden particularly in connection with art and cultural history. The hope of the documentary and art films in particular was to bring about the democratization of high culture and to break the exclusivity of access to knowledge and aesthetic education in society. ".. [T]elevision might become a good popularizer', and partially counteract this tendency [of exclusiveness, S.H.]". 29 Film was in the medium of television increasingly produced in a way to gain liveness. This led to the creation of a feeling of being involved and part of the filmmaking process of the audience. The distance to the medium got thus less. Concerning the phenomenon of television in the international context, it can be said that the decision was made in favor of a non-commercial structure under government control, all though the United States with its commercial structure served as a role model. As for the content of the program structure, there are parallels to other European nations in terms of the aforementioned art film: "In line with the program offered in many other countries the art film represented an important element in Swedish TV broadcasts ..."30

28 cf. Wahlberg, 21 29 cf. Wahlberg, 14 30 Wahlberg , 2

SFT C 2011: Home Exam Swedish Film&Television Culture

Sebastian Hger (790530-P417)

_Part 2
Film Analysis Analyse one of the feature-length films screened on this course as an example of Swedish cinema. You can choose any film shown in the compulsory screenings except the one you already wrote about in your unassessed film analysis assignment. Focus on a particular topic in theme or style that allows you to connect your analysis to the course literature about Swedish film. Please note that while Corrigans A Short Guide to Writing About Film may help you with terminology, structure and general writing skills, in this analysis you should engage explicitly with relevant texts about Swedish film.

Film Analysis of Jalla Jalla, Josef Fares (2000)

Josef Fares movie "Jalla Jalla" (2000) represents a genre of Immigrant Film a new Swedish film culture phenomenon. The film tells the story on one hand of Roro, a young Lebanese immigrant who works as a park cleaner, is in a happy relationship with the Swedish Lisa but will be married by his tradition-conscious parents, with a young Lebanese woman. If these plans are not turned into reality, the young Yasmin will be sent back to her family to Lebanon, while Roro expects to get troubled by his father. The second narrative is devoted to his friend and colleague Mns, who is plagued with sexual impotence and tries different ways to get back to his old manhood. Even though Mns himself does not have a migrant background, and is not involved in a cultural conflict, his character is very important for the interpretation of the representation of the migration issue. (For a more detailed explanation, see the last paragraph.) The film takes place in a typical setting of film genres since the 90s, the urban area.1 However, it is not specified in which city the story takes place, allowing transferability to every major city of Sweden. A mentionable novelty about the genre of the Immigrant Film is the replacement of a one-sided (Swedish) perspective on foreign cultures formerly prominent in Swedish film culture
2

by

establishing a new perspective: Jalla Jalla is a film about migrants made by migrants. The film tells stories from the characters everyday life in terms of family, relationship, work and friendship and is embedded in Sweden at the turn of the millennium, a Sweden with a formerly very homogenous population with few ethnic minorities that has been transformed into a multi-ethnic society. Fares', himself of Lebanese descent, grants glimpses into the Sweden of the globalized era through his two protagonists-Roro, who is Lebanese and part of an immigrant "minority" and Mns,
1 cf. Wright Rochelle, 'Immigrant Film' in Sweden at the Millenium. In Transnational Cinema in a Global North. Nordic Cinema in Transition, eds. Andrew Nestingen and Trevor G Elkington (Detroit: Wayne State University . Press, 2005), 61 2 cf. Wright, 59

SFT C 2011: Home Exam Swedish Film&Television Culture

Sebastian Hger (790530-P417)

who contravenes the stereotype of the blond Swede by being bald. In "Jalla Jalla", the two do not represent or work as cultural stereotypes, as it was the case in many previous movies with a similar originating condition, but they are allowed to "just" be Roro and Mns- able to tease each other about the respective cultural stereotypes and idiosyncrasies- as for example in the scene with the bird cage on the balcony of Roros apartment: Mns: "You and your Arab bird"; Roro: "This is not an Arab bird, the bird is a Lebanese." Since the genre of Immigrant Film in this case refers primarily to the origin of the film and the problems described, and since movies rarely represent only one genre, "Jalla Jalla" can additionally be added to the genre of comedy because of its content and thematic representation. This should be noted because the frame of the story is a humorous one- Roros and Yasmins behavior- which does not follow their families original plans of marriage- does not lead to any serious consequence. The brawl at the wedding at the end of the film is indeed presented as such, but Roros father, who uses his big belly as a weapon to solve physical conflicts, caricatures this portrayal of violence, which in another case might have been too authentic. In a more drastic illustration, an honor killing might have been an obvious end. The image of immigrants which is depicted in the film picks up the presentation of the "new Swedes" of immigrant films of the 1970s.3 The stereotypical portrayal of the "alien" in films of previous decades up to the 1960s was the following: negatively connoted as a potential threat up to the imputation of envy and malice as inherent characteristics. 4 This racist illustration was replaced by a more diverse one [.]. Thus the evolution of the genre reflects Swedish history of migration. The separating view of a "them amongst us" turned to the inclusion of immigrants into a Sweden that becomes gradually more international from the 1970s on. Presented here were "various immigrant subgroups largely from their own point of view, revealing both how they define themselves vis--vis the dominant culture and how they perceive its attitudes towards them."
5

"Jalla Jalla" is one step ahead of this view, because the protagonists belong to the generation of the "new comers" of the 1970s. Their identity is not made a subject in relation to the hegemonic culture, but as a fully incorporated part of it- as "normal". There is no scene in the film in which Roro is presented in tension with the Swedish culture; he is not subjected to the "cultural other. Rather, his problems originate from an intra-cultural conflict of tradition with his father and his grandmother. Both initially put him under verbal pressure to marry and later take the initiative to seek a wife for him, by organizing a get-together of Roro with Paul's sister Yasmin. This constant pressure keeps him from introducing his girlfriend Lisa to his family up

3 ibid. 4 cf. Wright, 57 5 Wright, 59

SFT C 2011: Home Exam Swedish Film&Television Culture

Sebastian Hger (790530-P417)

to the wedding at the end of the film- a fact which puts their relationship to a breaking test. In contrast to an earlier representation of the Swede who was formerly represented as prejudiced towards foreign cultures 6 , an entirely positive image is drawn in Jalla Jalla. Lisas father symbolizes the modern archetype of the Swede who is culturally open. At no point of the film he refuses Roro, even when the truth about the Roros and Yasmins pretended wedding comes out and Lisa turns away from him. He opens the door to him without reservation to allow him to talk to his daughter in order to clear up the misunderstanding about the marriage and to bring them back together again. As mentioned at the beginning, Mns role is important for this new form of immigrant film. In his role as a representative of the "dominant culture" of the Swedish he might be seen as the opponent of Roro-the constituent element that allows drawing the line of difference of "us" and "them". Due to his uncharacteristic presentation of the Swede as a sexually impotent bald head, identification for a Swedish audience becomes difficult. He does not embody an ideal type that is worth aspiring to: Like Roro he works as a park cleaner and his social life amounts to the sleepy relationship to his girlfriend, which results in erectile difficulties on his part. On the other hand we experience his encounters with major instances of the migrated culture through his perspective, for example, when he and Roro sit together in Roros home at the kitchen table to eat lunch or when they visit Roros father at his work in a store. In the scene at the kitchen table, he embodies the position of the spectator, he reacts irritated by the huge vegetable and does not really know how to eat it. In the store scene, we see Roros father in a stereotypical working environment as he haggles with a Swede about the price of plate, he is observed by Roro and Mns. What is interesting about the scene is that Mns is disappointed when Roros father and the customer agree on a price of 40 crowns, since this was the initial price negotiation. When the father then pushes the price to 60 crowns, Mns is visibly impressed. What we see in the scene is the old stereotypical narrative of the "foreigner" as someone trying to take advantage of the Swedes. Mns however, does not take the side of his countryman, but on the contrary reacts impressed when he is bamboozled by Roros father. This originally negative stereotype is transformed into a positive approach by Mns reaction. The arguments I have presented show that the genre of immigrant films has diversified greatly as compared to its historical roots. The view on migrants is not just presented from a bird's eye perspective, but their insight is included in the representation of social reality. In the wake of globalization and differentiation of the population they are not only represented as certain minority groups, but as an overall societal cross-section. With the acquisition of the "foreign" perspective stereotypical and negative portrayals disappeared and changed towards an opening and rewarding insight into the counterpart of the other culture.
6 cf. Wright, 60

SFT C 2011: Home Exam Swedish Film&Television Culture

Sebastian Hger (790530-P417)

Bibliography:

Kleberg, Madeleine. The History of Swedish Television - three stages. In Television in Scandinavia. History, Politics and Aesthetics, eds. Ib Bondebjerg and Francesco Bono, 182-207. Luton: John Libbey Media, 1996. Olsson, Jan. One Commercial Week: Television in Sweden Prior to Public Service. In Television After TV: Essays on a Medium in Transition, eds. Lynn Spigel and Jan Olsson, 249-269. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2004. Paulus, Alfred. Schwedische Spielfilmproduktion 1955-1963. Analyse ihrer Voraussetzungen und Tendenzen. Tbingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1984. Soila, Tytti. Sweden. In Nordic National Cinemas, eds. Tytti Soila, Astrid Sderbergh Widding, Gunnar Iversen, 135-220. London and New York: Routledge, 1998. Wahlberg, Malin. Art Film on Prime Time: Documentary, Public Education and Intermediality in Early Swedish Television. 1-29. (Chapter in forthcoming book)

for the Film Analysis: Wright Rochelle. Immigrant Film in Sweden at the Millenium. In Transnational Cinema in a Global North. Nordic Cinema in Transition, eds. Andrew Nestingen and Trevor G.Elkington, 55-72. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005.