Articoli di riviste sul tema "Forbrydelser"

Vi kender først og fremmest ”hacking” som en forbrydelse. De større, opsigtsvækkende ”hacking”-angreb hører vi om i nyhederne. Dog bliver ”hacking”-metoden nu også italesat som en it-sikkerheds-kompetence. Således udbydes flere steder kurser i ”hacking”, og Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste har oprettet et ”Hackerakademi” for at rekruttere talenter til statens tjeneste. Begrebet ”hacking” kan skabe forvirring, for alt er ikke tilladt for at optimere eller teste sikkerheden ved it-systemer. Denne artikel klarlægger, hvornår der straffes for ”hacking” efter straffeloven. Desuden undersøges, om en it-sikkerhedsaktør må bruge ”hacking” som et forsvar, når it-systemer bliver angrebet af en fjendtlig ”hacker”. I artiklen illustreres, at det kan være vanskeligt at forudsige, hvor grænserne for strafansvar går for den, der vil optimere sikkerheden ved sine systemer.

AbstractThis article investigates recent legal developments regarding the practice of so-called »LGBT+ conversion therapy«. It analyses what positive obligations the Nordic states bear to protect LGBT+ youth against practices of ‘conversion treatments’ under international and regional human rights law. It then goes on to consider the challenges of criminalizing ‘conversion therapy’ and reviews the new Norwegian draft law proposal on its criminalization. The article concludes that the rather limited Nordic debate on the issue has been narrowly focused on balancing the right to privacy against the right to religious freedom. Furthermore, it has failed to pay sufficient attention to the positive obligations states have to protect the dignity of vulnerable groups against degrading and cruel treatment. Finally, the article discusses how measures outside of the criminal law can be used to protect LGBT+ youth against practices like ‘continuing none-acceptance’ that do not fall within the scope of actual ‘conversion therapy’, but which can still cause long-term harm. The article argues that non-acceptance of a child’s sexuality or gender identity might amount to a breach of the parental guardian’s duty of care.

This article focuses on the short lived Turkish police procedural TV series, Cinayet (The Murder, Akbel Film and Adam Film, 2014) which is a scripted format adaptation of the celebrated Danish crime drama Forbrydelsen (DR, 2007-2012). By making a comparative textual analysis of the series, the article intends to emphasize the significance of ‘aesthetic proximity’ as a concept in discussing the global flow of television content and to reveal the challenges of adapting a scripted format which is stylistically different than the local stylistic conventions.

Az Egy gyilkos ügy című dán sorozat (Forbrydelsen. Søren Sveistrup, 2007-2012) nemzetközi népszerűségre tett szert az elmúlt években. A krimi hermeneutikai kódját követő sorozat egymást követő évadaiban az első epizódban megjelenő rejtély megoldásához vezető, racionális útvonal rajzolódik ki Sarah Lund nyomozónő munkája nyomán. A sorozat azon neonoir próbálkozások folytatásaként értelmezhető, melyek célja a film noir hagyományos szereposztásának megkérdőjelezése: a femme fatale veszélyes érzékisége helyett a nyomozás szolgálatába állított női intuíció kerül a középpontba. A narratív szintek megsokszorozása az igazság megtalálásának nehézségeivel szembesíti a nézőt, valamint a valóság és látszat, magánélet és politikai imázs között feszülő ellentétek kibontását segíti.

As Erika Fischer-Lichte remarked, the great Polish theatre theorist Jerzy Grotowski redefined the notion of the body of the actor as an embodied mind, as a responsive and responding self. Conversely, law abjures the body, its interpreters – lawyers and scholars – inured in practices of rationality, reason and logic, or mindful disembodiment. Travelling through the Danish capital, encountering Danes real and fictitious to illustrate how much we function through our bodies, this essay suggests that we are better and more effective legal interpreters as embodied minds, rather than disembodied minds. But this is not mindless embodiment, a mere reflex or bodily outburst. The embodied mind is self-aware (physically, socially, intellectually) and possesses the same embodied virtuous morality held by Grotowski’s actors. Reminiscent of Kierkegaard’s uniting of the mind-body divide, this connected mind and body challenges the Augustinian negation of the body and associated interpretative assumptions inherited over centuries of legal thought.

In this article, I study transnational crime TV through a key recurring textual element—serial narrative—to understand how it creates terms of transnational legibility in a major import market, the United States. These programs’ serial form both suits the ecology of the U.S. post-network era and articulates aesthetic and ideological norms recognizable to U.S. audiences. Imported serial crime TV is tied to multiple genres and familiar tropes of gender and race, often relying on the discovery of white female victims to galvanize police investigations, serve as gothic spectacles, and animate family melodramas. DR’s Forbrydelsen exemplifies such complexly layered and “translatable” serial form. I argue that the aesthetics of this and other programs foreground raced female bodies to deterritorialize them, in the process creating a transnational lingua franca in crime TV. In repeatedly pairing such victims and female detectives, these shows ultimately also illuminate the place feminism itself occupies in transnational flow.

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.

Artikkelissani tarkastelen tanskalaisen rikosdraamasarjan Rikos (Forbrydelsen, 2007–2012) musiikki- ja äänidramaturgiaa ja erityisesti siinä esiintyviä erilaisia Lähi-itään viittaavia tyylipiirteitä. Samalla arvioin, minkälaisia strategioita sarjan musiikissa ja äänisuunnittelussa käytetään suhteessa maahanmuuttajuuteen ja erityisesti islamilaiseen kulttuuriin. Kyseessä on poikkeuksellisen hyvin menestynyt draamasarja, joka oli siivittämässä pohjoismaisen audiovisuaalisen rikosdraaman murtautumista maailmanlaajuiseksi kulttuurituotteeksi. Se on myös yksi keskeisistä niin sanotun nordic noirin edustajista, tyylilajin, jossa tyypillisesti on yhteiskuntakriittinen ote.Keskityn analyysissäni sarjan ensimmäiseen tuotantokauteen, jossa selvitetään teini-ikäisen tytön murhaa. Kyseisellä tuotantokaudella sarjassa ei eksplisiittisesti käsitellä islamia tai maahanmuuttajuutta, myöskään mitään selkeää rasismiin tai muukalaisvihaan liittyvää tematiikkaa sarjassa ei ole. Tästä huolimatta erityisesti erityisesti sarjan musiikeissa, mutta myös äänisuunnittelussa, hyödynnetään arabialaiseen ja persialaiseen kulttuuriin viittaavia tyylikeinoja, ja ne nivoutuvatkin keskeiseksi osaksi sarjan kerrontaa ja ilmaisua. Sarjan ensimmäinen tuotantokausi tehtiin ja julkaistiin aikana, jolloin Tanskassa maahanmuuttajuuteen liittyvät kysymykset ja maan suhtautuminen islamilaiseen kulttuuriin olivat juuri olleet runsaasti esillä, johtuen muun muassa niin sanotuista Muhammad-pilapiirroksista. Tarkastelen sarjan musiikki- ja äänidramaturgiaa myös tätä taustaa vasten.The Soundtrack of the Nordic Noir Series The Killing and its “Middle Eastern” TopoiThe Danish TV-series The Killing (Forbrydelsen, 2007–2012) became unprecedentedly successful internationally, and it was one of the series that helped Nordic crime drama films and television series become a global phenomenon. It is also one of the central representatives of the so-called nordic noir, a crime fiction sub-genre, that is often considered to be socially critical by default. In this article I examine the music and sound design of The Killing, and especially those stylistic features that point to the Middle East and the Islamic culture. I also evaluate what types of strategies the series uses in its music and sound design with respect to immigration from Islamic countries in particular. In my analysis I focus on the first season of the series (2007), in which the murder of a teenage girl is investigated. This particular season does not explicitly deal with Islam or immigration, nor does it have any clearly discernible themes related to racism or xenophobia. However, especially the music but also the sound design contain characteristics that point towards Arabic and Persian cultures, which are woven into the narrative and expressive fabric of the series. The first season was made and published in Denmark during a period when questions concerning immigration and the country's attitudes towards Islamic culture were heatedly debated because of the so-called Muhammad cartoons crisis. I consider the music and sound design of The Killing also in light of this backdrop.

Abstract Danish television has been able to produce a remarkable number of successful primetime dramas over the last years from Forbrydelsen (The Killing, DR 2007-12) to Herrens Veje (Ride upon the Storm, DR 2017-). Many of them are Nordic Noir crime dramas, yet the list also includes political thrillers and family dramas. This article briefly summarizes main reasons for the prolific production environment at public service broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR). Some of the exceptional circumstances of Danish television demonstrate why the relatively small country was able to produce shows that found devoted audiences around the world. While the DR production framework has received much attention, this article takes a closer look at narrative composition, issues of characterization and the presentation of themes. Analyzing the first episodes of Borgen (DR 2010-13) and Herrens Veje, the article proposes that it is specifically the combination of multiperspectivity of the leading protagonists and how their life is linked to wider cultural, social and political debates, that can be identified as one main outcome of the fruitful collaboration between DR and various creative personnel. While both shows adhere to the main characteristics of complex serial drama as identified by Jason Mittel and Trisha Dunleavy, there are also some noticeable differences, including their strong public service ethos, their unusual Danish settings, the avoidance of transgressive protagonists, character-centred storylines and their slow, indulgent pace.

We explore the psychoanalytic transfer used by Danish director Lars von Trier in his debut film “Forbrydelsens element” (1984). We consider the stages of therapeutic sleep, its composition and structure. Along with hypnosis, we also analyze the motives of the artistic system of surrealism: strangulation, nausea, narcosis, sadistic and masochistic cruelties, drowning and poisoning, penis divinity, sewage and feces, decomposition of things, carrion and other unimaginable abominations. We show how surrealism becomes an integral part of the global modern art system – postmodernism. The closest attention is paid to such postmodern principle and methods of picturing reality as the distortion of chronotope, singularity and fold. We investigate “neomythologism” and the mystery of the film. Myths, secret allegories and magical practices of all times are involved in the demonstration of the first phenomenon. Path of the policeman character is presented as the initiation of the “neophyte” into the mystery, as katabasis, as Jung's archetype of “knight’s departure into darkness”. A special place in the work is given to the analysis of satirical means of influence on the viewer: elements of farce, slapstick and grotesque. In this field of Lars vonTrier’s caustic satire lies a policy of multiculturalism, still pursued by the European Union countries and becoming the last, “night” coil in the era of the Christian civilization decline. Genres of past centuries (medieval mystery, idyll, phantasmagoria), presented in the film structure, also reinforce its satirical and pressing nature.

We explore the psychoanalytic transfer used by Danish director Lars von Trier in his debut film “Forbrydelsens element” (1984). We consider the stages of therapeutic sleep, its composition and structure. Along with hypnosis, we also analyze the motives of the artistic system of surrealism: strangulation, nausea, narcosis, sadistic and masochistic cruelties, drowning and poisoning, penis divinity, sewage and feces, decomposition of things, carrion and other unimaginable abominations. We show how surrealism becomes an integral part of the global modern art system – postmodernism. The closest attention is paid to such postmodern principle and methods of picturing reality as the distortion of chronotope, singularity and fold. We investigate “neomythologism” and the mystery of the film. Myths, secret allegories and magical practices of all times are involved in the demonstration of the first phenomenon. Path of the policeman character is presented as the initiation of the “neophyte” into the mystery, as katabasis, as Jung's archetype of “knight’s departure into darkness”. A special place in the work is given to the analysis of satirical means of influence on the viewer: elements of farce, slapstick and grotesque. In this field of Lars von Trier’s caustic satire lies a policy of multiculturalism, still pursued by the European Union countries and becoming the last, “night” coil in the era of the Christian civilization decline. Genres of past centuries (medieval mystery, idyll, phantasmagoria), presented in the film structure, also reinforce its satirical and pressing nature.

Este trabalho, parte da monografia de conclusão do curso de Cinema e Audiovisualda Unespar, tem como objetivo realizar uma análise da construção e representação daspersonagens femininas na produção seriada dinamarquesa Forbrydelsen, que é uma dasprecursoras do fenômeno atual das protagonistas detetives mulheres na TV. Partindo deteorias feministas relacionadas ao condicionamento do olhar em relação às personagensfemininas, o artigo busca indicar como se dá essa representação, tanto narrativamentequanto em relação a escolhas de linguagem audiovisual. A partir de episódios selecionadosdentre os 40 que compõem as quatro temporadas da série, busca-se ainda estabelecer quelugar essas mulheres ocupam dentro da narrativa em relação aos personagens masculinos,passando pelos conceitos de passividade e atividade, bem como questões relacionadas í sexualidade, famí­lia e trabalho. Por fim, em se tratando de linguagem, busca-se entenderqual o olhar que se tem sobre essa mulher, tanto dentro da série quanto fora dela, no quese refere ao olhar que se determina que o espectador tenha, tendo em vista ainda o opostoe questionando se essas mulheres também detêm o poder do olhar.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Representação feminina. Forbrydelsen. Série televisiva criminal.

Angsten er et grundvilkår i Alfred Hitchcocks film, og bag angsten gemmer sig den truende mor. Angsten lader sig overvindeved, at man tager den som en oplevelse, og moderen lader sig overvinde ved, at man identificerer sig med hende. Via en raffineretsuspense-teknik får Hitchcock også sit publikum til at identificere sig med nogle af sine værste forbrydere somfeks.Anthony Perkins i »Psycho«. Forbrydelsen er for Hitchcock, hvad neurosen var for Freud,nemlig en lup hvorigennem vi tydeligere kan se vore egne fortrængninger, vor egen natside.

How does the depiction of female subjectivity and agency change when a Danish public broadcasting serial is adapted for an American commercial network? I compare Forbrydelsen (DR1, 2007–2012) with its remake, The Killing (AMC 2011–2013, Netflix 2014), to draw out the significance of postfeminism and neoliberalism as interpretive grids that limit feminist progress in the United States. Despite similar narrative and aesthetic strategies that center a strong female protagonist, female agency is undermined in The Killing through the postfeminist “bad mother” trope, which supplants Forbrydelsen’s Nordic noir left-wing critique of global capitalism and gender issues. This analysis illustrates that the cultural milieux of societies that are as egalitarian as Scandinavian states convey indirect feminist creative influence on cultural production, even when there is limited direct female creative input, an influence that may outweigh greater direct female creative control in the anti-egalitarian cultural context of a neoliberal and postfeminist United States.

Denne artikel undersøger en officiel undskyldning, der endnu aldrig er blevetgivet. Den er formet af en hundredårig lang konflikt mellem armeniere og dentyrkiske regering, hvor det centrale stridsspørgsmål er, om de omfattende massakrerpå armeniere i perioden 1915-1923 i Osmannerriget både juridisk oghistorisk kan klassificeres som et folkedrab. Baseret på etnografisk materialeindsamlet under et feltarbejde blandt armensk-amerikanske græsrodsaktivisteri Los Angeles undersøger artiklen samspillet mellem lokale mobiliseringer afarmenske krav om anerkendelse og genopretning for den ustraffede forbrydelseog det endeløse modspil fra en allestedsnærværende fjende: en ekstremt synlig,aggressiv og – til en vis grad succesfuld – tyrkisk benægtelseskampagne. Medudgangspunkt i et sådant antagonistisk øjeblik undersøger forfatteren tilblivelsenaf en potentiel offentlig undskyldning gennem forskellige aktivistiske performances– en protest, et vægmaleri og narrativer, der alle relaterer sig til og forsøgerat omgøre både en voldelig fortid og udfordrende nutid. Gennem et gaveøkonomiskudvekslingsperspektiv udfolder forfatteren to distinkte og tæt forbundneudvekslingsrelationer, der synes at gennemstrømme aktivisternes motivationerog sensibilitet: en formel og en „eksistentiel“ gæld/skyld. Artiklens argument er,at den „udeblevne undskyldning“ (og den allestedsnærværende benægtelsespolitik)animerer de unge diasporaarmeniere til at artikulere deres krænkelseserfaringerog udtrykke offerets koreografi og en følelse af taknemmelighed, hvilketi processen er med til at etablere sameksistens med forfædrene og gøre krav på„armenskhed“. Søgeord: eksistentiel gæld, den armenske diaspora, aktivisme, kontinuitet,folkedrab, officielle undskyldninger, den tyrkiske benægtelsespolitik

IntroductionNordic mythology, also known as Norse mythology, is a term used to describe Medieval creation myths and tales of Gods and otherworldly realms, told and retold by Northern Germanic and Scandinavian tribes of the ninth century AD (see for example Gaiman).I discuss a new type of Nordic mythology that is being created through popular culture, social media, books, and television shows. I am interested in how contemporary portrayals of the Nordic countries has created a kind of mythological place called Scandinavia, where things, people, and ideas are better than in other places.Whereas the old myths portray a fierce warrior race, the new myths create a utopian Scandinavia as a place that is inherently good; a place that is progressive and harmonious. In the creation of these new myths the underbelly of the North is often neglected, producing a homogenised representation of a group of countries that are in actuality diverse and inevitably imperfect.ScandimaniaGenerally the term Scandinavia always refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. When including Finland and Iceland, it is more accurate to refer to the five as the Nordic countries. I was born and grew up in Denmark. My observations are skewed towards a focus on Denmark, rather than Scandinavia as a whole. Though I will use the term Nordic and Scandinavia throughout the article, it is worth noting that these definitions describe a group of countries that despite some commonalities are also quite different in geography, and culture.Whether we are speaking strictly of Scandinavia or of the Nordic countries as a whole, one thing is certain: in recent years there has been a surge of popularity in all things Nordic. Scandinavian design has been popular since the 1950s, known for its functionality and simplistic beauty, and globalised through the Swedish furniture chain IKEA. Consequently, Nordic interior design has become a style widely praised and emulated, as has Nordic fashion, architecture, and innovation.The fact that Scandinavian people are often represented as being intelligent and beautiful adds to the notion of stylish and aesthetically pleasing ideals. This is partly why sperm from Danish sperm donors is the most sought after and widely distributed in the world: perhaps prospective parents find the idea of having a baby of Viking stock appealing (Kale). Nordic countries are also known for their egalitarian societies, which are described as “the holy grail of a healthy economy and society” (Cleary). These are countries where the collective good is cherished. Tax rates are high (in Denmark between 55 per cent and 60 per cent of income), which leads to excellent welfare systems.In recent years other terms have entered the collective Western vocabulary. New Nordic Cuisine describes a trend that has taken the culinary world by storm. This term refers to food that is created with seasonal, local, and foraged ingredients. The emphasis being a renewed connection to nature and old ways. In 2016 the Danish word hygge was shortlisted by the Oxford Dictionary as word of the year. A word, which has no direct English translation, it means “a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture)”. Countless books were published in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, explaining the art of hygge. Other Scandinavian words are now becoming popular, such as the Swedish lagom, meaning “just enough”.In the past two years, the United Nations’ World Happiness Report listed Denmark and Norway as the happiest places on earth. Other surveys similarly put the Nordic countries on top as the most prosperous places on earth (Anderson).Mythologies and Discursive FormationsThe standard definition of myth is a “traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.” Or “A widely held but false belief or idea” (Oxford Dictionaries, Myth).During what became known as the “discursive turn”, both Barthes and Foucault expanded the conception of myth by placing it within a wider socio-political and historical contexts of power and truth. “Discursive formations” became a commonly accepted way of describing a cluster of ideas, images, and practices that define particular “truths” within a given cultural context (Hall 6). In other words, myths serve specific purposes within given socio-cultural constructions.I argue that the current idolisation of Scandinavia is creating a common global narrative of a superior society. A mythical place that has “figured it out”, and found the key to happiness. The mythologised North is based on an array of media stories, statistics, reports, articles, advertising, political rhetoric, books, films, TV series, exhibitions, and social media activity. These perpetuate a “truth” of the Nordic countries as being especially benign, cultured, and distinguished. The Smiling PolicemanIn his well-known essay Myth Today, Barthes analyses an image of a North African boy in uniform saluting the French flag on the front cover of a magazine. Barthes argues that by analysing the semiotic meaning of the image in two stages, one can identify the “myth”.The first level is the signifiers (what we see), a dark skinned boy, a uniform, a raised arm, a flag. The signified is our recognition of these as a North African boy raising his arm to the French flag. The second level of interpretation is the wider context in which we understand what we see: the greatness of France is signified in the depiction of one of her colonial subjects submitting to and glorifying the flag. That is to say, the myth generated by the image is the story of France as a great colonial and military nation.Now take a look at this image, which was distributed the world over in newspapers, online media, and in turn social media (Warren; Kolff). This image is interesting because it epitomises much of what is believed about Scandinavia (the new myths). If we approach the image through the semiotic lens of Barthes, we firstly describe what is seen in the picture (signifiers): a blonde policeman, a girl of dark complexion, a road in the countryside, a van in the distance, and some other people with backpacks on the side of the road. When we put these elements together in context, we understand that the image to be depicting a Danish policeman, blonde, smiling and handsome, playing with a Syrian refugee girl on an empty Danish highway, with her fellow refugees behind her.The second level of interpretation (the myth) is created by combining the elements into a story: A friendly police officer is playing with a refugee girl, which is unusual because policemen are commonly seen as authoritarian and unfriendly to illegal immigrants. This policeman is smiling. He is happy in his job. He is healthy, good-looking, and compassionate.This fits the image of Scandinavian men as good fathers (they have paternity leave, and often help equally with child rearing). The image confirms that the happiest people on earth would of course also have happy, friendly policemen. The belief that the Scandinavian social model is one to admire would appear to be endorsed.The fact that this is in a rural setting with green landscapes adds further to the notion of Nordic freshness, naturalness, environmentalism, and food that comes from the wild. The fact that the policeman is well-groomed, stylish, well-built, and handsome reinforces the notion that Scandinavia is a place of style and taste, where the good Viking gene pool produces fit and beautiful people.It makes sense that in a place with a focus on togetherness and the common good, refugees are also treated well. Just as the French image of a dark-skinned boy saluting the French flag sent out messages of French superiority, this image sends out messages of inherent Nordic goodness in a time where positive images of the European refugee crisis are few and far between.In a discursive discussion, one asks not only what meanings does this image convey, but why is this image chosen, distributed, shared, tweeted, and promoted over other images? What purpose does its proliferation serve? What is the historical context in which it is popularised? What is the cultural imagination/narrative that is served? In the current often depressing socio-political situation in Europe, people like to know that there is a place where compassion and play exists.Among other news stories of death, despair, and border protection, depictions of an idealised North can help calm anxieties by implying the existence of a place that is free of conflict. Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen writes:The flood of journalistic and popular ethnographic explorations of the Nordic region in the UK is an expression, perhaps, of a search for a lost sense of identity, a nostalgic longing for an imagined past society more in tune with pre-Thatcherite welfarist values, by way of consuming, appropriating and exoticising proximate cultural identities such as the now much hyped Danish or Nordic utopias. (Nordic Noir, 6)In The Almost Nearly Perfect People, British writer Michael Booth wonders: “one thing in particular about this new-found love of all things Scandinavian … which struck me as particularly odd: considering all this positive PR, and with awareness of the so-called Nordic miracle at an all-time high, why wasn’t everyone flocking to live here [in Denmark]?” (7).In actuality not many people in the West are interested in living in the Nordic countries. Rather, as Barbara Goodwin writes: “utopias hold up a mirror to the fears and aspirations of the time in which they were written” (2). In other words, in an age of anxiety, where traditional norms and stabilities are shifting, to believe that there is a place where contemporary societies have found a way of living in happiness and togetherness provides a sense of hope. People are not flocking to live in Scandinavia because it is not in their interests to have their utopian ideals shattered by the reality that, though the North has a lot to offer, it is inevitably not a utopia (Sougaard-Nielsen, The Truth Is).UnderbellyParadoxically, in recent years, Scandinavia has become well known for its “Nordic Noir” crime fiction and television. In the documentary TV series Scandimania, British TV personality Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall travels through Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, exploring the culture, scenery, and food. He finds it curious that Denmark has become so famous for its sombre crime series, such as The Killing and The Bridge, because it seems so far removed from the Denmark he experiences riding around the streets of Copenhagen on his bike.Fearnley-Whittingstall ponders that one has to look hard to find the dark side of Denmark, and that perhaps it does not actually exist at all. This observation points to something essential. Even though millions of viewers worldwide have seen shows such as The Killing, which are known for their dark story lines, bleak urban settings, complex but realistic characters, progressive gender equality, and social commentary, the positive mythologising of Scandinavia remains so strong that it engenders a belief that the underbelly shown in Nordic Noir is perhaps entirely fictional.Stougaard-Nielsen (see also Pitcher, Consuming Race) argues that perhaps the British obsession with Nordic Noir (and this could be applied to other western countries) can be attributed to “a more appropriate white cosmopolitan desire to imagine rooted identities in an age of globalisation steeped in complex identity politics” (Nordic Noir, 8). That is to say that, for a segment of society which feels overwhelmed by contemporary multiculturalism, there may be a pleasure in watching a show that is predominantly populated by white Nordic protagonists, where the homes and people are stylish, and where the Nordic model of welfare and progressive thinking provides a rich identity source for white people as a symbolic point of origin.The watching/reading of Nordic Noir, as well as other preoccupations with all things Nordic, help build upon a mythological sense of whiteness that sets itself apart from our usual notions of race politics, by being an accepted form of longing for the North of bygone ages: a place that is progressive, moral, stylish, and imbued with aspirational ways of living, thinking, and being (Pitcher, Racial Politics).The image of the Danish police officer and the refugee girl fits this ideal of a progressive society where race relations are uncomplicated. The policeman who epitomises the Nordic ideal is in a position of power, but this is an authority which is benevolent. The girl is non-threatening in her otherness, because she is a child and female, and therefore does not fit the culturally dreaded Muslim/terrorist stereotype. In this constellation the two can meet beautifully.The reality, of course, is that the race relations and issues surrounding immigration in Denmark, and in other Nordic countries, are as complicated and often messy and hateful as they are in other countries. In Sweden, as Fearnley-Whittingstall touches upon in Scandimania, there are escalating problems with integration of the many new Swedes and growing inequalities in wealth. In Norway, the underlying race tensions became acutely topical in the aftermath of the 2011 massacre, where right-wing extremist Anders Breivik killed 77 people. Denmark has one of the harshest anti-immigration laws in Europe, laws that are continuously being tightened (Boserup); and whenever visiting Denmark I have been surprised to see how much space and time discussions about immigration and integration take up in the news and current affairs.If we contrast the previous image with the image above, taken within a similar timeframe on the same Danish highway, we can see the reality of Danish immigration policies. Here we are exposed to a different story. The scene and the location is the same, but the power dynamics have shifted from benign, peaceful, and playful to aggressive, authoritarian, and conflict ridden. A desperate father carries his daughter, determined to march on towards their destination of Sweden. The policeman is pulling his arm, attempting to detain the refugees so that they cannot go further, the goal being to deport the Syrians back to their previous place of detention, just over the border in Germany (Harticollis). While the previous image reflects the humanity of the refugee crisis, this image reflects the politics, policies, and to a large extent public opinion in Denmark, which is not refugee-friendly. This image, however, was not widely distributed, partly because it feeds into the same depressing narrative of an unsolvable refugee crisis seen so often elsewhere, and partly because it does not fit into the narrative of the infallible North. It could not be tweeted with the hashtag #Humanity, nor shared on Facebook with a smiley face and liked with an emoji heart.Another image from Denmark, in the form of a politically funded billboard, shows that there are deep-seated tendencies within Danish society that want to promote and retain a Denmark which adheres to its traditional values and ethnic whiteness. The image was displayed all over the country, at train stations, bus stops, and other public spaces when I visited in 2016. It was issued by Dansk Folkeparti (the Danish People’s Party); a party which is anti-immigration and which was until recently the country’s second largest party. The title says “Our Denmark”, while the byline cleverly plays with the double meaning of passe på: it can mean “there is so much we need to take care of”, but also “there is so much we need to beware of.” In other words, the white working-class family needs to take care of their Denmark, and beware of anyone who does not fit into this norm. Though hugely contested and criticised (Cremer; see a counter-reaction designed by opponents below), the fact that thinly veiled anti-immigration propaganda can be so readily distributed speaks of an underbelly in Danish society that is not made of the dark murder mysteries in The Killing, but rather of a quietly brewing distain for the foreigner that reigns within stylishly designed living rooms. ConclusionMyths are stories cultures tell and retell until they form a belief system that becomes a natural part of our collective narrative. For Barthes, these stories were intrinsically connected to our understanding of language and our ability to read images, films, artifacts, and popular culture more generally. To later cultural theorists, the notion of discursive formations expands this understanding, to see myth within a broader network of socio-political discourses placed within a certain place and time in history. When connected, small narratives (images, advertising, film, music, news stories, social media sharing, scientific evidence, etc.) come together to form a common narrative (the myth) about how things are and should be in relation to a particular topic. The culminating popularity of numerous Nordic themes (Nordic television/film, interior design, fashion, cuisine, architecture, lifestyle, sustainability, welfare system, school system, gender equality, etc.) has created a grand narrative of the Nordic countries as a type of utopia: one that shows the rest of the world that an egalitarian society of togetherness and progressive innovation is possible. This mythologisation serves to quell anxieties about the flux and uncertainty of contemporary times, and may also serve to legitimise a yearning for a simple, benign, and progressive whiteness, where we imagine Nordic families sitting peacefully at their beechwood dining tables, candles lit, playing board games. 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