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Ingrid Bergman as Wartime Mediator : Swedish Immigrants as “the Same” in the OWI-film Swedes in America

Wallengren, Ann-Kristin LU (2015) Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies, 2015
Abstract
The short film Swedes in America from 1943, produced by the Office of War Information, is constructed to show in which ways Sweden and the United States should be regarded as two nations nearly identical regarding social and human values. Up until this point, Swedes had in American cinema been portrayed as “the Other” but were now, in the American Second World War propaganda machinery, transformed from “othered” emigrants to assimilated American citizens. Correspondingly, in Swedish films everything American had been depicted as something profoundly non-Swedish and even dangerous. In Swedes in America Ingrid Bergman as narrator is used as a kind of mediator between the two countries and their inhabitants, and in the presentation I show how... (More)
The short film Swedes in America from 1943, produced by the Office of War Information, is constructed to show in which ways Sweden and the United States should be regarded as two nations nearly identical regarding social and human values. Up until this point, Swedes had in American cinema been portrayed as “the Other” but were now, in the American Second World War propaganda machinery, transformed from “othered” emigrants to assimilated American citizens. Correspondingly, in Swedish films everything American had been depicted as something profoundly non-Swedish and even dangerous. In Swedes in America Ingrid Bergman as narrator is used as a kind of mediator between the two countries and their inhabitants, and in the presentation I show how conceptions formerly considered as specifically Swedish or American in this film is melted together in an idea about unity and joint values. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
unpublished
subject
conference name
Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies, 2015
conference location
Columbus, Ohio, United States
conference dates
2015-05-07 - 2015-05-09
project
The Migration to America in Swedish and American Film
Sweden, “Swedishness” and the images of Sweden in a transnational perspective
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
71bcebec-6288-4e93-b092-bb0819f5fc2d (old id 7373959)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 13:09:55
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:12:31
@misc{71bcebec-6288-4e93-b092-bb0819f5fc2d,
  abstract     = {{The short film Swedes in America from 1943, produced by the Office of War Information, is constructed to show in which ways Sweden and the United States should be regarded as two nations nearly identical regarding social and human values. Up until this point, Swedes had in American cinema been portrayed as “the Other” but were now, in the American Second World War propaganda machinery, transformed from “othered” emigrants to assimilated American citizens. Correspondingly, in Swedish films everything American had been depicted as something profoundly non-Swedish and even dangerous. In Swedes in America Ingrid Bergman as narrator is used as a kind of mediator between the two countries and their inhabitants, and in the presentation I show how conceptions formerly considered as specifically Swedish or American in this film is melted together in an idea about unity and joint values.}},
  author       = {{Wallengren, Ann-Kristin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Ingrid Bergman as Wartime Mediator : Swedish Immigrants as “the Same” in the OWI-film Swedes in America}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}