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The Other in Contemporary Swedish Cinema: Portrayals of Non-White Swedes in Swedish Cinema 2000-2010

Svantesson, Elina LU (2012) KOVM12 20121
Division of Art History and Visual Studies
Abstract
The evident place that film has in society makes it a powerful medium that journeys across borders of nationalities, sexualities, and ethnicities. Film represents, and since representation is of importance when acquiring knowledge and a continuous changing medium, it must be scrutinised continuously.
In this thesis, contemporary Swedish mainstream cinema (2000-2010) has been examined for its representations of immigrants, Arabs and non-white Swedes. Concepts of culture, identity and whiteness are used to make sense of these representations and politics is shown to have a strong impact on the medium.
Making use of the notion of “whiteness”, the thesis suggests that non-white Swedes are considered different to white Swedes. The Arab, for... (More)
The evident place that film has in society makes it a powerful medium that journeys across borders of nationalities, sexualities, and ethnicities. Film represents, and since representation is of importance when acquiring knowledge and a continuous changing medium, it must be scrutinised continuously.
In this thesis, contemporary Swedish mainstream cinema (2000-2010) has been examined for its representations of immigrants, Arabs and non-white Swedes. Concepts of culture, identity and whiteness are used to make sense of these representations and politics is shown to have a strong impact on the medium.
Making use of the notion of “whiteness”, the thesis suggests that non-white Swedes are considered different to white Swedes. The Arab, for example, is given many negative traits previously seen in anti-Semitic, pre-WWII images of the Jew. Furthermore, many films were proven to exclude non-white Swedes from a depicted society, geographical and social. This exclusion of “the other” can be considered a representation in itself, a reflection of a divided Swedish society.
Non-white Swedes are a large group of people, and it is argued that instead of portraying a static, shallow image of non-white Swedes, the Swedish film industry and society, could benefit from anticipating a new cinematic society and by including this group. (Less)
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author
Svantesson, Elina LU
supervisor
organization
course
KOVM12 20121
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Swedish cinema, Svensk film, Swedish Film, Whiteness, New Jew, immigrants, Arab
language
English
id
2542828
date added to LUP
2012-08-20 10:34:45
date last changed
2012-08-20 10:34:45
@misc{2542828,
  abstract     = {{The evident place that film has in society makes it a powerful medium that journeys across borders of nationalities, sexualities, and ethnicities. Film represents, and since representation is of importance when acquiring knowledge and a continuous changing medium, it must be scrutinised continuously.
In this thesis, contemporary Swedish mainstream cinema (2000-2010) has been examined for its representations of immigrants, Arabs and non-white Swedes. Concepts of culture, identity and whiteness are used to make sense of these representations and politics is shown to have a strong impact on the medium.
Making use of the notion of “whiteness”, the thesis suggests that non-white Swedes are considered different to white Swedes. The Arab, for example, is given many negative traits previously seen in anti-Semitic, pre-WWII images of the Jew. Furthermore, many films were proven to exclude non-white Swedes from a depicted society, geographical and social. This exclusion of “the other” can be considered a representation in itself, a reflection of a divided Swedish society.
Non-white Swedes are a large group of people, and it is argued that instead of portraying a static, shallow image of non-white Swedes, the Swedish film industry and society, could benefit from anticipating a new cinematic society and by including this group.}},
  author       = {{Svantesson, Elina}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Other in Contemporary Swedish Cinema: Portrayals of Non-White Swedes in Swedish Cinema 2000-2010}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}