Nordic Genre Film

Tommy Gustafsson is Professor of Film Studies at Linnaeus University, Sweden. His books include The Politics of Nordsploitation (with Pietari Kääpä, 2021), Masculinity in the Golden Age of Swedish Cinema (2014), and the anthologies Nordic Genre Films (EUP, 2015) and Transnational Ecocinema (2013), both co-edited with Pietari Kääpä. Pietari Kääpä is Lecturer in Media and Communications at University of Stirling. He is the author of The Cinema of Mika Kaurismaki (Intellect Books, 2011) and Ecology and Contemporary Nordic Cinemas (Continuum, 2013). With Tommy Gustafsson, he is co-editor of Transnational Ecocinema: Film Culture in an Era of Ecological Transformation (Intellect, 2013).

• Introduction: Nordic Genre Film and Institutional History, Tommy Gustafsson & Pietari Kääpä; Part I: Heritage cinema and national narratives; Sibelius (2003) and the Re-emergence of the Great Man Biopic, Kimmo Laine; Whose Repressed Memories? Max Manus: Man of War and Flame & Citron (from a Swede’s Point of View), Erik Hedling; Voices from the Past: Recent Nordic Historical Films, Gunnar Iversen; Part II: Crime and detective narratives; Crime Up North: The Case of Norway, Finland and Iceland, Björn Norðfjörð; The Thrill of the Nordic Kill: The Manhunt Movie in the Nordic Thriller, Rikke Schubart; Bridges and Tunnels: Negotiating the national in transnational television-drama, Anders Wilhelm Åberg; Stockholm Noir: Neoliberalism and Gangsterism in Easy Money, Michael Tapper; The Private Life of the Prime Minister? Politics, Drama and Documentary in Pääministeri (2009) and Palme (2012), Anneli Lehtisalo; Part III: Nordic optimism: road movies, comedies and musicals; Fathers and sons reunited: road movies as stories of generational continuity, Tommi Römpötti; The Nordic “Quirky Feel-good”, Ellen Rees;Contesting Marriage: The Finnish Unromantic Comedy, Jaakko Seppälä; Powered by Music: Contemporary Film Musicals, Nordic Style, Ann-Kristin Wallengren; Part IV: Nordic Horrors; Slasher in the Snow: The Rise of the Low-Budget Nordic Horror Film, Tommy Gustafsson; Nordic Vampires: Stories of Social Exclusion in Nordic Welfare States, Outi Hakola; Part V: Genre Benders; A National/Transnational Genre: Pornography in Transition, Mariah Larsson; Going Hollywood: Nordic Directors in American Cinema, Arne Lunde; A culture of reciprocity: the politics of cultural exchange in contemporary Nordic genre Film, Pietari Kääpä.

This multifaceted – and longed-for – anthology explores Nordic film through a dynamic transnational perspective, combining thorough analytical approaches with a wide range of cultural and social observations. The texts uncover the importance of Nordic genre cinema from romantic comedy to slasher, and put its recent successes in a historical context.