Nordic Noir

Nordic Noir

Nordic Noir is a Scandinavian crime fiction and television drama that features dark story lines and bleak settings.

The history of Nordic Noir 

Over the last decade, Scandinavian crime fiction has dominated global bestseller lists. A handful of authors have redefined the murder mystery for the 21st century. Scandinavians have been telling stories throughout the history of time. The sagas, created by and for people who led extremely
difficult lives, are about love, death, and war. In the twentieth century, Nordic crime fiction began evolving into complex narratives and the term ‘Nordic Noir’ became popular among fans of the genre. There are many opinions as to when Nordic noir began. Nils Nordberg argues that Nordic Noir began with Mauritz Christopher Hansen. Hansen wrote over twenty stories, the earliest one being the psychological thriller ‘Den Gale Christian’ (The Mad Christian) published in 1821. People would argue the Swedish crime film emerged during the 1940s

Conventions

Nordic Noir has three key elements: language, heroes and setting
Heroes: In Nordic noir television it is common to find a strong female lead, even though Sweden was seen to be the forerunner of the sexual revolution. As a whole, these shows relish the portrayal of the female characters as flawed yet sympathetic, complicated yet engaging, presenting complex and authentic visions of women in positions of power.
Setting: the stories usually unfold in bleak, chilling landscapes, permeated by a sense of isolation and loneliness.

Institution

Nordic noir films are made in Scandinavia where there is a cold climate with a lot of snow which makes it more attractive for crime series.Yellow Bird is the pan-Scandinavian production company that came to prominence through the hugely successful Stieg Larsson adaptations. The company describes themselves in the following way: “Yellow Bird is now one of Scandinavia’s
largest drama production companies, specialising in international co-productions that reach a big audience outside their home markets.”

company that came to prominence through the hugely successful Stieg Larsson adaptations, and who are also behind the 

Wallander

series (see Andersson et al) and as co-producer of the English-language series of the same name. As has been outlined, Yellow Bird’s increas-

ingly condent and expensive production and publicity 

strategies - a former tagline was ‘We turn bestsellers 

into blockbusters’ reects both a globalised structure 

of approach and an intended global reach in terms of their product

Key texts
The Killing became popular in the United Kingdom when it first aired on BBC4
The bridge
The girl with the dragon tattoo
Wallander