Expressions of a backlash: Challenging the story of success in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s
In this article, we ask if there was a backlash against film feminism in Norway in the 1980s. In Norwegian film history, this decade is known as “the helicopter period” and is associated with a turn towards commercial genre film and classical dramaturgy. This has usually been narrated as a success s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2024-09-01
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| Series: | Nordic Journal of Media Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2024-0007 |
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| author | Fosheim Lund Maria Kielland Servoll Johanne Holtar Ingrid Synneva |
| author_facet | Fosheim Lund Maria Kielland Servoll Johanne Holtar Ingrid Synneva |
| author_sort | Fosheim Lund Maria |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article, we ask if there was a backlash against film feminism in Norway in the 1980s. In Norwegian film history, this decade is known as “the helicopter period” and is associated with a turn towards commercial genre film and classical dramaturgy. This has usually been narrated as a success story for Norwegian cinema. It is, however, also a decade connected to a loss of position for the women directors who had gained a footing in Norwegian cinema in the 1970s. We thus question the idea of progress associated with this decade in film history and propose avenues of investigation. We explore the loss of position of female directors by looking at film reception and film criticism. We further present and discuss a numerical breakdown of women directors and female lead characters in the 1980s and 1990s and point to thematic readings of the on-screen portrayal of women characters in this time span. We find evidence of aggression towards women and a disappearance of women’s film and argue that this points to an anti-feminist pushback in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a7dcbc2f56214e7ebf8e38d11c716170 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2003-184X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-09-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nordic Journal of Media Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-a7dcbc2f56214e7ebf8e38d11c7161702025-02-02T15:48:44ZengSciendoNordic Journal of Media Studies2003-184X2024-09-016113615610.2478/njms-2024-0007Expressions of a backlash: Challenging the story of success in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990sFosheim Lund Maria0Kielland Servoll Johanne1Holtar Ingrid Synneva2Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo , NorwayInland School of Business and Social Sciences, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, NorwayVisual Media and Conservation, National Library of Norway, NorwayIn this article, we ask if there was a backlash against film feminism in Norway in the 1980s. In Norwegian film history, this decade is known as “the helicopter period” and is associated with a turn towards commercial genre film and classical dramaturgy. This has usually been narrated as a success story for Norwegian cinema. It is, however, also a decade connected to a loss of position for the women directors who had gained a footing in Norwegian cinema in the 1970s. We thus question the idea of progress associated with this decade in film history and propose avenues of investigation. We explore the loss of position of female directors by looking at film reception and film criticism. We further present and discuss a numerical breakdown of women directors and female lead characters in the 1980s and 1990s and point to thematic readings of the on-screen portrayal of women characters in this time span. We find evidence of aggression towards women and a disappearance of women’s film and argue that this points to an anti-feminist pushback in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s.https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2024-0007feminismbacklashnorwegian film historywomen’s filmfemale directorsfemale characters |
| spellingShingle | Fosheim Lund Maria Kielland Servoll Johanne Holtar Ingrid Synneva Expressions of a backlash: Challenging the story of success in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s Nordic Journal of Media Studies feminism backlash norwegian film history women’s film female directors female characters |
| title | Expressions of a backlash: Challenging the story of success in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s |
| title_full | Expressions of a backlash: Challenging the story of success in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s |
| title_fullStr | Expressions of a backlash: Challenging the story of success in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s |
| title_full_unstemmed | Expressions of a backlash: Challenging the story of success in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s |
| title_short | Expressions of a backlash: Challenging the story of success in Norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s |
| title_sort | expressions of a backlash challenging the story of success in norwegian cinema of the 1980s and 1990s |
| topic | feminism backlash norwegian film history women’s film female directors female characters |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/njms-2024-0007 |
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