Swedish is not the same language portrayed on the television. The Swedish Swedes hear is different from what an outsider hears. It is not a joyous, humorous language, but instead it is a very sombre and melancholy tongue. Jag planerar, du ser, för att försöka hålla mig till sanningen. Det är svårt för en gammal, inbiten fantasy martyr och lögnare som aldrig tvekat att ge sanningen den form han kände tillfället krävde
Swedish can truly be felt for what it is in Swedish artwork. Most notably film. The great Swedish film pioneer Ingmar Bergman is said to be the voice of Sweden. His films are well known and beautifully express what it means to be a Swede. Yet, it is said that a person who learns Swedish from Bergman's films will only be able to speak about the darkest of subjects.
"Jag vill bekänna så gott jag kan, men mitt hjärta är ogiltiga. Tomrummet är en spegel. Jag ser mitt ansikte och känna avsky och fasa. Min likgiltighet inför människor har stängts mig. Jag bor nu i en värld av spöken, en fånge i mina drömmar."- Ingmar Bergman
The origins of Swedish tone and melancholy attitude come from its history. Sweden was one of the most socially backward and non-progessive government in all of Europe when it came to treatment of its citizens. This was reality for many hundreds of years. Due to the vast amount of harsh wilderness and inefficient government, the people of Sweden had to fight for survival on their own, creating a sense of solidarity and independence among the people. Also because of this, death became a common companion living in the harsh winters.
Antonius Block: Vem är du?
Döden: Jag är Döden.
Antonius Block: Har du kommit för mig?
Döden: Jag har länge gått vid din sida.
Antonius Block: Så jag har märkt.
Död: Är du redo?
Antonius Block: Min kropp är redo, men jag är inte.
-The seventh seal
Although Sweden has moved on in its history to become a welfare state, the strong presence of death still remains in its culture while individualism has long since dissipated. Death is present in all forms of art and literature. What is unique about Sweden is that death is not seen as an evil creature who comes to rip your life from you. Instead death is an old friend that has always been at your side and will take you with him when your time comes.
{INCOMPLETE}
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Anti-Smoking ad in Sweden
When visiting family in Sweden I spend a lot of time watching Swedish television. This ad happened to catch my eye when I was only ten or eleven. It always stuck with me because of the graphic imagery in it, and how much it disgusted me. The ad shows a man in his late thirties or early fourties who is taking a casual smoke in his kitchen. As he inhales, the camera follows the smoke down his throat showing the trail of smoke through his body. This is followed by what looks like some sort of amateur video of a surgery where the doctor is holding a human artery in his hands and is squeezing it, excreting a yellow disgusting viscous substance. One does not need to speak Swedish to understand the message the commercial is trying to instil in the viewer. The video ends with "Sluta Röka Linjen" in yellow lettering which means "Stop Smoking Line". It is a hotline for smokers seeking a way to quit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVSGAReVarQ
The "yellow liquid" excreted is in fact just fat clogging an artery and not "puss" as one who doesn't understand the commercial may think.
The advert had a profound effect on me. Of course, at the age of 11 I had never smoked and all I ever heard about smoking were the negative health effects, but I was to naive to ever fully grasp the visual effect smoking has on someone's health. The image of the grotesque puss oozing from the throat was imprinted on my mind and would resurface every time I saw, smelt, heard about someone smoking. Swedish government's strict anti censorship laws and heavy support of crusades for health like the anti smoking campaign are what allowed a commercial as graphic as this to air on television. While I was trying to find this video on Youtube i stumbled across a similar ad from the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIyqcST29wQ
["Help! I have just stopped smoking and I am weak. Be prepared to hug me when i need help." The scare tactics are so blatantly obvious in this image that any child who watches cartoons enough to know what a villain is supposed to look like can pick up on it.]
The ad portrays a man smoking and with each breath he inhales, a tumor on his cigarette grows larger and larger. The message in these two advertisements is the same, If the effects of smoking were visible smokers would not continue smoking.
This style of advertisement is now commonplace in Europe. Smoking is not always the victim but it is the most common target. Cigarette smoking has become an epidemic in some parts of Europe and an influx of ads containing graphic imagery and threatening messages of death and disease have come in response as a sort of "last resort".
The effective use of pathos through dramatic/disgusting imagery is fantastic. Ads like these, which I have been exposed to since my childhood, have become imprinted in my mind, their statements have becomes facts to me, and smoking has become a subject of disgust. Therefore I am someone who has been effectively brainwashed by these commercials and can attest to their capability and potency.
The most important thing these ads do is use scare tactics to play on the fear of the smoker. With threats of death to be caused by smoking and images of decay they get their audience shaking in their boots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVSGAReVarQ
The "yellow liquid" excreted is in fact just fat clogging an artery and not "puss" as one who doesn't understand the commercial may think.
The advert had a profound effect on me. Of course, at the age of 11 I had never smoked and all I ever heard about smoking were the negative health effects, but I was to naive to ever fully grasp the visual effect smoking has on someone's health. The image of the grotesque puss oozing from the throat was imprinted on my mind and would resurface every time I saw, smelt, heard about someone smoking. Swedish government's strict anti censorship laws and heavy support of crusades for health like the anti smoking campaign are what allowed a commercial as graphic as this to air on television. While I was trying to find this video on Youtube i stumbled across a similar ad from the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIyqcST29wQ
The ad portrays a man smoking and with each breath he inhales, a tumor on his cigarette grows larger and larger. The message in these two advertisements is the same, If the effects of smoking were visible smokers would not continue smoking.
This style of advertisement is now commonplace in Europe. Smoking is not always the victim but it is the most common target. Cigarette smoking has become an epidemic in some parts of Europe and an influx of ads containing graphic imagery and threatening messages of death and disease have come in response as a sort of "last resort".
The effective use of pathos through dramatic/disgusting imagery is fantastic. Ads like these, which I have been exposed to since my childhood, have become imprinted in my mind, their statements have becomes facts to me, and smoking has become a subject of disgust. Therefore I am someone who has been effectively brainwashed by these commercials and can attest to their capability and potency.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Captain's Log 3: The real life American high school. Trends of social hierarchy.
Although American high school has an iconic image that exists on the silver screen it also has a side to it that is not often shown in films an/or movies. The side I am referring to is its social hierarchy. This has been the subject of much scrutiny and analysis over the years especially when discussing bully but it seems no one has accurately portrayed the true social hierarchy that exists. Perhaps the American public's knowledge of high school is just outdated because most films that portray social structure in school are inaccurate enough to make a high school student cringe. Usually, in these films, there exists two very distinct and clearly labelled groups of those who are "popular" and those who are "not popular". Though there is a grain of truth to this depiction, in my experience the groups are not so black and white and those who are deemed "popular" are never explicitly named as such.
In reality the idea of "popular" really dies sometime during Sophomore year. It first enters the school with the new wave of freshmen every year who have predisposed ideas of what high school is like. They never directly refer to someone as such to avoid the obvious irony since many of them mock these movies. One thing that is accurately portrayed in the films is how these people are self chosen. They treat others not like noble-people treating peasants as seen in films, but rather as the Brahmin treat the Dalit in India. They rarely socialize with others outside of the group and just refer to them as weird. They try to avoid contact and show disgust or distaste for those outside of the group.
As high school goes on this group splits into various splinter groups and there is almost always some sort of teenage drama at the heart of the division. This is when the original members of the group begin to truly develop as people. They begin to socialize with many different friend-groups and make a myriad of friends within various social groups and expand their pallet. However some members of the group continue to hold on to the old ways and live off of the drama and gossip around them like ageing junkies on speed. They form their own splinter groups and have unspoken wars against one another like the nations of old. The only difference being, drama and gossip replace diplomacy and battle but espionage and sabotage are still very much employed.
All in all the classicism is unnatural as seen by its inability to survive. The only reason for its existence is because of preconceived notions given by television, magazines, etc.
In reality the idea of "popular" really dies sometime during Sophomore year. It first enters the school with the new wave of freshmen every year who have predisposed ideas of what high school is like. They never directly refer to someone as such to avoid the obvious irony since many of them mock these movies. One thing that is accurately portrayed in the films is how these people are self chosen. They treat others not like noble-people treating peasants as seen in films, but rather as the Brahmin treat the Dalit in India. They rarely socialize with others outside of the group and just refer to them as weird. They try to avoid contact and show disgust or distaste for those outside of the group.
As high school goes on this group splits into various splinter groups and there is almost always some sort of teenage drama at the heart of the division. This is when the original members of the group begin to truly develop as people. They begin to socialize with many different friend-groups and make a myriad of friends within various social groups and expand their pallet. However some members of the group continue to hold on to the old ways and live off of the drama and gossip around them like ageing junkies on speed. They form their own splinter groups and have unspoken wars against one another like the nations of old. The only difference being, drama and gossip replace diplomacy and battle but espionage and sabotage are still very much employed.
All in all the classicism is unnatural as seen by its inability to survive. The only reason for its existence is because of preconceived notions given by television, magazines, etc.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Captain's log 2: Aventure Time. An American triumph.
cartoons is something America excels at. America has created the vast majority of the characters that the children of the world know and love now and forever more. But what is happening to American Cartoons? There is something very odd and very different about the cartoons today that was not present in cartoons from the past. They are changing for the better by better by including more intense/more adult themes then seen in the past and invoking extremely powerful emotion that cartoons in the past tried and failed. The success of this can be seen in the cult like following of some of these shows that are heavily comprised of adults. The best example of this phenomena is Adventure time.
Adventure time is a children's cartoon set in the magical land of Ooo with a whole cast of generally weird but adorable and lovable characters. The general theme of Adventure Time is.. well... Adventures. The Two main characters, Finn the Human and his sidekick Jake the Dog, go on a whole slew of moral and ethical adventures. They both have a strong disdain towards evil and evildoers and are champions of fighting for the innocent.
As a child, adventure time is awesome because it is very much like your imagination. It is filled with fantasy creatures, landscapes, magic and terrifying monsters getting beaten by the good guys. Yet, adventure time is not just for kids. If you're an adult viewer, Adventure Time is appealing to you because it is relatable to your own childhood. Finn the Human deals with common teenager issues such as romance or fighting to be understood. These are things we all remember dealing with as young adolescents but Finn also faces less generic challenges that are less prevalent in other cartoons. Finn often deals with death, loneliness being an outsider (he is the only human), moral dilemmas, and Fear (which is actually embodied as a black cloud that lives inside of him and causes him to doubt himself).
The reason for Adventure Time's success with the adult community is because of the Nostalgia in brings. It brings pain or longing for an age of innocence and wonder, one that is unattainable now that it has passed us by. Nostalgia is the feeling of fondly remembering something while sadly acknowledging that that time is gone. Why is this special? you may ask. Couldn't you argue that all cartoons do this? Ah, but Adventure time takes it a step further by having nostalgia within nostalgia. As you are experiencing nostalgia the characters in the show are experiencing it as well. The characters in the show often grieve over the old world that was destroyed in the great "Mushroom War", human remains and destroyed rusted pieces of war machinery such as tanks and helicopters litter the land of Ooo and can be seen during many episodes. At one point the planet the show takes place on is shown from space and it can be recognized as earth with a huge clean cut crater existing where North America should be. This alludes that Ooo is in fact not a fairytale land but is in fact our own world after it has been destroyed by war. The show claims that after the fall of man magic returned to the world as it was previously shunned and rejected by humans. The existence of magic has allowed the world to rebuild and flourish once more. At the same time Adventure Time uses constant goofiness and weird humor to balance out the depressing nostalgia and create a perfect ambivalence which is a feeling that is so rare in media in general, let alone a cartoon. Yet this ambivalence is only be felt to the full extent by an American. As an outsider might not have the same connections to the recognizable landmarks in the Ooo wasteland, or perhaps not the same connections to issues Finn is dealing with, or perhaps not even have the same value for Nostalgia as we Americans do.
Adventure time is a children's cartoon set in the magical land of Ooo with a whole cast of generally weird but adorable and lovable characters. The general theme of Adventure Time is.. well... Adventures. The Two main characters, Finn the Human and his sidekick Jake the Dog, go on a whole slew of moral and ethical adventures. They both have a strong disdain towards evil and evildoers and are champions of fighting for the innocent.
As a child, adventure time is awesome because it is very much like your imagination. It is filled with fantasy creatures, landscapes, magic and terrifying monsters getting beaten by the good guys. Yet, adventure time is not just for kids. If you're an adult viewer, Adventure Time is appealing to you because it is relatable to your own childhood. Finn the Human deals with common teenager issues such as romance or fighting to be understood. These are things we all remember dealing with as young adolescents but Finn also faces less generic challenges that are less prevalent in other cartoons. Finn often deals with death, loneliness being an outsider (he is the only human), moral dilemmas, and Fear (which is actually embodied as a black cloud that lives inside of him and causes him to doubt himself).
The reason for Adventure Time's success with the adult community is because of the Nostalgia in brings. It brings pain or longing for an age of innocence and wonder, one that is unattainable now that it has passed us by. Nostalgia is the feeling of fondly remembering something while sadly acknowledging that that time is gone. Why is this special? you may ask. Couldn't you argue that all cartoons do this? Ah, but Adventure time takes it a step further by having nostalgia within nostalgia. As you are experiencing nostalgia the characters in the show are experiencing it as well. The characters in the show often grieve over the old world that was destroyed in the great "Mushroom War", human remains and destroyed rusted pieces of war machinery such as tanks and helicopters litter the land of Ooo and can be seen during many episodes. At one point the planet the show takes place on is shown from space and it can be recognized as earth with a huge clean cut crater existing where North America should be. This alludes that Ooo is in fact not a fairytale land but is in fact our own world after it has been destroyed by war. The show claims that after the fall of man magic returned to the world as it was previously shunned and rejected by humans. The existence of magic has allowed the world to rebuild and flourish once more. At the same time Adventure Time uses constant goofiness and weird humor to balance out the depressing nostalgia and create a perfect ambivalence which is a feeling that is so rare in media in general, let alone a cartoon. Yet this ambivalence is only be felt to the full extent by an American. As an outsider might not have the same connections to the recognizable landmarks in the Ooo wasteland, or perhaps not the same connections to issues Finn is dealing with, or perhaps not even have the same value for Nostalgia as we Americans do.
Captain's Log 1: American high school as depicted in film.
The experience of American high school is something that has been the subject of much media attention both nationally and internationally and has become somewhat iconic. From its portrayal in films and tv shows, American high school has become this idolized "golden age" which middle school students look forward to, adults reminisce about and foreigners wish they could experience. Yet, the American high school which is portrayed is nothing like the high schools in down town Harlem or Detroit or Chicago or any inner city area. Nor is it some small high school out in the country of the Midwest or the South. The cool and hip image of high school from movies is one in a suburban area like Beverly Hills or our very own Fairfield County. The majority of the most famous of American high school movies that give us this iconic image take place in middle class/wealthy suburban areas of the country. Usually these movies are characterized by the house party scenes where the silver spoon trust fund characters throw a massive binge party in their Mansions when there parents are out of town for a while. Various other details hinting to the economic class of the characters can be picked up on such as the quality of cars they drive to school, dress and racial homogeneity (they're almost all white).
You don't believe me? let me just name some examples that fit my description. Examples include: The Breakfast Club, Rebel Without a Cause, Ferris Buellers Day Off, 21 Jump Street, 16 Candles, Clueless, Dazed and Confused, Election, Mean Girls and many more. American Tv-Series that protray high school also seem to follow this trend like Glee, 90210, Degrassi, One Tree Hill, Saved by the Bell and Victorious. Even American Horror movies seem to be set in suburbs with local white high school students being the victims such as Halloween, Carrie, Scream, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Why is that? Why has a small percentage of wealthy American teenagers influenced public view on what high school life is like and why are high school students almost always portrayed as rich white kids who live in the suburbs?
It is because most Americans see high school as the best time of there life. It was before all responsibility arrived and after the innocence of childhood. The High School experience is something we all truly cherish and therefore we want those memories to be represented in film by best of us or the elite. We furnish our image of high school with our most attractive white actors in the most expensive settings with the best cars and best accessories and they throw the best parties. We as Americans want our nostalgia to be protected by our greatest memory being portrayed handsomely. It is also because americans have always enjoyed watching the lifestyle of the rich (or anyone richer than themselves) as it is far more interesting than anything they can experience. Films about inner city schools usually have a depressing undertone and lack the iconic high school feeling altogether and therefore don't give people the sugar rush enjoyment they get from traditional high school movies. A more realistic view of American high school is present in films like Lean on Me where students struggle to maintain a basic level of literacy and deal with problems like teen pregnancy, aids, gun violence and domestic violence instead of teen drama. This of course, does not represent all American high schools much represents a significantly larger amount than those taking place in the suburbs.
You don't believe me? let me just name some examples that fit my description. Examples include: The Breakfast Club, Rebel Without a Cause, Ferris Buellers Day Off, 21 Jump Street, 16 Candles, Clueless, Dazed and Confused, Election, Mean Girls and many more. American Tv-Series that protray high school also seem to follow this trend like Glee, 90210, Degrassi, One Tree Hill, Saved by the Bell and Victorious. Even American Horror movies seem to be set in suburbs with local white high school students being the victims such as Halloween, Carrie, Scream, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Why is that? Why has a small percentage of wealthy American teenagers influenced public view on what high school life is like and why are high school students almost always portrayed as rich white kids who live in the suburbs?
It is because most Americans see high school as the best time of there life. It was before all responsibility arrived and after the innocence of childhood. The High School experience is something we all truly cherish and therefore we want those memories to be represented in film by best of us or the elite. We furnish our image of high school with our most attractive white actors in the most expensive settings with the best cars and best accessories and they throw the best parties. We as Americans want our nostalgia to be protected by our greatest memory being portrayed handsomely. It is also because americans have always enjoyed watching the lifestyle of the rich (or anyone richer than themselves) as it is far more interesting than anything they can experience. Films about inner city schools usually have a depressing undertone and lack the iconic high school feeling altogether and therefore don't give people the sugar rush enjoyment they get from traditional high school movies. A more realistic view of American high school is present in films like Lean on Me where students struggle to maintain a basic level of literacy and deal with problems like teen pregnancy, aids, gun violence and domestic violence instead of teen drama. This of course, does not represent all American high schools much represents a significantly larger amount than those taking place in the suburbs.
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