Background on Denmark: The unified Kingdom of Denmark and conception of the Danish people came about around the eighth century AD. From around the 8th to 10th century, this was the Viking era, and they were a maritime people who sailed as far as Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. In 1397, Denmark merged with Sweden and Norway, which lasted until Sweden seceded in 1523. The Scandinavian territories had a series of wars in the 17th century that eventually caused Denmark to lose some of their territory to Sweden. They adopted a constitution and gave up absolute monarchy in 1849, then got to work industrializing and creating their modern welfare state. They were officially neutral in WW2 but they did endure German occupation for most of the war.
My visit: I studied abroad in Denmark! Outside of my home country of the US and a few short visits into Canada, it was the first big travel experience I ever had. I lived and studied in Copenhagen for four months, and during that time, I have also traveled quite a bit throughout the country, including Odense, Århus, Esbjerg, and the island of Fanø.
Fiction: The Complete Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen
Denmark is one of the countries where I have a proper grounding of the media landscape without having to do much research for this specific project. Because I studied abroad there, I have taken a couple different university-level classes that are related to Danish literature. I would argue their two biggest contributions to literary culture are Scandinavian crime fiction and Hans Christian Andersen, who is a national symbol. We will get into the crime fiction later, in the rest of Scandinavia, but I want my official pick for Denmark to be uniquely Danish. If you are interested in a Danish crime fiction series, I would recommend Jussi Adler Olsen’s Department Q series.
Hans Christian Andersen has had a huge impact on culture, both in Denmark and across the world. He is perhaps best known for The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen and The Little Mermaid, but he was a prolific writer and had countless stories that have continued to be adapted or referenced up to the modern day. You can still visit his birthplace in Odense, and there are statues of his work across the city of Odense and Denmark more broadly.
Nonfiction: Out of Africa & Shadows on the Grass by Karen Blixen
This is, perhaps, an odd choice for a nonfiction book about Denmark. But the other options that seemed to come up were all about “what is hygge,” and frankly, I know what it is and I don’t need to be taught how to make my house more cozy. So I instead went with one of the most famous Danish writers and her most famous book, which I hadn’t read until this project.
Karen Blixen is a very good writer. Her descriptions of the landscape of Kenya are absolutely beautiful, and really transport you to the place. That said, the events of Out of Africa take place from 1914 to 1931 and the book was published in 1937, so do note that not everything has aged particularly well when Blixen talks about the native populations in the areas where she was living. But because of that, I think the book does capture the European perspective of colonization quite well. When she describes the native people living in Kenya as squatters on her land, it is telling. As much as my Belgian choice about their colonization of the DRC was an indictment on the worst version of colonization, the kind that even other colonizers balked at, this one is more of a look at what the average European would have been thinking about the way that their countries divvied up land in Africa.
Movie: The Hunt (2012)
I wanted to pick a film directed by Thomas Vinterberg, who was the first Danish filmmaker nominated for an Oscar in the Best Director category. That nomination was for Another Round, but my favorite of his is actually The Hunt. Both movies star Mads Mikkelsen, who is probably the most famous current Danish actor. The Hunt follows Mikkelsen as a kindergarten teacher who faces ostracization from his community after being falsely accused of sexually assaulting a child in his class. False accusations are a hard topic to handle well, and I found it really compelling. The acting, especially Mikkelsen’s, was so strong, and it created complex characters with such interesting relationships. In my Scandinavian crime fiction class, we spoke about particular tenets of this subgenre, and one of the key components was tapping into the collectivist sense of Danish society. The Hunt does this really well, focusing on the pain of being cut off from that community and the deep impact that has on our main character.
I would be remiss not to also mention my favorite Danish TV show, Rita. There are a lot of great Danish crime TV shows as well, but Rita offers more of a slice of life. It focuses on the life of a teacher and the relationships with her family, coworkers, and friends. There’s not much else to the premise but similarly, the acting and characters are just so good!
Reflections: Outside of the US, there is perhaps no country where I have spent more time thinking, studying, and talking about their media than Denmark. When I spent my semester in Copenhagen, I didn’t have to take any particular classes, so I ended up taking three literature classes in addition to one on criminology and one on Danish language and culture. Denmark has a lot of great options for books and movies and I would be happy to talk more about these with anyone!