Bridges and Tunnels: Negotiating the National in Transnational Television Drama
Bridges and Tunnels: Negotiating the National in Transnational Television Drama
In a globalised world, the notions of neatly defined, homogeneous ethnies or national identities are difficult to sustain, especially if they are construed as organic features of social organisation and historical development. Instead, the present moment is characterised by hybridisation, multiculturalism and all manners of transnational movement, flux and entanglement. It has even been argued that we are now situated in a postnational condition, where the construction of supranationals, such as the European Union, and the transnational, ‘deregulated’, cross-border movement of capital, cultures and people is indicative of a decline of nations and traditional concepts of the national as key factors. Although the relation between the ‘transnational’ and the ‘postnational’ is not absolutely clear in this line of argument, the terms can be understood as connoting progressive stages in the decline of the national in the face of the challenges of globalisation. In this chapter, I will discuss the Swedish/Danish television series Bron|Broen (The Bridge, 2011–) as a transnational media phenomenon, where conceptions of nation are thematised. I will argue, against the backdrop briefly introduced above, that the discourse of nation in Bron|Broen is a vital part of its adaptability.
Keywords: Bron|Broen, transnational movement, Branding and Nation, Nordic Noir, Themes of Nation, Transnational Metropolis, National Otherness
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