Danish power: how Borgen’s cradle triumphs in the world

Days before the arrival of the last cycle of Grey’s Anatomy and of Cobra Kai -two undisputed favorites-, Netflix received in September a 100 percent Danish story that ended seven years ago, the political drama Bail. A combo of intrigue, female portrait and reflection on the personal cost of power that may have taken more than one by surprise, but whose reason for its premiere was in April: the platform will revive the series with a fourth season that will debut in 2022 , again starring Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen), the politician initially known as the first woman to become prime minister of the country.

The guarantee is that the creator of the production, Adam Price, returns, and above all that its original signal, DR, the Danish public channel, responsible for both Borgen and most of the titles that have risen to the top, is still linked. local series. Without the role of their Drama area, in fact, there would have been no Something to believe in, 1864, The killing neither The bridge. Nor, of course, the American remakes of the latter two. And it is likely that Nordic Noir, the popular Scandinavian rereading of the policeman, would have taken another course.

For the Danish series, which have managed to captivate with their own label, ironically a trip to Hollywood was crucial about two decades ago. A step through the sets of productions such as The west wing Y NYPD Blue undertaken by DR executives and which led them to conclude that if they wanted to make prestigious fiction, they had to find their own way, not imitate the US model.

“We have always sold Scandinavian countries like this place where there is light 24 hours a day, blonde girls with blue eyes, Hans Christian Anderson and things like that, but we wanted to show the other side,” explained Piv Bernth, DR Head of Drama, seven years ago to The Conversation site, after Bail Y the murder they will conquer Europe with a large audience and Bafta awards.

The ductility between genders has been noted as another of its greatest strengths. Outside of political and police drama, they have successfully tried historical drama and even comedy, such as Rita, one of the few successful titles belonging to a payment network instead of DR (all five seasons are on Netflix).

Bernth, until 2018 part of the public channel and perhaps the greatest architect of the phenomenon, has raised among her concepts that “history is the most important thing, then gender”, in addition to installing full confidence in the brains behind. His key day, he said, was when he met Søren Sveistrup, creator of the murder and scriptwriter of Nikolaj and Julie (2002-2003), the second Danish series to win the International Emmy for Best Drama.

Where does it fit then The rain, the first Netflix series in Denmark? Rather, as a rarity, as recognized by its own filmmakers, for being a post-apocalyptic story and too expensive by local standards. For the streaming service, launched to make new productions on each continent, that was just the beginning. The following is an adaptation of Sveistrup’s first book, The Hartung case, a thriller about a brutal murder in a residential neighborhood in Copenhagen. Piv Bernth herself – now with her own company – is working with the platform on the supernatural thriller Equinox. HBO Nordic, meanwhile, announced its first fiction in that country, Kamikaze, about a rich young woman dealing with the loss of her family.

Tess S. Skadegård Thorsen, a researcher specializing in representation in Danish cinema, shares her impressions to La Tercera: “The streaming era has continued to broadcast Danish series (such as Rita) around the world, but it is also often seen as a threat to the Danish ecosystem. Because many of the larger platforms do not guarantee local hiring or contributions to local industry economies, there have been negotiations on how to handle these powerful external platforms. “

Before the pandemic hit audiovisuals around the world, The New York Times raised other issues in an article last December, detailing that series productions were reaching such a high number that local talent was not keeping up.

Thorsen, also a consultant and media expert, notes another point: “Several Danish Nordic Noir series feature women, including the murder Y Bail. However, minorities, including women, are generally under-represented in the Danish film industry (on screen and behind the scenes), especially in positions of power ”. Challenges that, even more than in 2010, find production under the scrutiny of everyone.