The elves are back – VG

ESPEN SKOLAND, editor-in-chief of TVNorge

It was correct to cancel the broadcast of “Santas over the forest and hello”, when we learned that the portrayal of one of the characters in the series may be perceived as especially discriminatory and offensive in 2020. Had we done more extensive editorial work before of the publication? , this series would not appear on television again this year. We would not promote it on Dplay either. We made a mistake, we just didn’t keep up with the class.

But we must learn from this. We have learned that we need to rethink our file. This thinking must take into account both how we can act as a responsible social actor now, and as a responsible steward of history so far. The solution is to tag the content of the file that looks different and is perceived as offensive in the current context.

The discussion that followed these events has been instructive and, in many ways, rewarding and important, but also highly polarized. It has brought more voices to the field and, therefore, more nuances to the subject.

The intention behind “Santas Over the Woods and Hello” and the character of Ernst Øyvind was never racist. From the creators’ point of view, the intention was rather to include. If the top comedians in a multicultural society only stalked light-skinned people, it would be in a way exclusive humor. That was the idea behind it at the time, and we fully support the good intentions behind “The Santas over forest and hello” and the successful comedy projects that Espen Eckbo has delighted our viewers with since 1996.

It was a certain personal temperament, for many a recognizable southern one, Eckbo, above all, caricatured with the character “Ernst Øyvind.” We know that a premise of the character was that skin color should not be relevant. For precisely this reason, it could be justified as a non-racist representation in Eckbo’s universe of characters. The series was a success, and has been broadcast on television for several years, without receiving any complaints about the content of the content.

But gradually, Norway has also developed a different awareness of what are the acceptable tools in humor, even though the humor initially had good intentions. This means that today we have a different assessment of how the use of face paint to represent people rich in melanin can be perceived. Therefore, we now recognize that this move can be perceived as offensive, regardless of the intent or the context. Therefore, it is in place with an apology to those we have hurt when we put the series on television.

We have chosen to take a position: we do not want to produce humor for our channels that clearly refers to what was historically a movement in which the use of dark face paint itself turned into comedy, bullying, and at worst cases, an expression of someone’s degradation. human dignity. This does not belong to humor in 2020, and although the context and intent are different, we cannot overlook or deny the historical racist associations.

There are many challenges with this decision. It’s hard to be categorical when it comes to setting limits on what is okay to joke around, in this field too. Boundaries should not be drawn in such a way as to appear exclusive to the very groups we seek not to discriminate against. We have chosen to draw a line for the humorous moves that can be associated with classic blackface productions in upcoming productions. So easy and so difficult.

Our decision is a reflection of the world around us. However, the fact that the debate on racism has a different dimension in other parts of the world than in Norway does not free us from taking an independent position here. This does not mean that we should uncritically import evaluations of what is and is not acceptable, from countries with a different history and culture than our own. But we also cannot ignore that Norwegians also experience content that can be associated with blackface as racist and offensive.

When we took off “Elves over the woods and hello,” we said we need time to consider how we will handle content in the future. The situation we now find ourselves in has forced some principled discussions on how we process our digital archive. We have followed the debate in public with great interest and we have several considerations that we must take into account.

We have a responsibility to take care of the speaking space of Norwegian comedians and to give them a predictable framework. Humor has an important function in society. You must be able to challenge, set the agenda, and at times feel uncomfortable. Sometimes you must be able to itch where it hurts. This is especially true when launching measures that some will perceive as offensive and offensive. At the same time, we have values ​​as a television company, which affects what we want to broadcast and how we want it to be available.

We have fallen in love with the solution that we believe is the one that best protects both principles. We will mark historical material that can be perceived as clearly offensive, with a separate poster at the beginning of each program. This is in line with the way other international broadcasters solve the challenge. Humor is usually best when commenting on the society we live in.

Therefore, humor is also a genre that can easily be experienced as outdated. Now we see that the content can be perceived as offensive, without us removing it. The solution is not without its problems. The limits of what is considered inappropriate will change over time and there will be different opinions on this. What qualifies for labeling should be decided based on judgment, and that list should be tall.

If something good has come out of this, then hopefully it will be a more enlightened debate on how we as a society handle elements of our history that look different with today’s eyes. We hope the debate on how we, as a society, really fight racism will continue.