in the name of the father: the representation of fatherhood in scandinavian cinema
Post on 07-Nov-2014
78 Views
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
In the name of the Father:
Fathers in Contemporary Scandinavian Cinema
Thomas Pinder
CULT312
1
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Dissertation: In the name of the Father: Fathers in Contemporary
Scandinavian Cinema
‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’1
- Marcellus, Hamlet, 1:4, 90.
Scandinavian cinema has a problem with men. Depictions of men,
masculinity and fatherhood are negative at best, when indeed the
man is present at all. This essay explores the demasculinisation of
the male subject in terms of the role purpose built to define him,
fatherhood. Like all cinema, no exploration of its messages, themes
and effects can be wholly understood outside of the context of its
history, and this presents a unique problem for Scandinavian
cinema in light of the focus of this essay. The spectre of Ingmar
Bergman looms over Scandinavia’s cinematic heritage, the literal
patriarch whose legacy many contemporary directors are still
attempting to negotiate, either through homage or subversion.
Before one can examine the question of how fathers are
represented today, one must first navigate the Daddy-issues of
Scandinavia’s recent past.
Born on 14th July 1918, Ingmar Bergman would become, in the eyes
of many, one of the greatest film directors of all time. Indeed,
Woody Allen once called him ‘probably the greatest film artist, all
things considered, since the invention of the motion picture
1 William Shakespeare, Hamlet (London: Penguin Books, 2005) p. 31.
2
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
camera.’2 Similarly Peter Cowie in his book ‘Swedish Cinema: From
Ingeborg Holm to Fanny and Alexander’ posits that:
Bergman is both the envy and the inspiration of Swedish
directors. They may resent working in his shadow, but they
also bask in the light of his achievement and celebrity. For
many artists and critics around the world, he is quite simply
the greatest film director of all film directors.3
High praise such as this is what the current crop of Scandinavian
directors has to contend with, and Cowie accurately observes the
fine line they tread between shadow and glory in doing so. What
influence then does Bergman’s work have on the representation of
fatherhood? One of Bergman’s earliest films, Summer Interlude
(1951) deals with the relationship between the two protagonists
Henrik (Birger Malmsten) and Marie (Maj-Britt Nilsson). Cowie
observes that,
Henrik, [Marie’s] boyfriend, appears to have no ‘occupation’
whatever, and carries round with him a delicate white poodle,
treating it with the same care and affection as a young mother
would lavish on her baby…Henrik gives an impression of
2 Mervyn Rothstein, ‘Ingmar Bergman, Master Filmmaker, Dies at 89’, <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/movies/30cnd-bergman.html?_r=1> [accessed 03.02.11].3 Peter Cowie, Swedish Cinema: From Ingeborg Holm to Fanny and Alexander (Stockholm: Stellan Stals Tryckerier AB, 1985) p. 143.
3
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
hesitancy and languor, two traits habitually associated with
women.4
Bergman’s representation of Henrik is of a weak male, setting the
trend to follow for the next sixty years. It is interesting to note that
Henrik’s fatherly attention is focused upon the dog, though one
could argue that his emasculated characterisation, alongside his
feminised traits, constitutes a more motherly approach to his care of
the poodle as Cowie perceives. The dog itself is a breed more often
associated with women rather than men and the whole image of
Henrik completely subverts the concept of the strong, masculine
father. This portrayal of the Scandinavian male is at odds with the
characterisation of masculinity that Bergman depicted in the 1940s,
whilst he was still learning his craft. Cowie notes that in films such
as Crisis (1945) and It Rains on Our Love (1946), the eponymous
anti-hero of this prentice phase in Bergman’s career is a down-at-
heel bohemian, rejected by the authorities and the bourgeois
majority, and yet scorned by the intellectuals.5 Whilst at odds with
the characterisation of men like Henrik, the males of Bergman’s first
works are nevertheless outside of societal acceptability. Though not
feminised or emasculated, their presentation is one of rebellious
conflict, and their lack of a role in society is indicative of the
problematic representations of strong male characters and fathers
that will proceed them. By living outside of the accepted standard, 4 Cowie, op cit, p.43.5 Cowie, op cit, pp. 37-38.
4
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
these males are equally as alienated as their feminised
counterparts, and will struggle to reassert themselves in positive
ways over the coming years.
Though the anxiety of influence suffered by many under the spirit of
Bergman is considerable, he is not the only Scandinavian director to
have forged a successful career in the mid-twentieth century. Nor is
he the only director whose films tackle issues surrounding
masculinity and fatherhood. The Pram (1963), directed by a Swedish
contemporary of Bergman’s, Bo Widerberg, centres its attention on
the young female character of Britt (Inger Taube), who rather
carelessly becomes pregnant, but the father, a young musician,
soon vanishes from the scene.6 Similarly, Vilgot Sjöman’s The Dress
(1964) highlights instances in which mother and daughter seek to
sweep away all traces of male dominance and conceit.7 Their
reasons for doing so emphasise a belief in the realisation of the
family idyll through the absence of the male. To them the male is an
intrusion, a disharmonious presence that threatens to upset the
balance of their relationship. Björkman argues that this is in part
due to the stylistic choices of the director, highlighting Sjöman’s
conscious desire to stylise and rationalise conflicts which might
have been given a stronger personal basis and thus a greater
general validity.8 However, regardless of the director’s conscious
6 Stig Björkman, Film in Sweden: The New Directors, translated by. Barrie Selman (The Tantivy Press: London, 1977) p.13.7 Björkman, op cit, p. 33.8 Björkman, op cit, p. 34.
5
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
desires the end result still embalms the death of the strong male
character through his subjugation to women. This trope of strong
women and weak men is emphatically symptomatic of
Scandinavia’s, and specifically Sweden’s, movement into the 1960s.
Sweden’s own official website comments on their ‘pioneer’ status of
the sexual revolution in this decade and through the 1970s, and
their drive toward gender equality throughout this period.9 Sjöman’s
film I Am Curious Yellow (1967) introduced and exacerbated the
concept of ‘Swedish Sin’ in its frank and liberal depictions of sex and
sexuality. Of further note, the film itself also contains perhaps the
most literal iteration of demasculinisation (albeit in a dream), when
Lena (Lena Nyman) shoots her lover Börje (Börje Ahlstedt) and then
cuts off his penis.
The struggle that cinematic males seemed to find themselves in
during this period is perhaps best encapsulated in Roy Andersson’s
1970 film A Swedish Love Story. Whilst the central narrative
concentrates on Annika (Ann-Sofie Kylin), the parallel story of her
parents offers a glimpse of the toil exerted by Scandinavian males
searching for their place in society, and striving to keep it. Björkman
opines that Annika’s father, John (Bertil Norström) has been
deformed in the course of his strenuous battle to attain a position in
society. His anxiety is an expression of the incompleteness and
9 Åke Daun, ‘The Swedish Myths: True, false, or somewhere in between?’ September 1st 2005 <http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Reading/The-Swedish-myths-True-false-or-somewhere-in-between/> [accessed 04.02.11].
6
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
impoverishment of his own personality.10 The concerted effort of the
Scandinavian male to reassert himself ultimately only accentuates
the capitulation of his downfall.
It is with this in mind that we can turn our attention to the more
present day, and offer an alternative father figure of contemporary
Scandinavian cinema to that of Bergman and his peers. Lars Von
Trier and Thomas Vinterberg initiated the Dogme movement in 1995
as a direct counter to their legendary predecessor and the rise and
rise of the heavily stylised Hollywood industry, in an attempt to
redefine the cultural and societal boundaries of Scandinavian film
and filmmaking. Festen (dir. Thomas Vinterberg 1998), or to give it
its full title Dogme #1 – Festen, deals with the implosion of a family
at its patriarch’s sixtieth birthday party after the eldest son accuses
his father of sexually abusing him and his twin sister when they
were children. With such revelatory accusations at the centre of the
film one could easily be forgiven for overlooking some of the other
incidents that take place, or indeed retrospectively dismiss them as
acts perpetrated by those with acute psychological trauma.
However, to do so would be ignorant of the multifaceted nature of
each of the characters, for while Helge Klingelfeldt (Henning
Moritzen) is at the heart of this story, his tale of debauchery is not
the only one being told.
10 Björkman, op cit, p. 105.
7
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
The film opens with an establishing shot of expansive Danish
countryside dissected by a road on which walks a man soon to be
identified as Christian Klingelfeldt (Ulrich Thomsen). As he talks on
his phone concerning his whereabouts, he states that he is ‘At the
land of my father, it’s beautiful.’11 In light of what transpires, it is
argued here that this piece of seemingly expositional dialogue is in
fact Vinterberg’s emphatic refusal of Scandinavia’s cinematic
legacy, or at the very least a perfunctory gloss over that legacy
before he proceeds to dismantle it. The Danish countryside as the
land of Christian’s father is analogous to what Vinterberg sees as
the impressionistically fertile land of his forebears, a profitable and
verdant landscape beneath which problems are rife. One can later
extend this metaphor to include the entire Klingelfeldt-Hansen
family, whose desire to blindly pursue the niceties of civilised
society in the wake of Christian’s news (glass-tapping to announce
speeches, Klaus Bondam’s toastmaster motivating proceedings)
seems designed only to serve the purpose of keeping up
appearances while the established order of things crumbles down
around them. I believe this is what is at the heart of Festen;
attacking the establishment (fathers) because it is accepted without
question. Christian is rightfully angry with his father for the crimes
he has committed, the family is content to accept these crimes
without question as anything other than the truth and Vinterberg is
attacking Bergman’s legacy through alternative filmmaking. If the
11 Festen, (dir Thomas Vinterberg, 1998).
8
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
visual, the image, is superficial, like the Danish countryside,
Vinterberg’s response is to go beneath the aesthetic and emphasise
the technique and form and the architecture and construction of its
creation through Dogme.
Vinterberg is liberated in film form by constraining himself: for
Vinterberg the Dogme movement offers greater creative expression
precisely because of its inherent limitations. As a result, Vinterberg
and the film form share a paradoxical relationship to the characters,
who feel constrained by the actions of their father. Rule ten of the
Dogme manifesto states that the director is not to be credited12, a
stance that Vinterberg and von Trier saw as diametrically opposed
to previous concepts of ownership and auteurism. By liberating
themselves from the mantle of the film’s patriarch, the Danish
directors embody a communal sense of creation, rather than what
they perceived to be the creation of a product through autocracy. In
the film, Helge’s role as the father is the onscreen personification of
the very values that Vinterberg is striving to refute. By showcasing
this familial dictator, Vinterberg can proceed to deconstruct the
previous establishment by emphasising its flaws and failings to the
point of excess. The greatest revelation therefore, comes not with
Christian’s accusations, but in one of Helge’s attempted rebuttals,
‘Is it my fault I have such talentless offspring? It was all you were
12 Lars von Trier & Thomas Vinterberg, ‘Dogme 95: The Vow of Chastity in Technology and Culture: The Film Reader, ed. by Andrew Utterson (Routledge: Oxon, 2005) p.88.
9
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
good for.’ Helge’s outburst encapsulates the anxiety of influence
internalised by many of the current crop of Scandinavian directors,
ever striving to forge a unique identity for themselves under the
spectre of their past.
As Vinterberg deconstructs notions of (re)presentation, both in the
world of the film and in and of its construct, added emphasis is
placed upon the actors in their roles as the characters to deliver
engaging performances in a film so stripped of technical gimmickry.
Consequently, and in tandem with the unrelenting and near-
intrusive realism that Dogme strives to achieve, the relationships
between the characters are further stressed by a director
attempting to impart meaning in the absence of certain techniques
that would otherwise imply or augment it. As such, the relationship
between Helge and his children is not the only one being
scrutinised.
Thomas Bo Larsen plays Helge’s second son Michael, and portrays
him with such aggression that one can barely resist a
psychoanalytical approach to his character. Though it is later
revealed that Michael escaped the sexual abuse this is only because
of his attending a boarding school for the majority of his child-life.
Moreover, we also learn that Michael has not actually been invited
to the celebrations because of his previously drunken behaviour.
Michael has, at best, a fractious and highly volatile relationship with
10
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
his parents, a relationship that he attempts to deal with through
violence and aggression. In interview, Bo Larsen himself has stated
that ‘[Michael] is looking for his father’s respect by beating people
up’13. Though much of the attention is naturally on Helge and what
he did to his children, it is important that the character of Michael is
not forgotten for what his father didn’t do. Michael’s erratic
behaviour can easily be construed as a manifestation of the absence
of a father figure in his life. The poor treatment of his wife and
children, the affair with the serving girl and the beating of his father
can all be evidenced as examples of the lack of a traditional
upbringing and the instilling of family values. One is not attempting
to rationalise Michael’s behaviour, merely providing a possible
explanation for it. Through Michael, Vinterberg is strengthening his
position in attacking his forebears by implying that it is simply not
enough to discard ones children and hope for the best, but that the
father must be a positive presence in the child’s life.
It is interesting to note that ‘children’ in the genealogical sense of
the word (that is, those yet to have reached adolescence) are
largely absent from the narrative. Michael’s children are seen early
on but make no further appearances until the closing breakfast
scene. One could argue that this is simply dictated by the
formalities of the dinner, but it also has the effect of framing the
story in the past. The absence of present youth imposes a greater 13 Thomas Bo Larsen, ‘Festen in Retrospect’, in Festen (dir. Thomas Vinterberg, 1998).
11
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
focus upon the older generation and the events of the past, even
the fact that it is Helge’s birthday is course for his friends and
relatives to reminisce over nostalgic episodes. The effect of this is
twofold. Firstly, it emphasises the relativity of the past in shaping
the future, specifically with great importance placed on the role of
the father. As Christian speaks of his ordeal he temporally unseals
an event that has been otherwise locked away. Secondly, and
subsequently, the absence of young children from this scenario acts
a metaphor for their removal from this corrupt environment. Their
reappearance at breakfast, as Helge is politely asked to leave,
represents the reintegration of family values into a familial society
that is attempting to recover without its patriarch. The father is
blamed for the sins of the past and the children are brought more
immediately into the future.
Though Helge is naturally the main antagonist in Festen, he is not
the only father failing to live up to expectation. When he asks
Christian about his current girlfriend and their situation, ‘Can’t you
just have a few kids and move back home?’ Christian’s reply is,
‘She’s having someone else’s kid.’ Christian’s failings with women
and his unsuccessful attempts to start a family of his own have
further attention drawn to them when Helge angrily rebukes his
accusations with a number of his own; ‘Lovely women you let go by
year after year because there is so little man in you.’ For Helge, it
seems the desire and the ability to settle down is a defining quality
12
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
of masculinity, and one his eldest son lacks. Christian’s inability to
settle down may very well be linked to any latent fears he may hold
pertaining to the treatment of his own children, an argument
supported by psychologist Richard Gartner. Gartner states that ‘[w]e
see that the son has been severely damaged by his boyhood abuse,
and has been incapable of intimate relatedness throughout his life.14
Christian is only able to progress to the next stage in masculinity
once he has exorcised the demons he has about his father, asking
Pia (Trine Dyrholm) to live with him in Paris. I believe that this
stands parallel to Vinterberg’s conviction (and that of many of his
contemporaries) in distancing Scandinavian filmmaking from
Bergman. Scandinavian cinema can only move forwards, can only
grow up, once it has dealt with its own daddy-issues. Likewise, one
can posit the father’s abuse and Dogme as a movement as an
attempt to wrestle with the cinematic legacy of Vinterberg’s
predecessors by subverting the traditional role of the father as
teacher, protector and care-giver to the point of perversion.
As with any familial role, the role itself is created by subconscious
parameters decided upon by a society that is in the pursuit of the
ideal. Therefore, it is imperative to analyse the role of the father in
terms of the reaction of the people around him at the time of the
accusations. Christian’s first speech is unsurprisingly denied by his
father, and Gartner asserts that:14 Richard Gartner, ‘Cinematic Depictions of Boyhood Sexual Victimization’, Gender and Psychoanalysis, Volume 4 (1999) pp. 253-289.
13
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
[T]his denial is conveyed and reinforced in the reactions of
those who hear the accusations. The partygoers are
momentarily shocked by each disclosure, but then continue to
celebrate the birthday in a nearly surrealistic manner that
serves as a dramatic enactment of the chronic denial often
seen in incestuous families.15
The film accentuates the absurdity aforementioned, as the family’s
attempts to continue to perform the formalities of the dinner stand
as token endeavours in preserving civility and order. Helge’s role as
father and patriarch is momentarily upheld by the naivety of a
society immersed in strict adherence to rules and regulations and
the need to endorse them to justify them. This self-serving
cyclicality promotes a conflict shyness instinct that seems inherent
in Scandinavian values. A research paper by the Social Science
Research Network published in May 2002 highlights this inbuilt
conflict avoidance. Jette Schramm-Nielsen, member of the
Department of Intercultural Communication and Management at the
Copenhagen Business and author of ‘Conflict Management in
Scandinavia’ found that:
Results show that Scandinavians have an aversion to conflicts,
termed conflict shyness, and that they tend to minimize their
15 Ibid.
14
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
importance and intensity, even when they do exist. The
remedy par excellence to conflicts are talks, at whichever
level the conflicts arise, and if a mutual understanding cannot
be found, then to put a lid on the antagonisms…the
conclusions are drawn that Scandinavian countries are
definitely low-conflict societies with specific conflict solving
strategies conditioned by strong societal norms. These
characteristics have been remarkably enduring.16
Schramm-Nielsen also supports the opinion held by Gartner
concerning the partygoer’s dismissal of Christian’s news, affirming
that it can also be argued that Scandinavians exhibit a high degree
of conformity to social rules that they do not want to step out of line
for fear of sanctions from their kin group.17 Scandinavian conflict
shyness is what I believe to be at the heart of Festen, and is a topic
that will resurface throughout this essay. With regards to its impact
on the image of the father, Helge, knowingly or not, has exploited
this national trait, committing his heinous crimes in a society that is
unlikely to face the reality of them. Helge’s representation of
masculinity and fatherhood is brutal and exploitative, it could be
argued therefore that he is a man even further out of juncture with
his society, a man who does not posses the national traits that so
define his fellow countrymen and their neighbours. With this in
16 Jette Schramm-Nielsen, ‘Conflict Management in Scandinavia’ (May 2002). IACM 15th Annual Conference. <http://ssrn.com/abstract=305153 or doi:10.2139/ssrn.305153> [accessed 03.03.11] p.2.17 Schramm-Nielsen, op cit, p.21.
15
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
mind, we turn our attention to a greater sociological approach in an
effort to contextualise the role of the on screen father by examining
his off screen counterpart in contemporary Scandinavian society.
In their essay ‘The Role of the Father: An Introduction’, Michael E.
Lamb and Catherine S. Tamis-Lemonda posit that ‘fathers play a
number of significant roles – companions, care providers, spouses,
protectors, models, moral guides, teachers, breadwinners – whose
relative importance varies across historical epochs and sub-cultural
groups.’18 Such a long list of complex roles is perhaps somewhat
daunting for what many assume to be simply a naturally inherited
role, but nonetheless it forms an interesting start point for this
analysis. Vinterberg’s father in Festen starts out as all-powerful and
sees that power gradually decline as each of his roles in the familial
commune is systematically deconstructed until it is clear that he has
failed as a father. However, Helge is not alone in this inherently
Scandinavian cinematic tradition of fatherly failings. One need only
cast an eye over the catalogue of Festen’s contemporaries to
support this supposition. Mikael Håfström’s Evil (2003) follows
schoolboy Erik Ponti’s (Andreas Wilson) descent into madness at the
hands of his horrifically abusive stepfather (Johan Rabaeus) and the
violent hyper-masculinised environment of his boarding school.
Lasse Hallström’s My Life as a Dog (1985) deals with 12-year-old
18 Michael E. Lamb & Catherine S. Tamis-Lemonda, ‘The Role of the Father: An Introduction’, in The Role of the Father in Child Development, ed. Michael E Lamb, 4th edition, (John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey, 2004) pp.3-4.
16
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Ingemar (Anton Glanzelius) and his struggle to assert his masculine
identity in a world without a father, where the most overt
representations of paternal masculinity are disseminated between
his tomboy girl-friend Saga, (Melinda Kinnaman) and Mr. Arvidsson
(Didrik Gustavsson), an old man whom Ingemar interacts with by
reading lingerie articles to. The relationships in Hallström’s film
share many similarities with Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of John
Ajvide Lindqvist’s Let The Right One In (2008), a film to be discussed
in more detail later on this essay. Additionally, two of Susanne Bier’s
films Open Hearts (2002) and After The Wedding (2006 (again to be
discussed in more detail later)) have at their heart conflicted and
flawed fathers, with arresting central performances by Mads
Mikkelsen in both films. Mikkelsen seemingly has a penchant for
disenfranchised fathers, also playing a similar character, Christoffer,
in Ole Christian Madsen’s 2006 film Prag. Lastly, one cannot ignore
the global success of the filmic adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s
Millennium Trilogy (2009-10)19. Incidentally, the original Swedish
title of the first film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is actually Män
som hatar kvinnor, translated as Men who hate women. Here, the
protagonist Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) not only has her own
incredibly complex daddy-issues, but must work alongside Michael
Nyqvist’s Mikael Blomkvist, with whom she shares an emotionally
intricate daughter-lover relationship.
19 Referenced individually in the bibliography
17
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
The above list is not merely a name checking of appropriate films,
but a bank of resources that in light of recent sociological studies of
Scandinavian fatherhood and parenting seem at odds with the
results. For example, in Denmark, 41.3% of men are involved in at
least 14 hours of unpaid child care per week, the highest in
Europe20. Similar studies have emphasised neighbouring country
Sweden’s advanced social welfare system, and its impact as the first
country to introduce a paid parental leave scheme that included an
option for fathers to take paternity leave after the birth of children21.
Likewise, O’Brien goes on to note that ‘a recent trend in Nordic
countries has been to mark a proportion of paid parental leave to be
devoted exclusively to fathers…developed to strengthen fathers’
caring role with their infants and also encourage more fathers to
take leave.’22 Whilst these statistics do not indicate the healthiness
of any given father-child relationship on a relationship by
relationship basis, they do highlight the growing importance of the
father in Scandinavia and the benefits that being a more prominent
father can offer. O’Brien asserts that, ‘In a national evaluation of
parental leave in Denmark, parents reported overwhelming benefits,
notably more time with family – particularly when the child is young
– and a less stressful family environment overall23. Ostensibly, all of
these figures and studies combined highlight a cultural disjuncture
20 Margaret O’Brien, ‘Social Science and Public Policy Perspectives on Fatherhood in the European Union’ in The Role of the Father in Child Development, ed. Michael E Lamb, 4th edition, (John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey, 2004) p. 129.21 O’Brien, op cit, p. 131.22 O’Brien, op cit, p.133.23 O’Brien, op cit, p.138.
18
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
between media and filmic representations of fathers and the
actuality, a claim further supported by F. Deven in a study from June
1994. Deven found that ‘articles examining fathers’ caring
responsibilities were less common than were features describing
men’s failure to provide for their family, particularly after marital
separation.’ Deven concluded that ‘Newspapers offered little in the
way of role models, guidance or support for men seeking a new and
more equal place in the family.’24
Whilst it is taken into account that to consider the highly varied and
multifaceted world of media products as the homogenised construct
of ‘The Media’ is somewhat dangerous, Deven’s case study once
again illuminates a disparity between media representation and
empirical evidence. Like filmic portrayals, print media appears
outwardly obsessed with negative or unfavourable descriptions of
fatherhood. All of the evidence points towards a group of nations
whose attitudes in relation to fatherhood is highly progressive and
at times has been advantageously revolutionary. Ultimately, this
begs the question, why the discrepancies?
The answers lie perhaps in some other interesting statistics. Despite
Scandinavia’s propensity toward progressive thinking, there is a key
area in parenthood and child development that may contribute to its
cinemas’ daddy-issues. A report by Marisol Lila, Marcel van Aken, 24 F. Deven, Men, media and childcare, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publication of the European Communities, 1994.
19
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Gonzalo Musitu and Sofia Buelga entitled ‘Families and adolescents’
detailed that:
There is a European trend to marry or live with a partner at a
later age, with an average increase of 3-4 years in all
European countries, of which Denmark and Sweden are the
countries where this trend is largest. Sweden has also been
shown as one of the European countries with the highest
divorce rate.25
Moreover, Lila et al further contest that there are a growing number
of single-person households in Europe; 44.8% of Danish households
fall into this category, the highest in the continent. Similarly, 18.8%
of families are single-parent families in Denmark and both Sweden
and Denmark also have the highest percentages of reconstructed
families/step families.26 Lila’s et al research seems to indicate that
despite recent improvements in Scandinavian welfare towards
promoting the importance of the father, it is the identity of the
traditional family unit that is facing the greater crisis. Whilst initial
developments in parent-child relationships appear strong, one could
argue that they lack a level of consistency that would benefit the
child throughout the entirety of his/her formative years. This ‘burst’
parenting potentially warps the statistics in terms of early-years
25 Marisol Lila, Marcel van Aken, Gonzalo Musitu & Sofia Buelga, ‘Families and adolescents’ in Handbook of Adolescent Development, eds. Sandy Jackson & Luc Goossens, (Psychology Press: East Sussex, 2006) p.156.26 Lila et al, op cit, p.157.
20
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
development at the cost of long term nurturing. With just under a
fifth of all households in Denmark being single-parent families then
obviously we can deduce that around of fifth of Denmark’s children
are growing up with only one parent (and if we can safely assume
that the majority of these are mother-child families, then they are
growing up with absent fathers). This is not to say that by default
they will automatically become maladjusted or difficult, but it
increases the likelihood that problems will occur. Studies have
exhibited that even in the minority of cases where the single parent
is a father, adolescents tend to show more behavioural problems
(such as substance abuse).27 If the solution to this is to remarry,
then this gives some indication as to Denmark and Sweden’s high
reconstructed family percentage. To further engage with this social
phenomenon, this essay will now explore the issues presented in
Susanne Bier’s After the Wedding as aforementioned, and how her
film deals with the challenges faced by parents and children alike in
the early stages of a reconstructed family. This will not be evaluated
exclusively, however, but alongside a consideration of the
representation of the father once again.
After the Wedding is a unique case for this essay as its two primary
protagonists can both be considered fathers with a positive
influence in the life of their children by the film’s end. As clichéd
rhetoric goes, however, it is not the destination but the journey that
27 Lila et al, op cit, p. 158.
21
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
is of import in the development of these two central characters.
Jørgen Lennart Hannson (Rolf Lassgård) is a loving husband,
successful hotelier and doting father to three children, one of whom,
Anna (Stine Fischer Christensen) is his step-daughter. Anna’s
biological father, Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen) is unknown to her, and
works in India at a Mumbai orphanage where he shares a
particularly close father-son like relationship with one of the boys,
Pramod (Neeral Mulchandani). As the events in the film unfold, it
becomes apparent that Jørgen is dying and is attempting to
persuade Jacob into taking his place in the family to look after Anna,
his other children and his wife (and Jacob’s ex-girlfriend), Helene
(Sidse Babett Knudsen). The fact that Jørgen is dying is crucial, not
only with regards to the plot, but in relation to his role as the father.
In the three films analysed in depth in this essay, Festen, After the
Wedding and Let the Right One In, it is only Jørgen who can be
considered a model father, and he is the only father who dies.
The unique situation in After the Wedding is that both Jørgen and
Jacob are fathers and step-fathers simultaneously. Jørgen has his
biological sons, the twins Morten and Martin (Kristian Gullits Ernst
and Frederik Gullits Ernst) but is also step-father to Anna, Jacob is
Anna’s real father, but will serve as step-father to Morten and
Martin, and indeed can already be considered a kind of foster-father
to Pramod. There is one key element here though, and it is to do
with the twins, Morten and Martin. This film is not about the twins. It
22
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
is about the two fathers and Anna in the middle. With the amount of
attention focused upon the relationships between these three
characters, the effect that the events have on the twins is never
remotely approached. Their entire screen time amounts to roughly
six minutes and the consequences of the events in the film are
never discussed with the twins in mind. Their limited presence
directs us to accept that because of their age their understanding of
such events is narrow at best, and that they will simply accept the
consequences. With this in mind, one can consider Bier’s film as a
critique of the prevalence of reconstructed families in Denmark, and
the need to reclaim the traditional family unit as a vessel for
happiness and security. Though this opinion may seem harsh, even
somewhat arbitrary to simply disregard two characters in such a
way to support an argument that requires their absence, I believe it
is justified because of the strict focus of the film on Anna, Jørgen
and Jacob. In the DVD extra ‘Deleted Scenes in Context’, Bier
emphasises cutting a particular scene in which Jørgen breaks down
in front of the boys on their fishing trip. Had this scene been
included then perhaps greater attention would have been required
to be paid to the effect of Jørgen’s death on the twins, but a
consequence of its deletion is that the focus of the film remains
firmly on the relationship triangle of stepfather-father-daughter.
Bier has stated that she believes Jørgen’s plan is ‘similar to the role
of parenting’, and asks ‘Do we have the right to interfere with other
23
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
people’s lives?’28 Ultimately the potential answers to this question
are multifaceted and highly contextually dependent, but
nonetheless Bier’s chosen phraseology seems satisfyingly
appropriate for this essay. Bier equates at least some part of
parenting with the idea of interference, intrusion. Jørgen’s
machinations position him as puppet master, pulling at the heart
strings of individuals to bring his plan together, and thus parenting
becomes divine with Jørgen an interventionist god. In his scheming
to bring Anna and Jacob closer together Jørgen treats them both like
children, guiding their paths with a heavy hand under the guise of
entrepreneurial morality. Jørgen’s patriarchal influence looms over
proceedings with a paradoxical omnipotence; while Jacob asks him
‘Is it fun playing God you big, fat pig?’29 Jørgen remains powerless in
the face of his own death. His mounting frustrations in facing his
inevitable and impending demise are tacitly indicative of man
desperately trying to maintain the status quo whilst in full
knowledge of the need to move on. Jørgen, for all his love, power
and respect, is powerless to prevent the onset of his cancer and
seeks to replace his approaching absence with a like-for-like
substitute in Jacob. It is precisely for these reasons that Jørgen has
to die. His efforts to preserve his reality in light of his death
undermine the progressive attitude held by Scandinavia in the
development of the role of the father. He has become an overlord of
28 Susanne Bier, ‘A Conversation with Susanne Bier’ in After the Wedding (dir. Susanne Bier, 2006).29 After the Wedding, (dir. Susanne Bier, 2006).
24
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
stagnancy and acceptance, a deified incarnation of familial inertia in
a system that passively consents to reconstruction, to plastering
over the wound. His death serves to empower change; Jacob will
reconstitute the traditional family unit.
Jacob’s ascent to fatherhood embodies a cultural shift in attitudes
towards fatherhood. A. M. Jensen cites that, ‘The so-called
detraditionalization of fatherhood has been an implicit strand in
European social policy and family analysis, where fathers are
conceptualized as moving from an ascribed to an achieved status.’30
Jacob has spent his life unknowingly running from his fatherly
responsibilities and now finds himself having to adhere to Jensen’s
description of achieving his previously considered inherited status
as father. Initially, his fortunes are ill-fated, Helene rants to Anna
about Jacob:
Jacob was a big immature child! He fucked everything with a
pulse. He was drinking himself to death. He did drugs. He had
grand ideas but did nothing. He probably means well but you
can’t trust. He wants to save everyone but…
Anna’s biting reply is simple and effective: ‘I have a right to know
who my father is!’ Anna’s insistence upon her genealogical right
creates an interesting struggle with regards to Jensen’s assertion. 30 A.M. Jensen, Partners and parents in Europe: A gender divide, in Comparative Social Research, Volume 18, (1999): 1-29.
25
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Though Jensen argues that fatherhood specifically has shifted from
an ascribed to an achieved status, to be a father one must obviously
have children. Thus, though Jacob may have to earn his right to be
Anna’s father, there is no such pressure on Anna to be worthy of her
role as his daughter. Her explicit remarks are fundamental to the
focus of the film; forgiving the father for the sins of the past. This is
the emotional heartbeat of Bier’s film. It is important to distinguish
this concept from simply forgiving the failings of men. It is implied
that Jacob and Helene’s relationship was tempestuous at best, and
Helene still has to suffer in the shadow of Jørgen’s drinking.
Similarly, Anna’s new husband is sleeping with another woman, and
it is of great magnitude to highlight the fact that Anna only ‘gains’
her biological father after she loses both her husband and the man
who raised her all her life. This distinction is imperative because
Jørgen and Jacob are forgiven by both Helene and Anna for their
failings. Christian (Christian Tafdrup), Anna’s husband, is not.
Jacob’s relationship with his daughter is not the only fatherly
relationship he has in the film. Though less prevalent in the grand
scheme of the film, his relationship with the young orphan boy
Pramod does provoke some noteworthy insights into his own
character. Bier has characterised Jacob as something of a boy-man,
asserting that by ‘living in India [Jacob] misses out on intimacy and
love between grown-ups. He doesn’t actively seek it. Maybe he has
26
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
a fear of intimacy.’31 His relationship with Pramod in comparison to
other relationships he has in the film seems to support this point of
view. We are shown that Jacob has already built up a (successful)
fatherly mantle towards the young orphan and that he appears far
more comfortable in his presence than he does in the presence of
any of the Scandinavian adults, his own daughter included. This is
further emphasised when Jacob attends the wedding reception, and
is most at ease when playing football with the twins than at any
other time. His rejection of intimacy at an adult level ranges from
the rejection of familial contact to the rejection of the sexual
advances of a drunken wedding guest. It would be naïve to suggest
that these reactions are simply borne out of his unease at attending
the wedding of a business client’s daughter, but more prominent to
assert that they are more active indicators and momentary
characterisations of Jacob’s personality and the astigmatisms he
attaches to the world of the adult, namely cynicism and greed. For
Jacob, adults are always out to get something; there is always an
ulterior motive, an agenda. Jørgen eventually calls Jacob out on this,
plainly asking, ‘Do I have to live on the other side of the world to get
your help?’ an ardent assault on Jacob’s detachment from familial
issues. Jørgen is asking both Jacob and us to view Jacob differently.
To this point Jacob has been cast as a man who has been wronged
and is struggling to come to terms with the news that he has a
daughter. With Jørgen’s question, we are asked to consider Jacob as 31 Susanne Bier, ‘A Conversation with Susanne Bier’ in After the Wedding (dir. Susanne Bier, 2006).
27
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
a man who has forever dealt with his problems by running away
from them, by distancing himself from them, by removing himself
from the necessity of conflict.
This apparent shyness or outright avoidance of conflict is something
that has been broached earlier in this essay, but will now be re-
examined in context with other global cinemas, with a particular
contrast to be made between Scandinavian cinema and its
Hollywood counterpart.
It is no sweeping generalisation to state that Hollywood cinema is
infatuated with the male body almost as much as it is with the
female one. Though perhaps its interest in male musculature has
waned or reframed in the contemporary era, it nevertheless still
plays a sizeable role in constituting the ideal on-screen male, and
thus by extension, the on-screen father. During the 1980s the all-
conquering muscle-bound action hero was a staple of Hollywood
cinema with the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone
and Bruce Willis dominating the silver screen. Yvonne Tasker, author
of Spectacular Bodies: Gender, Genre and the Action Cinema
speculates that this was an era of ‘previously unseen cinematic
articulation of masculinity…the muscular action hero was, for some,
a figure who represented the antithesis of the ‘new man’’.32
Arguments concerning the battle between the muscular action hero 32 Yvonne Tasker, Spectacular Bodies: Gender, Genre and the Action Cinema (London: Routledge, 1993) p.1.
28
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
and the ‘new man’ of the 1980s can be found elsewhere, it is
enough to know here that muscles and brawn were experiencing a
vitalising surge in these years. Therefore, for the purposes of this
essay, the question now becomes what impact does this have on
cinematic representations of fatherhood?
Tasker conceives that ‘various critics have seen the muscular body
of the action hero as a triumphant assertion of male power’33 and it
is argued here that there is a direct relation between this assertion
and the political and military involvements of America since the
Second World War. If the western genre and the cowboy embodied
that American sensibility of sweeping frontiersmanship, so the
muscular action hero paralleled the fact that America has been
involved in more wars than any other country since the end of the
Second World War. America’s ongoing military conflicts provided the
perfect platform for Hollywood to exhibit various iterations of the all-
conquering hero. The likes of Schwarzenegger and Stallone as Major
Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Predator, dir. John McTiernan, 1987) and
John Rambo (Rambo First Blood, dir. Ted Kotcheff, 1982)
respectively embodied this gung-ho attitude toward military action
and the representation of the male body as (in Tasker’s words) a
triumphant assertion of male power. But these representations only
serve to personify an overarching mode of patriarchy and lack the
intricate and crafted definition of the paternity of fatherhood.
33 Tasker, op cit, p. 9.
29
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Supporting this stance, Barbara Creed writes on the bodybuilder
physique (with particular attention to Schwarzenegger) in her essay
‘From Here to Modernity: Feminism and Postmodernism’. She
argues that the bodybuilder has become the ‘simulacra of
exaggerated masculinity, the original completely lost to sight, a
casualty of the failure of the paternal signifier and the current crisis
in master narratives.’34 Whilst I tend to agree with Creed’s argument
that masculinity has become an overblown, excessive
representation of her conception of its ideal, it is the very idea of the
ideal that is somewhat problematic. Creed’s argument stems from
an ontological and anthropological fallacy, in part perpetuated by
cinema, that the ideal we are seemingly in pursuit of is a
hermetically sealed unification of predetermined factors constituted
from various parts in order to achieve a commonly held ‘perfection’.
What her reasoning fails to consider is the appropriateness of the
male physique with regards to its context, and how this impacts on
representations of fatherhood. Tasker rightly calls attention to ‘the
very redundancy of Schwarzenegger’s muscles when dealing with a
class of small children’35 in his role as John Kimble in Kindergarten
Cop (dir. Ivan Reitman, 1990), but both Creed and Tasker neglect to
consider the fatherly functions performed by both Schwarzenegger
and Stallone in the Terminator and Rocky36 films respectively.
34 Barbara Creed, ‘From Here to Modernity: Feminism and Postmodernism’ Screen Volume: 28 (1987): pp. 47-68. 35 Tasker, op cit, p.8236 Both franchises referenced individually in the bibliography
30
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Though it could be argued that perhaps Schwarzenegger only
performs a guardian role rather than a fatherly one in protecting
John Connor, he is still the strongest and most prominent male
figure in the boy’s life. Without doubt Stallone as Rocky Balboa
(particularly in later sequels of the franchise) relies on his physique
as a means of bread-winning and as the catalyst to perform all his
other duties as a husband and a father; his muscle is a necessity in
fulfilling his fatherly responsibilities.
These representations were not the only versions of on-screen
fatherhood at the time, and it would be foolish to suggest that they
are wholly indicative of such, but likewise it would be naïve to
ignore their political and social dialogue with the American culture
of the time. This directly opposite approach to masculinity and
fatherhood provides an interesting contrast to the more muted
Scandinavian model, replacing conflict shyness with what could be
described as a conflict eagerness, or even conflict blindness or
tunnel vision. These representations are borne out of a society that
demands that one must first be a ‘man’, and prove it, before one
can be worthy of becoming of a father. However, moving more
toward the present day and one can notice a shift in Hollywood’s
attitude toward fatherhood, not least in the films of Steven
Spielberg.
31
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Taking Spielberg’s 2002 film Minority Report as an example (though
indeed any number of his films could equally exemplify what is
about to follow), Tom Cruise is John Anderton, a man who has lost
his son (and by extension his wife) and gained a father (in Max von
Sydow’s Lamar Burgess). The film positions Anderton as a man in
crisis; a father without a child, an adult still relying on his ‘parent’.
Like his Hollywood predecessors, Cruise as Anderton must still
satiate his appetite for conflict, but now the motivation is different.
Whereas Schwarzenegger and Stallone fought to embody a
patriarchal autocracy embedded in a culture of Uncle Sam can-do
hoorah, Cruise personifies a narrative of redemption, an
acknowledgement of the failure of the father and his attempts to
win back his status. Schwarzenegger’s and Stallone’s quest begins
with them as men and ends with them as fathers, Cruise’s begins
with him stripped of fatherhood as a punishment for a belief in the
entitlement of the position and ends with him re-establishing
himself as a man through fatherhood.
In this regard, Spielberg’s adaptation shares its fundamental values
with Jensen’s previously cited theories of the earning of fatherhood
transitioning from an ascribed to an achieved status. Though Cruise
must still achieve his fatherhood in the traditional Hollywood mould
(his relentless need for action finally reinstates him as a father to
the pre-cog Agatha), the liminal position he inhabits at the start of
the film and the journey he must undertake to regain his status has
32
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
a lot in common with the Scandinavian father. Both it seems are at
war with the sins of the past, struggling to come to terms with what
has previously transpired and as a result failing in their present (as
fathers) and their future (the lives their children could lead).
The lives of the children and their welfare is of course a major
consequence of the role of the father, who naturally has a
significant impact on their upbringing, present or absent, for better
or worse. However, John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel Let The Right One
In, adapted by Tomas Alfredson in 2008 asks the question of what
happens when the children themselves take on those fatherly
responsibilities? The film charts the close relationship between
twelve year old boy Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) and the ostensibly
twelve year old girl Eli (Lina Leandersson) and the impact their
presence has on one other’s life. Due to the divorce of parents
because of his father’s alcoholism, Oskar has been without a father
for the majority of his formative years and as such struggles to
carve out a (accepted) masculine identity for himself. In a study by
Michael E. Lamb and Catherine S. Tamis-Lemonda based on
research by Hetherington and Stanley-Hagan in 1997, they found
that ‘children (especially boys) growing up without fathers seemed
to have problems in areas of sex-role and gender-identity
development, school performance, psychosocial adjustment, and
perhaps in the control of aggression.’37 Oskar conforms to every 37 Michael E. Lamb & Catherine S. Tamis-Lemonda, ‘The Role of the Father: An Introduction’, in The Role of the Father in Child Development, ed. Michael E Lamb,
33
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
aspect of this list, with the sex-role and gender identity areas being
of particular interest and an area that will be examined in greater
detail later. The absence of his father or a father-figure in his life
affects his social development and wellbeing. He is bullied at school,
views violent retribution as a viable and justifiable form of
retaliation, is friendless until Eli’s arrival and invests greater
emotional attachment to the serial killers and murderers he reads
about in the news than his peers, his teachers or even his mother.
In tandem with this reading, further study would mostly categorise
Oskar as neglected with aspects of rejected, his personality and
behaviour consistent with the research of Goosens et al.:
Neglected: Adolescents who are neither liked nor disliked by
many peers. They receive little attention from their peers, to
whom they are more or less indifferent and not well-known.
These adolescents are peaceful, shy and reserved but not as
socially withdrawn as some of the rejected adolescents.
Although they evince less sociability than their average peers,
they respect the rules and are engaged in socially accepted
activities although to a lesser degree than the more accepted
children and in more solitary forms. In sum, these are the
adolescents who function normally, but no one notices them.
4th edition, (John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey, 2004) p.6.
34
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Rejected: Adolescents who are more disliked than liked by
their peers. Rejected adolescents are found to be more
aggressive and disruptive than others, they violate social and
institutional rules more easily and have more conflicts with
other peers or teachers. The display of aggression alone,
however, does not account for the adolescents to be rejected.
What leads to rejection is their aggression in combination with
their low social competence. The rejected adolescents lack
positive qualities to balance their aggressive behaviors
(Newcomb et al., 1993). Rejected children and adolescents
can also be more socially withdrawn and isolated, and express
higher levels of depression and anxiety than their non-
rejected peers. Although social withdrawal can be a
consequence rather than a cause for rejection anxiety and
depression may contribute substantially to the maintenance of
rejection over time. As is clear, there are two distinct factors
that may lead to rejection: aggressive and disruptive
behaviors on one side, and socially withdrawn and inhibited
behaviors on the other. 38
Oskar’s neglected and rejected tropes are symptomatic of the
fatherless child. The problems he suffers can be directly traced back
to the lack of a stable father figure in his life, and as such he seeks
38 Goossens, Scholte, van Aken & Hildebrand in Ron H. J. Scholte & Marcel A.G. Van Aken, ‘Peer relations in adolescence’ in Handbook of Adolescent Development, eds. Sandy Jackson & Luc Goossens, (Psychology Press: East Sussex, 2006) p.184.
35
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
to right this by forming strong emotional bonds with others, bonds
that are not always to his benefit. However, one bond that
seemingly provides everything he needs is the relationship he forms
with Eli.
Though apparently a twelve year old girl, Eli performs many of the
fatherly functions in Oskar’s life that he has been lacking to this
point. Most obviously, Eli offers a hand of overt masculinity in
helping Oskar deal with his bullies through violence. Eli accepts the
fatherly role, telling Oskar to ‘hit back. You’ve never hit back have
you? So do it. Hit back. Hard…Hit back even harder. Hit back harder
than you dare. Then they’ll stop.’39 Though the ultimate fate of the
bullies is somewhat extreme in comparison to what Eli’s statement
would usually entail, her guidance nevertheless sounds familiar to
what any parent might say to their child in this situation. The fact
that the violence is so extreme when it comes (both when Oskar hits
Conny with the stick and when Eli kills three of the bullies) is
precisely because these are children exacting the bloodshed, not
adults.
To extrapolate, critic Mark Kermode has defined Let The Right One
In as ‘not a story of sex and sexuality, but a story in which
vampirism represents the pent up aggression of a young child.’40 As
39 Let The Right One In (dir. Tomas Alfredson, 2008).40 Mark Kermode, http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/10/the_tensecond_vampyre_movie.html [accessed 16.04.2011]
36
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Kermode astutely observes, unlike historic cinematic vampiric
incarnations the film is about rage and not a metaphor for sex and
sexuality. Thus, the film stands in direct contrast to the previously
accepted notion of Scandinavian conflict shyness. The violent action
taken by Oskar and Eli is an emphatic refusal of the status quo. In a
world where adults stand for inaction and apathy, Oskar and Eli seek
to incite revolution and change. The children have watched their
fathers stand idle for too long and have taken responsibility for
themselves.
Eli’s new found fatherly role is not without problems, however.
Fulfilling her three roles as friend, girlfriend and parent means she
must straddle the demands of all three, and this is not without
consequence, particularly with regards to the girlfriend-father
dynamic. Ron H. J. Scholte and Marcel A.G. Van Aken argue that
‘during adolescence intimacy and companionship are provided more
by the adolescent’s friendships, whereas nurturance and
attachment are sought more in the parent-adolescent
relationship’41, and now Eli is entangled in a situation where she
must constantly cross both boundaries. A problem arises here out of
Eli’s need to transcend these traditional relationship borders. Acting
as both Oskar’s girlfriend and father contributes to a quasi-Freudian
interpretation of the relationship as a form of emotional (and in part
41 Ron H. J. Scholte & Marcel A.G. Van Aken, ‘Peer relations in adolescence’ in Handbook of Adolescent Development, eds. Sandy Jackson & Luc Goossens, (Psychology Press: East Sussex, 2006) p.189
37
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
physical) incest. Moreover, such matters are further complicated
upon the revelation that Eli’s true gender is male, subsequently
problematising the already delicate relationship balance into the
realm of homosexual emotional incest.
Comparisons can be drawn here between Alfredson’s film and
Vinterberg’s Festen. Both hinge upon the relationship between the
primary male protagonist and his father figure, and of both father
figures (Helge and Eli) it can be argued that they manipulate the
emotions of their charges for their own ends. The key difference is
that while Helge’s children can only ever be viewed as victims,
Oskar enters the relationship in full knowledge of what he is seeking
from Eli. Eli’s manipulation of Oskar stems from a reading of the film
that first focuses upon her relationship with Håkan (Per Ragnar),
which will be examined in due course.
Returning to Oskar and Eli, Oskar’s dependence upon Eli for his
emotional and social nurturing is of equal import to their
relationship as the sexuality between the two. Eli is Oskar’s sole
figurehead, fulfilling all of his developmental needs. Oskar’s
attachment to Eli conforms to Lamb’s and Tamis-Lemonda’s
previously cited work reasoning that boys growing up without
fathers have problems in areas of sex-role and gender-identity
development. Peculiarly enough, if we momentarily return to After
The Wedding, there is a short exchange between Jørgen and Helene
38
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
just before Jørgen takes the twins away for the weekend. Dissuading
Helene from joining them Jørgen argues, ‘It’s sons and their fathers
in the woods, otherwise they’ll turn out gay.’ Though only a fleeting
comment made in jest by Jørgen, this aside arguably contains
elements of a homophobic undercurrent also inherent in Let The
Right One In too. Both films are at some point and in their own way
suggesting that the lack of a father can contribute to homosexuality
in the offspring.
Eli and Oskar’s relationship is not the only one on screen that
exhibits facets of the father-child dialogue. The aforementioned
Håkan shares an intimate and complex relationship with Eli. Håkan
is initially set up to appear to be Eli’s biological father, though as the
story unravels we are asked to redefine his function. I use the word
‘function’ here with a degree of deliberation, as it becomes ever
clearer that Håkan’s primary role is as a killer and blood-letter for
Eli. Arguably there is still a case to be made for contextually positive
fatherhood here; Håkan is a single father still working hard to be a
successful breadwinner for his reclusive daughter. Naturally the
waters are muddied when one considers that the bread is blood and
his work involves murdering children, so this does paint a rather
tainted picture of his brand of fatherhood. However, in this regard,
Håkan sits alongside his fellow cinematic luminaries in the tradition
of Scandinavian fatherhood; he is simply yet another failed father.
What is interesting though is that in this instance, the child’s
39
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
manipulation of the father provides a noteworthy addition to these
otherwise familiar proceedings.
On more than one occasion it is implied that Håkan harbours deep
sexual feelings towards Eli. As such, one is invited to view this as
paedophilic, arguably the ultimate sin an adult can commit against a
child and a father can commit against his own. However, any
potential disgust is problematised somewhat by firstly Eli’s apathy
toward Håkan’s advances, and secondly (and more worryingly) her
apparent reciprocity. The tenderness shown by Eli toward Håkan is
fleeting though still present, and upon closer examination their
relationship could perhaps be better categorised as distanced
husband-wife rather than warped parent-child. To link to an earlier
point, it is possible that Eli’s relationship with Håkan is actually a
future version of her current relationship with Oskar. Despite all her
fatherly affection for Oskar, he will ultimately grow up in adulthood
and adopt a certain amount of those responsibilities for himself. Eli
remains forever trapped in the body of a child, a perverse
embodiment of the Peter Pan mythos, eternally dependent on
another for her survival. Thus one can highlight potential parallels in
the Eli-Oskar and Eli-Håkan relationships, with the latter providing
clues as to the path of the former. There are two accepted readings
of this film. One chooses to embrace the innocence of the
relationship between the two protagonists and reasons that Oskar
and Eli are in love and will start a new life together. The other,
40
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
arguably a more realistic interpretation, contends that Oskar will
simply inherit Håkan’s role until he either dies of old age or outlives
his purpose and shares the fate of his predecessor.
For this essay, the second reading of the film offers a challenging
contrast to the failed father, that of the knowingly manipulative
child. This would not seem so problematic if it were not for the fact
that Eli does not age. Though both Håkan and Oskar are aware of
Eli’s true age (not specified in the film, but mentioned in the novel
as around two-hundred years old) her outward visual appearance as
a twelve year old girl lends her an air of vulnerability naturally most
oft associated with young children, and the two males (Håkan in
particular because of the (visual) age gap) struggle to get over this
fact. If Eli were simply a manipulative child, Håkan’s failings would
be less justifiable, as part of being a successful parent is understand
how to deal with the demands of children whose lives are arguably
prominently governed by impulsive desire. Eli’s age elevates her
mentality to a near omniscient state for which Håkan has no answer.
Once again the children are in control, revolutionising their own
care. Eli may be dependent upon another for her survival, but she
knows exactly how to get what she wants when she wants it. She
has simply adapted to use her greatest weakness, her childlike
appearance and vulnerability, as one of her most powerful weapons.
41
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Like both Festen and After The Wedding, Let The Right One In offers
a critique of more than just the central relationships. The supporting
characters of Lacke (Peter Carlberg) and Virginia (Ika Nord) share an
intimate romantic relationship but are arguably past what would be
considered traditional child bearing and raising age. Like Oskar and
Eli they are characterised as people on the fringes of society, but
their status as adults signifies an acceptance of this position, a
further societal catalyst driving the decision behind Oskar and Eli’s
private revolution. In line with the other adult characters in the film
they are content with their lot in life and do not seek to incite
change or progression. As the instances of this stagnancy more
frequently appear, the idea of forgiving the father for the sins of the
past as propagated in the other films begins to change. Lacke has
placed on constant hiatus his plans to sell his father’s stamp
collection and move to country to start a new life with Virginia, thus
deferring his fatherly responsibilities until it is too late. Oskar’s own
absent father and Eli’s delicate relationship with Håkan only
compound this interpretation, and thus forgiving the father for the
sins of the past is no longer the main objective. Instead it is
replaced with disdain for the father’s past failings, an indifference to
his apathy; forgiveness is replaced with blame and the hole created
by his absence is filled with rage. It is up to Oskar and Eli to channel
this rage into something constructive and create a new generation
of fatherhood in spite of the lack of it in their lives.
42
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
The three films analysed here by no means provide an exhaustive
account of the issue at hand. What they do is illustrate that the
representation of fathers in Scandinavian cinema is at the heart of
the Nordic condition. Often these films are not directly concerned
with the father’s role and most academic criticism is levelled
elsewhere; Festen is more frequently lauded for its status as Dogme
#1, criticism on After The Wedding tends to deal with issues of race
relations and Scandinavia’s relationship to the rest of the world like
much of Bier’s work, and work on Let The Right One In is more
concerned with the shift from the sexualisation of the vampire in
light of the its cinematic legacy. However, the obvious
pervasiveness of the fatherhood issue warrants a more thorough
investigation, which this essay has attempted to provide. The sheer
lack of information on the subject to date is evokes more than a
sense of the Scandinavian conflict shyness, a culture avoiding the
elephant in the room so as not to upset anyone.
What can be said is that simply acknowledging the issue is not the
same as offering a solution. Hollywood’s own crisis in masculinity
was tackled head on with relentless force and brutal muscle, but the
success of this approach is equally debatable. Mistaking action for
success is an easy error, and much of the bombast and bluster fails
to deal with the social issues behind the need for such an approach
in the first place, and their ostensibly satisfactory outcomes are
rendered superficial by the necessity of a sequel; if Rocky could
43
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
truly provide for his family with his ‘last big fight’, surely this
negates the necessity to constantly re-enter the ring? Hollywood is
more in love with the power than the parent.
There are of course other areas of fatherhood to explore,
particularly with regards to certain cultural issues. Many of the films
mentioned here, including Let The Right One In, are based on books,
and equally others have spawned remakes and/or sequels. Given
greater scope one could easily ascertain the validity of film as a
bastardisation of the source text in line with a parent-child
relationship.
What this essay has shown is that there is a definite issue with the
representation of the father in Scandinavian cinema. Originating
from the work of Bergman and his contemporaries, Scandinavia has
since historically struggled to depict the father in a wholly positive
light. Instances of abuse both physical and emotional, premature
fatherhood and outright absence have manifested out of the need
reassert masculinity in a society that despite taking progressive
steps to reassert the importance of the father has not been involved
in any recent military conflict since the Second World War that
would have allowed for the channelled release of aggression
inherent in shaping masculinity. Whereas Hollywood has
overreached itself and instilled too much emphasis on the need for
aggression and conflict, Scandinavia has shied away from it at the
44
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
cost of its fathers and their children. Goosens argues the case that
‘the psychoanalytical approach to adolescence, for instance, saw
parent-adolescence conflict as an essential force in driving young
people out of their family of origin and into the outside world’42 , and
the lack of this as part of Scandinavia’s culture has damaged an
incredibly important generational relationship onscreen and created
a disconcerting disconnect between fathers and their children.
This essay began with a quotation from Hamlet and thus it seems
fitting to end on one too, though not without an appropriate twist;
frailty, thy name is Dad.
BibliographyBainbridge, Caroline, The Cinema of Lars Von Trier: Authenticity and Artifice (London: Wallflower Press, 2007)
42 Luc Goossens, ‘The many faces of adolescent autonomy: parent-adolescent conflict, behavioural decision-making, and emotional distancing’, in Handbook of Adolescent Development, eds. Sandy Jackson & Luc Goossens, (Psychology Press: East Sussex, 2006) p.137.
45
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Björkman, Stig, Film in Sweden: The New Directors, translated by. Barrie Selman (The Tantivy Press: London, 1977)
Cowie, Peter, Swedish Cinema: From Ingeborg Holm to Fanny and Alexander (Stockholm: Stellan Stals Tryckerier AB, 1985)
Creed, Barbara, ‘From Here to Modernity: Feminism and Postmodernism’ Screen Volume: 28 (1987): pp. 47-68
Daun, Åke, ‘The Swedish Myths: True, false, or somewhere in between?’ September 1st 2005 <http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Lifestyle/Reading/The-Swedish-myths-True-false-or-somewhere-in-between/> [accessed 04.02.11]
Dawson, Tom, ‘An Interview with Susanne Bier’, Movies, (October 2003) <http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/03/12/susanne_bier_open_hearts_interview.shtml> [accessed 23.10.10]
Deven, F., Men, media and childcare, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publication of the European Communities, 1994
Everett, Wendy Ellen, European Identity In Cinema, ed. Wendy Ellen Everett (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2005)
Gartner, Richard, ‘Cinematic Depictions of Boyhood Sexual Victimization’, Gender and Psychoanalysis, Volume 4 (1999) pp. 253-289
Goossens, Luc, ‘The many faces of adolescent autonomy: parent-adolescent conflict, behavioural decision-making, and emotional distancing’, in Handbook of Adolescent Development, eds. Sandy Jackson & Luc Goossens, (Psychology Press: East Sussex, 2006)
Goossens, Scholte, van Aken & Hildebrand in Ron H. J. Scholte & Marcel A.G. Van Aken, ‘Peer relations in adolescence’ in Handbook of Adolescent Development, eds. Sandy Jackson & Luc Goossens, (Psychology Press: East Sussex, 2006) p.184
Hjort, Mette, Small Nation, Global Cinema: The New Danish Cinema (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2005)
Hjort, Mette & Bondebjerg, Ib The Danish directors: Dialogues on a Contemporary National Cinema (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2001)
Hjort, Mette, Jorholt, Eva & Redvall, Eva Novrup, The Danish Directors 2: Dialogues on the New Danish Fiction Cinema (Bristol: Intellect Books, 2010)
46
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Jensen, A.M., Partners and parents in Europe: A gender divide, in Comparative Social Research, Volume 18 (1999): 1-29
Kermode, Mark <http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/10/the_tensecond_vampyre_movie.html> [accessed 16.04.2011]
Kirkham, Pat & Thurmin, Janet, You Tarzan: Masculinity, Movies and Men, eds. Pat Kirkham & Janet Thurmin (London: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, 1993)
Kirkham, Pat & Thurmin, Janet, Me Jane: Masculinity, Movies and Women, eds. Pat Kirkham & Janet Thurmin (London: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, 1995)
Lamb, Michael E. & S. Tamis-Lemonda, Catherine, ‘The Role of the Father: An Introduction’, in The Role of the Father in Child Development, ed. Michael E Lamb, 4th edition, (John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey, 2004)
Lehman, Peter, Running Scared: Masculinity and the Representation of the Male Body (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2007)Wood, Jason, Talking movies: Contemporary World Filmmakers in Interview (London: Wallflower Press, 2006)
Lila, Marisol, van Aken, Marcel, Musitu, Gonzalo & Buelga, Sofia, ‘Families and adolescents’ in Handbook of Adolescent Development, eds. Sandy Jackson & Luc Goossens, (Psychology Press: East Sussex, 2006)
O’Brien, Margaret, ‘Social Science and Public Policy Perspectives on Fatherhood in the European Union’ in The Role of the Father in Child Development, ed. Michael E Lamb, 4th edition, (John Wiley & Sons: New Jersey, 2004)
Rothstein, Mervyn, ‘Ingmar Bergman, Master Filmmaker, Dies at 89’ <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/30/movies/30cnd-bergman.html?_r=1> [accessed 03.02.11].
Schramm-Nielsen, Jette, ‘Conflict Management in Scandinavia’ May 2002, IACM 15th Annual Conference, <http://ssrn.com/abstract=305153 or doi:10.2139/ssrn.305153> [accessed 03.03.11]
Shakespeare, William, Hamlet (London: Penguin Books, 2005)
Scholte, Ron H. J. & A.G. Van Aken, Marcel, ‘Peer relations in adolescence’ in Handbook of Adolescent Development, eds. Sandy Jackson & Luc Goossens, (Psychology Press: East Sussex, 2006)
47
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Tasker, Yvonne, Spectacular Bodies: Gender, Genre and the Action Cinema (London: Routledge, 1993)
Vaughan, Hunter ‘Tremble of Truth: Dogme 95, Ideology and the Genealogy of Cinematic Realism’, The Film Journal, Issue 9 (2004) <http://www.thefilmjournal.com/issue9/dogme95.html> [21.10.10]
von Trier, Lars & Vinterberg, Thomas, ‘Dogme 95: The Vow of Chastity in Technology and Culture: The Film Reader, ed. by Andrew Utterson (Routledge: Oxon, 2005)
Wuss, Peter, ‘Analyzing the Reality Effect in Dogma Films’, The Journal of Moving Image Studies, Volume 1 (2002) <http://www.avila.edu/journal/spring02/dogma.pdf>[accessed 21.10.10]
FilmsA Swedish Love Story, dir. Roy Andersson (Europa Film, 1970)
After The Wedding, dir. Susanne Bier (Soda Pictures/Nordisk Film, 2006)
Crisis, dir. Ingmar Bergman (Svensk Filmindustri, 1945)
Evil, dir. Mikael Håfstrom (Columbia Tristar/Nordisk Film 2003)
Festen, dir. Thomas Vinterberg (Scanbox Danmark, 1998)
I Am Curious Yellow, dir. Vilgot Sjöman (Sandrews, 1967)
It Rains on Our Love, dir. Ingmar Bergman (Sveriges Folkbiografer, 1946)
Kindergarten Cop dir. Ivan Reitman (Universal Pictures, 1990)
Let The Right One In, dir. Tomas Alfredson (Momentum Pictures/Sandrew Metronome, 2008)
Minority Report, dir. Steven Spielberg (Dreamworks Pictures/20th Century Fox, 2002)
Open Hearts dir. Susanne Bier (Icon Film/Nordisk Film, 2003)
Prag dir. Ole Christian Madsen (Trust Film Sales/Nordisk Film, 2006)
Predator, dir. John McTiernan (20th Century Fox, 1987)
48
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder
Rambo: First Blood dir. Ted Kotcheff (Orion Pictures, 1982)
Rocky, dir. John G. Avildsen (United Artists, 1976)
Rocky II, dir. Sylvester Stallone (United Artists, 1979)
Rocky III, dir. Sylvester Stallone (United Artists, 1982)
Rocky IV, dir. Sylvester Stallone (United Artists, 1985)
Rocky V, dir. John G. Avildsen (MGM/UA Distribution Co./United International Pictures, 1990)
Rocky Balboa, dir. Sylvester Stallone (MGM, 2006)
Summer Interlude, dir. Ingmar Bergman (Svensk Filmindustri, 1951)
Terminator 2: Judgement Day, dir. James Cameron (Tristar Pictures, 1991)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, dir. Jonathon Mostow (Warner Bros. Pictures/Columbia Pictures, 2003)
The Dress, dir. Vilgot Sjöman (Svensk Filmindustri, 1964)The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, dir. Niels Arden Oplev (Nordisk Film, 2009)
The Girl who Played with Fire, dir. Daniel Alfredson (Zodiac Entertainment, 2009)
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, dir. Daniel Alfredson (Zodiac Entertainment, 2009)
The Pram, dir. Bo Widerberg (Europa Film, 1963)
The Terminator, dir James Cameron (Orion Pictures, 1984)
DVD ExtrasBier, Susanne, ‘A Conversation with Susanne Bier’ in After the Wedding (dir. Susanne Bier, 2006)
Bo Larsen, Thomas, ‘Festen in Retrospect’, in Festen (dir. Thomas Vinterberg, 1998)
49
CULT312 Dissertation: In the name of the FatherThomas Pinder 50
top related