The Nordic Noir has been applied by many countries as a slightly distorting mirror of tendencies in their own societies. On the background of its international appeal, the article analyses the prevalent genre of The Killing political drama and melodrama. The elements of the noir design in the introductory sequences – their common traits and the differences that match prevalent plots in each season – are highlighted. The developments taking place in the dominant points of view are traced, from the combination between the local politics and the domestic levels in the first season of the series, to the focus on foreign politics with domestic dimensions in the second season, and the reversion to domestic politics, this time combined to a global dimension, in the last season. Similarities and differences in the plots, and their relationship to (and interpretation of) events and phenomena in the modern Danish welfare state and in the Western sphere, are also investigated.
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Cinéma & Cie. Film and Media Studies Journal
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Gunhild Agger
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Nordic Noir on Television: The Killing I-III
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/article/download/16315/17169
12
NORDIC NOIR ON TELEVISION: THE KILLING I-III
Gunhild Agger, University of Aalborg




  Abstract
  The Nordic Noir has been applied by many countries as a slightly distorting mirror of tenden-

  the prevalent genre of The Killing
  political drama and melodrama. The elements of the noir design in the introductory sequenc-
  es – their common traits and the differences that match prevalent plots in each season – are


  series, to the focus on foreign politics with domestic dimensions in the second season, and
  the reversion to domestic politics, this time combined to a global dimension, in the last sea-
  son. Similarities and differences in the plots, and their relationship to (and interpretation of)
  events and phenomena in the modern Danish welfare state and in the Western sphere, are also
  investigated.




Introduction

  Danish The Killing I-III (Forbrydelsen, 2007-2012) is interesting in an international context.


France (ARTE, 2010) and the UK (BBC 4, 2011). Moreover, The Killing was remade in the USA


a public debate accompanied the screening of The Killing, investigating the reasons for the appeal
of “Nordic Noir” to a British audience, enhancing the production model and the production val-
ues. Later in 2012, this was followed by a similar debate around the political drama serial Borgen
(2010-), which has also been widely exported.
  Thus, in 2011 and 2012 Danish TV drama has been the object of an international reception of
broad dimensions; however, the recognition, in the shape of international TV festival awards,
started earlier. In 2002 Unit One (           , 2000-2004) received an Emmy in the category of
Best International Drama Series. The dramedy                       (                 , 2002-2003)

CINÉMA & CIE, vol. XII, no. 19, Fall 2012                                                         39
GUNHILD AGGER

                                                 The Eagle (Ørnen, 2004-06) received an
Emmy in 2005 and The Protectors (Livvagterne, 2009-2010) in 2009. The Killing received the


                                                         The Killing, interest has been focused on
the Danish production model and the phenomenon that has been dubbed “Nordic Noir.” In this
article, I will review some of the questions to which this international reception gives rise. I will
focus on The Killing and include all three seasons (1-20, 2007; 1-10, 2009; and 1-10, 2012) high-
lighting the production model and its overall purpose, the genres and style of the series.

Drama’s productions)1 deserve emphasising. Firstly, through the concept “one vision,” DR Drama
focuses on original productions rather than adaptations; this concept gives the scriptwriter and
producer an artistic license which allows their particular line with its distinctive features to shine
through. Secondly, DR Drama’s strategy includes the concept that any drama must contain a dou-
ble story comprising 1) “the good story” and 2) “an overall plot with ethical/social connotations.”2

industry, which has a great impact on the production design and quality of DR Drama series. These
efforts are evident in The Killing, as I will illustrate in this article.
  The art of genre mixing within the noir style is something that all seasons of The Killing have
mastered. The question is: which genres have been mixed, in which proportion and with which

in the mixing (police procedural, political drama, melodrama) and discuss how the introductory
sequences play up to the concept of the thriller. After this, I will illustrate the development in the

how genre mixing, dramaturgy and style are connected to DR’s overall strategy.
  In the analysis, I will draw on some of the insights that I presented in shorter forms in three
reviews published on a Danish website3                                                          -
gating The Killing.”4



Nordic Noir


The Killing I and II received extensive media coverage considering the fact that it was just a sub-

in the Internet version of The Guardian.5 The attention spread to the US, where The Killing was
remade in an American version. In both countries, the political drama series Borgen received pre-
dominantly positive media coverage.
  Several British and American journalists visited Copenhagen to discover the “recipe” behind
the international success of Danish television drama. Maggie Brown from The Guardian            -
                                                                                                     6



                           7
                               The Guardian covered Danish television drama intensively, but other

40
                                                             NORDIC NOIR ON TELEVISION: THE KILLING I-III

newspapers and magazines followed their lead, for example the Financial Times and Newsweek.8
                                          The Killing brought into focus the relation between

US, and the impact of the Danish public service concept compared to a commercial system.
 On a more general level, Barry Forshaw accentuates the connection to the socially created re-


democratic ideal.”9
formerly characterised the Nordic image are dismantling.
  Forshaw’s main argument is that in this way, the Scandinavian welfare states can serve as foil
for the UK today through a mix of recognition and distortion: “But the appeal remains the same:
we are shown a country which is different from Britain – but not too different. The lure of the
(slightly) exotic, plus a vague sense of schadenfreude that the wheels are coming off the utopi-
an welfare-state bus.” 10 This interpretation is repeated in several other characterisations, also in
                                                                                                    -
els as forming part of the subsoil of life in Scandinavian countries.” 11 On a more well-researched
level, this convergence of the social and the criminal aspects is also at the basis of Andrew Nestin-

are a barometer for the state of society: “If we want to understand contemporary Scandinavia and
                                                                                           12

  Besides pointing out the strong societal connection, two other features are predominant in the
international critics’ reception of The Killing;
style that the Brits and Americans have branded “Nordic Noir;” secondly, the intensive preoccu-
pation with Sarah Lund as the main character and pivotal point of the investigation.



The thriller genre

  The same genre description was given of all three seasons of The Killing in the release and in the
                                                                                                   -
ly constituted genre which aims at causing a thrill in the audience, an exhilarated thrill. Lars Ole
Sauerberg points out that the concept “thriller” is used differently in British English and American
English. In British English the concept is used in a more restrictive manner than in American En-
glish, where it is a broad concept for stories charged with suspense within detective, spy, mystery


“gyser” which actually is closer to the horror genre.

to be driven by suspense. However, one of the most important plot devices of a thriller is suspense.

  Suspend means to hang up or to put out of action for a while, and this is the way suspense works in
                                                                      the prevention of immediate satisfac-
  tion of curiosity about plot issues through structural obstruction of the logic of temporal progression.13

                                                                                                           41
GUNHILD AGGER

  Suspense is central to the manner in which the plot in a thriller can twist and turn in ways that
surprise the audience causing an exhilarated thrill. Other plot devices of the thriller includes the
cliff-hanger ending, the protagonist’s recurrent pursuit of an escaping or hidden antagonist, their
dialectical relationship and the contrast between the calm and collected exterior and the under-
lying abyss of calculation and instinct. All these elements can be applied in the confrontation
between the different sets of moral values that is at the core of the thriller.

thriller is commonly used in alliance with the crime genre (be it police procedurals or detective
                                                                                                -

the psychological thriller, the Secret Service thriller or the legal or military thriller that questions
the power apparatus and the execution of power, and, in the last resort, the state of contemporary
                                                                                       14
                                                                                          The use of the
thriller as main genre might have been a contributing factor for The Killing
international context. The series draws on a well-established genre while simultaneously unfold-
ing the genre in a new geographical and social context.



Introductory and signature sequences

  In all three seasons of The Killing, the combination
drama is the pivotal element, which is expressed from the very beginning in a noir design un-



atmosphere. The daylight is fading, which perfectly suits the demands of the noir style. The intro-

narration dynamic from the onset. The lead-in is brief; the storyline is recapped with relatively few



  In The Killing I, the noir design is spectacularly presented in the introductory sequences through

this story must pass. The design visualises how the plot will twist and turn in the labyrinth of this




  In The Killing II

and reminds us of their mortality. Besides the lawyer Anne Dragsholm, who is the legal advisor
for the Ministry of Defence, the story concerns the professional soldier Allan Myg Poulsen, who

“Preacher”) – men and women who are all connected to a certain “incident” in Afghanistan. From


42
                                                          NORDIC NOIR ON TELEVISION: THE KILLING I-III

statuette blindfolded by the chain of a dog tag. Those who exercise power are powerless, and they

  The function of the signature sequence in The Killing III

                                       The Killing III. The sound design is extremely important to

sound of emptiness is later followed up in the harbour warehouse. The metallic sound is a recur-




the Department of Forensic Medicine (episode 3) and at the haunt of the homeless in Copenhagen




  From The Wire
                                                                                 The Killing III, which




a tone in line with the style and effects of the noir tradition. These sequences emphasise the essential




The Killing I: The local and the domestic

  Throughout all three seasons of The Killing, the thriller is connected to crime and political drama
but accentuating different features. The melodrama is also applied in varying degrees against the

with the local mayoral elections in Copenhagen in The Killing I. As in The Killing III, campaign cars

And naturally, the mapping of the individual politicians’ activities during the incriminating times

turn in unanticipated directions. Considerations and misguided considerations, small and big lies,
evasive explanations, trust and betrayals all intertwined the plot. Even though the probability of it
all did not always bear closer examination, the plot was well thought out and the British-American

Arcel’s King’s Game (Kongekabale, 2004), was innovative in a Danish TV series.
                                                                                                       -

cunning criminal. This storyline effectively demonstrated how a series of apparently independent

                                                                                                     43
GUNHILD AGGER

events can nevertheless be connected, and how the inclination of a family friend to overprotect his
friend and benefactor in many cases had threads to what happened at the political level.
   The Killing I
                                                                                                  -
cessor is David Lynch’s Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990-91) which also unfolded its story around one
                                                               Twin Peaks ended up in cascades
of mystery and metaphysics that brought Agent Cooper’s world-view to collapse, The Killing I is

and political threads, understands the art of limitation. Thus, the dramaturgy counterbalances the
devious courses of the labyrinth.
  On the visual side, the action in The Killing I is set in three different locations: the Copenhagen
Police Headquarters, the Copenhagen City Hall and Vesterbro, a district in Copenhagen. The Co-
penhagen Police Headquarters is the place where the threads of the investigation are gathered, but
also where it is disrupted. The Police Headquarters is presented as a monolith from the outside,

dead ends confuse. The City Hall is mainly the setting of the local mayoral elections, but through
these elections it is connected to crime. Investigation and election; in both cases, the countdown

countdown has also started to the scheduled move to the new house. Nightly helicopter shootings
over Copenhagen interconnect these locations in an overall pattern. The labyrinths, roads and lost

been used as an ingredient in Danish TV drama since the drama series TAXA (1997-1999).
  In spite of the obvious differences in the environment and characterisation of the three places,
the distinctive features of colouring, camera movement and the diffuse, disturbing underscore
                             Twin Peaks (by Angelo Badalamenti), are the same. The dominating
                                                                                                 -
ner intending to expose the clues of what has happened. The camera pans across living rooms,

disturbing manner. The similarity of colours and optics indicates the shared theme: everybody has


                                                                                                 -
nection between the places and the crimes are pointed out through the style of the series.
  Even though the political level is not directly involved in the essential crime, clear parallels

on the mechanisms of power to Hartmann, the Mayor to be: “Remember you have to live with
it.” Advice that he himself forgot in his function as Mayor – and advice Hartmann also needs to
forget if he wants to be elected. It is only possible to become Mayor by becoming a Bremer clone,


of oneself, i.e. one’s morality.



44
                                                          NORDIC NOIR ON TELEVISION: THE KILLING I-III

sinister feeling is glaringly exposed at Anton’s birthday party in episode 20. Everybody, even the




already saw this instinct unfolded in episode 8 in his confrontation with the teacher Kemal. The


enhanced when Sarah Lund connects Meyer’s last words: “Sara 84” with the shirt Vagn is – still


lamb.




references. The ending thus quotes the end situation in David Fincher’s thriller Seven (1995) in a

one’s own hands, turning the victim into a perpetrator.



The Killing II: Foreign politics with domestic dimensions

                                                                             The Killing II, as I
have illustrated previously. However, the plot and thereby the dramaturgy is different. Dramatic
turnovers in actors have occurred and only the dubious Detective Chief Inspector Brix (Morten

                                                                                                      -
penhagen. The rest of the gallery of characters have been changed. This effectively signals a new
beginning – and thereby also a different type of serial from the usual model, e.g. Scandinavian
crime serials such as Wallander (2005-) and Beck (1997-) where the recurrent ingredient is the
constant gallery of characters, also in terms of familiar subsidiary characters and the unique con-
stellation of characters within the department. In this way, The Killing instigates a certain type of
innovation, which cannot be replicated in an adaptation or character based serial.
  The parallel between politics and crime is maintained, but the focus has shifted. The municipal
environment surrounding the Copenhagen City Hall has been swapped for national politics at
Christiansborg Palace, home of the Danish Parliament. Where the focus in The Killing I was on
                                                                         The Killing II is not just the
aforementioned parallel, but the direct connection between politics and crime – another example
of innovation.
  The relation to reality has also shifted, in that The Killing II
the real life and places them in the story in a way that suits the thriller dramaturgy. The Danish

                                                                                                    45
GUNHILD AGGER

involvement in the war in Afghanistan has provided ample material to choose from. Many contro-
versial issues were brought to the public at the time of the screening of the production, increasing
the sense of a frightening (and from the point of the producers unforeseen) topicality. For example,

Danish state (mentioned in the Danish newspaper Politiken, 17 October 2009). The former elite
                                Jæger. I krig med eliten [Hunter. At War with the Elite], which

was made public by Politiken in September 2009 at a time when the Defence Command had
banned it.15 This resulted in an extensive public debate about the then Minister of Defence Søren

Minister.
 These examples emphasise the topicality of the plot in The Killing II. On the political level, the

settlement on a terror bill across the political parties and thus become everyone’s friend instead
                                                                                                   -
ther the right-wing anti-immigration party, The Danish People’s Party, The Conservative People’s
Party or the left-wing EU-sceptical party, the Socialist People’s Party. However, the settlement is
obstructed by a series of lies, concealments and misrepresentations of the truth, all connected to a

soldiers during the operation in Afghanistan. The exposures happening at the political level have


Christie’s classic set-up: a group of people of a certain number stay together to conceal a certain
                                                                                                  -

                                                             The Killing I in connection with the


Vedsegaard) and his family. In this storyline, the melodramatic moments function in a classic
manner: in a case of injustice a man is subsequently incarcerated and cannot escape no matter
                                                                                            -

competition with the police and under the scrutiny of the actual perpetrator.
                              The Killing I




underlined by the place where The Killing II
where the three poles for executions from the period of occupation during WWII are found, and
                                                                                  The Killing
II a unique experience in Danish television history.




46
                                                         NORDIC NOIR ON TELEVISION: THE KILLING I-III

The Killing III: Domestic politics with global dimensions

   In The Killing III
level, almost as in Borgen. Similarly, the tragedy that unfolded in an ordinary removal man’s fam-
ily in the centre of Copenhagen has moved out into the torn shipping magnate and doctor’s family

of Robert and Maja Zeuthen’s daughter Emilie, however, it is actually rooted in a completely

pinpointed: she was a girl no one wanted to care for; a girl who had been in contact with Zeeland’s
children’s home; a girl who presumably was meant to be a role model for children in foster fami-
lies in the Centre Party’s planned advertising material, but instead she ended up on the bottom of

                                                                                                 -
ter of the sun god Helios, a woman of incredible strength and magic powers. In Euripides’ tragedy
Medea
                                                                                  The Killing III,

a basic level, be understood as a symbolic expression of the victimisation of the children in the

                                                                                           -
lic prosecutor Schultz, and the police pathologist who performed a post-mortem on Louise and


resulted in his death.
  In contrast to the case in The Killing I from 2007 and The Killing II
society in crisis in 2012. Prime Minister Christian Kamper, the leader of the party named The New

of the campaign and it is featured on the campaign bus we see in episode 3. The slogan echoes
the actual campaign led by the liberal parties in the Danish elections in 2011. All alliances have
started to dislocate and the political options are in turn opened and closed. The salient fact is that
this coincides with the Prime Minister’s handling of the case, which does not have anything to do
with the elections and the abduction of Emilie.
  The connection between the two is Robert Zeuthen (Anders W. Berthelsen), the man who is to
save the Danish economy and is the guarantor for the government’s economic crisis management.


Prime Minister Christian Kamper and his crisis plan will also go down the drain. This is why it
becomes paramount for the PM to demonstrate his ability of crisis management and leadership in
connection with the concrete abduction case. On the perpetrator’s computer, an indictment against
the state and Big Business is also found. Where the storyline in The Killing II was unfolded around
the foreign politics and its domestic implications, it is the domestic politics and its global implica-
tions that serve as glue in The Killing III.


                                                                                                    47
GUNHILD AGGER




8, we see him once again attaching a shabby photograph of Louise to the rear-view mirror; we
see his arm which is scribbled with the infamous license plate numbers of cars that were nearby
                                                                              16
                                                                                 that we have been
waiting for. He is not short of resources; it is impressive how many different vehicles he has had

and transit area is his element.
  Apparently, the perpetrator is driven by the urge for revenge on that or those persons responsible
for the abuse and murder of Louise, and the reason is that he is her father. Allegedly, his motive is
to subject another father, Robert Zeuthen, to the same experience of loss he himself experienced.

to about 13.5 million Euro). However, the question is rhetorical; it is not a classic hostage situ-

                                                                                                    -

him by mobile phone from time to time. He is irrational and a mastermind at the same time; and

more cunning and resource-rich perpetrator, who is the cause of the original crime.

from a pre-retirement job. In the beginning she seems tired and fatigued – not prepared to show


harbour. Later she was distracted by the sight of her son and his pregnant girlfriend and missed her
train connection in the process, which – possibly – could have prevented the death of the public
prosecutor.




has let go of his dubiousness and seems more mellow and involved. He is now giving the investi-

start shining through – the one-eyed and individual effort, guided by an indispensable intuition,


succeeds in the end, however with fatal consequences. As opposed to the shipping magnate and
the Prime Minister, Sarah Lund is as usual unable to compromise. This fact places her in a situ-
ation which once again quotes Fincher’s Seven
The Killing I.

48
                                                             NORDIC NOIR ON TELEVISION: THE KILLING I-III

Conclusion

  In its entirety The Killing illustrates that original productions rather than adaptations have great
                                                                                                     -
ond series and similarly between the second and the third seasons showed, it has been possible
to vary and renew the serial within the overall concept of “one vision,” that is the vision of Søren
Sveistrup, the manuscript writer. During all three seasons Sveistrup carefully scrutinises the com-

dysfunctional gender roles and absent role models and in necessary but hideous compromises at
the level of both politics and investigation.
                                                                                The Killing inscribes
itself into the noir thriller genre, and it is important to the dramaturgy, which in all series is lab-

                                                                                                  -
ever, the differences between the series are also important to the production value of The Killing.
These differences range from the circular movements in the local, domestic environment in the

series to the third series’ refocus on human nature at the top and bottom of society – and of a Den-
                                                                                                     -
cal issues to be at the core of the build-up of suspense and offer that extra dimension – completely
in line with DR Drama’s articulated strategy on the double story.
  Vis-à-vis genres, the use of political drama alternates while the different levels of crime within
local, national and corporate politics are being investigated. Within the police procedural, the vari-


the entire series does depend on character – Sarah Lund’s intense, persistent and yet human role as
investigator. But it also depends on the concept of “one vision” and the concept of the double story.


1   Eva Novrup Redvall, “Dogmer for tv-drama,” in Kosmorama, no. 248, 2011, pp. 180-198.
2   Idem
                              Kosmorama, no. 248, 2011, pp. 161-179.
                                         Borgen i Forbrydelsen                                               -
                                                                                                             -

    pressen-plottet-og-pasbetjenten, last visit 30 November 2012; Id., “Forbrydelsens forbrydelse,” 6 March

                                                                                                             -

                                                                 The Killing,” in Northern Lights, vol. 9, no.
    1, 2011, pp. 111-125.
                  The Killing puts torchlight on subtitled drama,” The Guardian, 18 November 2011, http://
                                                                                                             -
    vember 2012.
6   Maggie Brown, “Borgen: Inside Danish TV’s thriller factory,” The Guardian


                                                                                                           49
GUNHILD AGGER

7    Ibidem.
                                        FT.com, 25 March 2011, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6d092842-

     “Borgen: The Best TV Show You’ve Never Seen,” Newsweek

   2012.
9  Barry Forshaw, Death in a Cold Climate. A Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction, Palgrave Macmillan,
   London 2012, p. 2.
10 Idem, p. 8.

12 Andrew Nestingen, Crime and Fantasy in Scandinavia. Fiction, Film and Social Change, University of
   Washington Press/Museum Tusculanum Press, Seattle-Copenhagen 2008, p. 9.
13 Lars Ole Sauerberg, Secret Agents in Fiction, Macmillan, London 1984, p. 81.

                                          Politiken, 16 September 2009, section 3, pp. 1-16.




50
