"Kan verka skrämmande på små barn" : Våld, sex och historiebruk i tv-serien Trälarna

This article examines the television adaption and reception of Swedish youth novelist Sven Wernström’s series of historical youth novels called Trälarna (‘‘The Thralls’’) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The book series as well as the Danish animated televisions series used a noticeable class perspective in order to make comparisons between the condition of slaves in medieval times and Swedish working class of the 19th and 20th centuries. In accordance with the novels, the television series therefore displays a strong moral historical perspective. The analysis in the article focuses mainly on the abundant use of violence and sex as political and pedagogical instruments to promote class consciousness among its child viewers. In contrast to the novels, the television series was able to create more explicit audiovisual images of violence and sex that, in fact, were censored by Swedish state television before it was aired on a child friendly timeslot. Although some scenes in the television series were censored, the final analysis reveals that ‘‘The Thralls’’ can be seen as a rather typical example of the politically and aesthetically radical Swedish children’s culture of the 1970’s