“Othering the Self and same-ing the Other” : Australians watching Nordic Noir

In this chapter we explore the international response to Danish television drama. Some of our study respondents perceived a lifeworld and society in Danish series closer to their own than they recognised in their domestic series, of which they were highly critical. We understand this as a dialectic process of “othering the Self and same-ing the Other”. Though present to varying degrees in other countries, this process was particularly salient in Australia, where Danish series have enjoyed relatively impressive ratings on the Special Broadcasting Service over the past 15 years. We explain the dialectic process through a combination of factors, including the “hyper realism” of the aesthetics and character performances in the Danish series; the fairly limited knowledge that Australian audiences have of Denmark; Denmark’s reputation as a progressive society worth aspiring to; and the so-called “cultural cringe” that viewers instinctively feel towards products from their own culture.This work was supported by the following funding bodies: Danmarks Frie Forskningsråd (Independent Research Fund Denmark) [grant number DFF-4001- 00298]. Aarhus Universitets Forskningsfond (Aarhus University Research Fund) [grant numbers AUFFF-2018-4-8 and AUFF-F-2013-FLS-1-23]. Carlsbergfondet (Carlsberg Foundation) [grant number CF15-0168]. Go to the full book to find a version of this chapter tagged for accessibility