Forbrydelsen (The Killing)

Forbrydelsen (The Killing)

Context

Audience

BBC profile for viewers of The Killing:
  • female profile=56
  • under 55 profile-29
  • ABC1 profile-70
  • HE profile-52

Characters

Sarah Lund - strong female lead which is unconventional for the crime genre with most detectives being male or an older woman like Murder She Wrote or Miss Marple. She also presents herself as more masculine than feminine in her clothes and way she acts with her iconic sweater that became extremely popular after the show. She is moving from Denmark to Sweden with her family, Sweden has a friendly rivalry with Denmark. She has a son called Mark Lund and a boyfriend named Bengt Rosling. She ignores her family and postpones her move to Sweden because of her police work however and forgets her son's hockey team. She also misses her leaving party for her case showing that she is disregarding her own stability too. She is competent and devoted to the case. She seems to have a sixth sense for cases when the camera zooms in after she realises that Nanna might be down the river or when she wakes up after the opening of Nanna being chased through the woods
Jan Myers - more masculine and messier than Sarah Lund and is a more stereotypical man that contrasts Sarah Lund as shown when he moves into her office and doesn't even wait for her to finish unpacking when he places a picture of guns and a basketball hoop in his office to display his masculinity. He even mentions that Sarah won't be able to use a gun in Sweden as she won't be a full citizen. He is working with Sarah on the case but is clearly much less invested in the case and contrasts Sarah Lund's devotion.
Troels Hartmann - a politician trying to become the next mayor of Copenhagen like his dad who was also in politics as pointed out by his rival and current mayor who insults his father. This plotline exists for the Danish audience who are more interested in politics. Troels has a dead wife and is dating his secretary called Rie but can't make it public until after the campaign, this relationship may also imply a power imbalance between boss and his subordinate. He has an implied past relationship with another politician. He has another secretary named Morgan who he has not been in a relationship with. He is a left leaning politician trying to do good until the end of the episode where the car Nanna's body is found in is linked to his campaign team
Nanna Birk Larsen - the victim of the case, Nanna is white, blonde and a good student which is conventional. Her ex boyfriend is Oliver(ginger curly hair) and she's been on and off with the boy in the towel, her best friend is Lisa who knows more than she's letting on.
Theiss Birk Larsen - father of Nanna who runs a company with his employee Vagn who is a family friend and tries to keep Vagn in check when he apologises to the shopkeeper. He is buying a new home for his family to live in and is presented as a hyper masculine character throughout the episode by constantly barging in without thinking like when he pulls the sheets off the girl he thinks is Nanna.
Theiss is doing deliveries with Vagn and helps the shopkeeper Vagn disrupts then makes fun of him for his xenophobia. He then comes home to help his wife Pernille fix their washing machine but they end up doing inappropriate things instead, this shows a happy family unaware their daughter is dead as the camera pans to a picture of Nanna and her younger brothers. Theiss is building a new home for his family to live at, Vagn suggests that he could also stay there. As soon as he realises his daughter is missing Theiss goes out to look for her while Pernille stays at home. Theiss checks her ex boyfriend's house and lifts the covers off an unsuspecting girl who he thought was Nanna but it turns out she wasn't there. Eventually Theiss comes to the bridge where Nanna's body is found and starts to cry which is a more progressive masculine view.
Pernille Birk Larsen - mother of Nanna who is presented as hyper feminine by being presented as more emotional than Theiss. Pernille spends the entire episode in the kitchen, first she is there when Theiss fixes the washing machine and they do inappropriate things then she stays there worried about Nanna until the end where she calls Theiss and finds out that Nanna's body has been found.
Vagn Skaebaek - A Birk Larsen family friend who turns out to be the killer. In the first episode he calls a shopkeeper a xenophobic slur which foreshadows his reveal as the killer which is related to his prejudice to present xenophobia in a negative light in a country where it was on the rise.
Vagn starts the episode by calling a shopkeeper a xenophobic slur which Theiss has to correct him on. He then suggests that he could live with the Birk Larsens after looking at the house Theiss is building
Rie Skovgaard - Troel's secretary who is in a relationship with Troel's although they aren't going public until Troels is elected as it could be considered a scandal, however Troels may not be fully over his dead wife as shown by him visiting her grave.
Rie gives Troels his watch back that he left under her bed which shows that they are involved romantically. Troels and Rie make out during his visit to a high school for a speech and he tells her that they can go public after he wins the election as their relationship may skew the results and become a scandal. Rie then walks in on Troels talking to an old collogue and Troels is skeptical on the loyalty of Rie after finding out someone is a mole in his office but later on in the series it turns out to be his other secutary foreshadowed by his new shoes in episode 1.
Mayor Paul Bremer - Troel's rival who is a sleezy right wing politician who makes fun of Troel's father who was also in politics. This is a comment about untrustworthy politicians that appeal to the left wing socially aware Swedish audience.
Bremer is going to have a debate with Troels in a high school which highlights how politically involved Danish people are and before it is cancelled taunts Troels about his father's political career

Deliberate anti-stereotype

  • Sarah Lund - breaks feminine and detective stereotypes
  • Troels - competent politician
  • Jan Myers - from sloppy masculine detective to a competent, devoted soft side

Miscellaneous

  • Narrative enigma - gaps in a story left for the audience to figure out such as 'who killed Nanna Birk Larsen?' which is a medium term enigma
  • aired 2007 in Denmark
  • aired by DN the Danish public broadcaster
  • also popular in Germany
  • AMC made an unsuccessful American remake
  • jumpers like Sarah Lund's sales went up 300%

Nordic Noir conventions

  • Bleak dark setting in Copenhagen with significant night shooting
  • from police POV
  • protagonists are complec and do not conform to stereotypes
  • alonside mise-en-scene the tone and mood is dark with parental grief in harrowing detail in The Killing
  • challenging themes and issues explored with xenophobia, police and child corruption
  • limited dialogue
  • long takes
  • strong female protagonist
        • impressionistic use of shadow to paint a complex anti hero protagonist in Sarah Lund

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