The Other in Contemporary Swedish Cinema: Portrayals of Non-White Swedes in Swedish Cinema 2000-2010

Abstract: The evident place that film has in society makes it a powerful medium that journeys across borders of nationalities, sexualities, and ethnicities. Film represents, and since representation is of importance when acquiring knowledge and a continuous changing medium, it must be scrutinised continuously. In this thesis, contemporary Swedish mainstream cinema (2000-2010) has been examined for its representations of immigrants, Arabs and non-white Swedes. Concepts of culture, identity and whiteness are used to make sense of these representations and politics is shown to have a strong impact on the medium. Making use of the notion of “whiteness”, the thesis suggests that non-white Swedes are considered different to white Swedes. The Arab, for example, is given many negative traits previously seen in anti-Semitic, pre-WWII images of the Jew. Furthermore, many films were proven to exclude non-white Swedes from a depicted society, geographical and social. This exclusion of “the other” can be considered a representation in itself, a reflection of a divided Swedish society. Non-white Swedes are a large group of people, and it is argued that instead of portraying a static, shallow image of non-white Swedes, the Swedish film industry and society, could benefit from anticipating a new cinematic society and by including this group.