Research project The Child Figure across Nature and Culture in Swedish Postwar Wildlife Documentaries

The main aim is to shed light on the ways the films present the figure of the child as a link between nature and culture at a point in time often referred to as “the great acceleration”.

For this subject matter, the postwar era in Sweden is especially interesting to study for two reasons. First, it demonstrates an increased interest in Scandinavian ‘wilderness’ in film culture, with a substantial production of films set in the northern, mountainous areas of the country.  Second, it indicates a discursive shift in the way children are represented in cultural expressions such as literature, film and stage art, with a wide appearance of strong and self-sufficient child characters such as the most famous representative Pippi Longstocking.