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Swedish Press N Y A
S V E N S K A
www.SwedishPress.com
Swedish Humour: A Laughing Matter
P R E S S E N
E S T . 1 9 2 9
March 2020 Vol 91:02 $5.95
02 2020
Interviews with Lasse Ă…berg & Janne Westerlund The Stockholm Series
The Myth of the Serious Swede: Swedish Humor from Bellman to Instagram Lorem ipsum
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umor isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Sweden. In fact, Swedes are usually regarded as stern By Marcus and serious, more inclined toward noir murder mysteries or Bergmanesque dramas than sitcoms. Behind the austere Scandinavian mask, though, there’s a rich tradition of humor that has evolved significantly in the past thirty years, and continues to develop today in new social media platforms. Perhaps the most famous comedian in Swedish history, Carl Michael Bellman, created the blueprint for the Carl Michael Bellman, portrait by nation’s humor in the late Per Krafft 1779. 18th century. He was a poet and songwriter with a sharp satirical wit who wrote drinking songs that have endured the test of time, still sung today at family gatherings. Bellman wrote scandalous material about courtly life, addressing themes like sexuality, bodily functions, and the monarchy. Though Bellman was born nearly three centuries ago, Swedish humor still draws upon the same sources for much of its material. Fortunately, 21st-century Swedish comedy has found some new targets for the butt of a joke. Heavily influenced by British humor in the 1960s, Swedish writers took the cue of exalting failure and humiliation. According Jon Skolmen and Lasse Åberg in to English TV personality “The Stig-Helmer Story”. Stephen Fry, the British
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comic ethos can be characterized as follows: “We are bathed in failure but we make a glory of our failure … We love the fact that every great British comic hero is so flawed as to be an utter disaster.” The Swedes share this Andersson mentality, gravitating toward the darkness of the pathetic hero rather than the lighter American paradigm of the clown (Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Zach Galifianakis, to name a few). Unlike American comedy, which is primarily punchlinedriven and slapstick-centered, British and Swedish humor focus on creating a painfully awkward mood, and draw attention to class differences and stifling social norms. Swedes, like their UK neighbors, take their national identity itself as a joke. Besides its indebtedness to British humor, contemporary Swedish comedy also spends a lot of time mocking other Scandinavians. The Finns are consistently made out to be knife-wielding drunks, the Danes portrayed as rustic hedonists, and the Norwegians depicted as unsophisticated farmers. This is fairly parochial local humor and not very translatable outside of its Grotesco på Scala på Turné. Photo: Scandinavian context, but Robert Eldrim it’s still extremely popular. Nearly every Swedish sketch troupe or comedian has had its Finn or Dane-bashing moment. Today, one of Sweden’s most popular comedy troupes is Grotesco. The group ridicules Swedishness with skits like “Svennen” (“The Swede”), as well as Finns by showing how a literary discussion ends in a knife fight, and Danish hedonism by portraying a gathering where the party-goers pass around a defibrillator while drinking. They also attack both social democratic and right-wing political attitudes
in a sketch in which the Swedish welfare state mentality turns people into zombies. Grotesco is irreverent and dares to be more experimental in its subject matter. Much of the humor is meta-humor, making fun of the idea of sketch troupes and television programs, often layering sketches within larger sketches. Many of Grotesco’s cast members star in one of Sweden’s most popular comedy series, Solsidan. This is a satire of Stockholm’s archipelago, which encourages the viewer to see the world from a common person’s perspective. One couple in the show, for example, lives in an all-white mansion, so glaringly bright that it Solsidan Season 5. appears surreal, taking the trend in upper-class interior design to the extreme. At the other end of the social ladder, the audience is asked to identify with Anna and Alex, a middle-class family trying to adjust to the snobbery of Saltsjöbaden – a posh town near Stockholm. Though the comedy duo is a less popular format, it still offers a winning approach to humor in Sweden. The most successful contemporary example is Filip and Fredrik, which is defined by its characters’ candid, unscripted banter. They come across as two friends exploring the world: “Alla mot alla med Filip och Fredrik” Season 3 premiered on 13 January Fredrik represents Sweden 2020 on Channel 5. Photo: Margareta Bloom Sandebäck/Kanal 5 – reserved, uptight, and anxious, which are traits that Filip, who represents the anti- Swede, often mocks. In 2014, for example, they created La Bamba, a show about the two characters pursuing their fantasies of living out exotic American lives (e.g. the cowboy, the hippie, etc.). Filip constantly pushes Fredrik’s boundaries, even drugging him at a spa retreat in California – a moment that became one of the most famous clips from the program. A less developed side of Johan Glans. Photo: Robert Eldrim Swedish humor is stand-up
comedy which only started to flourish in the 1980s. Swedish standup comedies tend to be less vulgar than their American or British counterparts, playing on themes like city versus country life, personal inadequacy, and SwedishÖzz Nujen. Photo: Robert Eldrim ness. Comedians like Johan Glans and Janne Westerlund are national favourites and cater their material to a broad public, keeping their content safe. Since the 1990s, immigrant-centered standup has also found a place in the scene, with comics like Özz Nujen creating a space for addressing ethnic differences, a subject that is otherwise ignored in the Swedish media. The future of Swedish comedy takes the tradition of the sketch troupe to new social media platforms. Tom Ljungqvist, an up-andcoming Swedish comedian, Photo: Tom Ljungqvist has used Instagram and its filters to create several characters, morphing his face digitally and altering the pitch of his voice. He films himself from a selfie angle in his apartment or on the streets of Stockholm while in character, using absurdist comedy instead of parodying anything uniquely Swedish. Some of his work, however, does satirize life in Stockholm, particularly the sketches he makes with his troupe Inte Helt Hundra. Their comedic sense has landed them sponsorships and appearances on television, where they continue their brand Tom Ljungqvist, Alfred Svensson of comedy but incorporate and Petter Egnefors in “Inte Helt products into their pieces. Hundra”. Comedians like Ljungvist show the opportunities available to future generations on social media for creating a brand and evolving the country’s comic tradition. Despite the stereotype of the serious Swede, Swedish humor has an unexpectedly broad range and is constantly evolving as it interacts with new social perspectives and media platforms.
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Putting Sweden on the Map At Home
“One proejct I’m proud of is ...
Global S
Lars “Lasse” Gunnar Åberg, Swedish actor, artist, film director and musician
Lars “Lasse” Gunnar Åberg. Photo: Carina Åberg
Lasse Åberg is a veteran of making humor part of everything he creates. Well-known for his participation in Swedish comedy movie classics, such as Sällskapsresan and Den ofrivillige golfaren, Åberg, 79, was recently awarded the prestigious Hedersguldbaggen (Honorary Guldbagge Award) for his accomplishment and contribution to Swedish entertainment. He has dedicated his life to amusing the world. “Almost everything I’ve created is based on humor – the movies, my sketches, the TV productions and my books. Humor has become my niche.”
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Tell us about your upbringing and how you found your artistry. Were music and humor present in your family? I grew up in a working-class family on Kungsholmen in Stockholm. I dreamt of becoming an artist at an early age. When I turned 10 years old I told my friends and family that I wanted to make a living as a professional artist. I spent a lot of time drawing and was praised for my work. My father was a wood turner (svarvare) and a drummer. For some time, he played with an orchestra that accompanied Frank Sinatra at Chinateatern in Stockholm in 1953. I admire my father for his sense of humor. He was always quick with a funny line. Where did you go to college? Konstfack (University of Arts, Crafts and Design) in Stockholm, where I was enrolled between 1960 – 1964. What did you do next? I participated in numerous TV comedy series. I directed and starred as Stig-Helmer Olsson in the movie Sällskapsresan and its sequels which were box office successes, made over 300 million SEK, and became international hits. I played the role of Tarzan Apansson in children’s programs along with my fellow actor and musician Klasse Möllberg. I also performed and recorded albums together with composer/ guitarist Janne Schaffer in Electric
Banana Band. One project I’m very proud of is the creation of Åbergs museum featuring world-class art and an impressive Disney collection. Who were your earliest collaborators? Without my friend and producer Bo Jonsson, I probably wouldn’t have made any movies. In the mid-70s, he sent me a letter saying: “Hi Lasse, could we meet up. I have some thoughts on a movie. Bosse.” That was the beginning of our collaboration and what would become seven movies. What does the Hedersguldbaggen award mean to you? Hedersguldbaggen is a kind of endorsement of the recognition comedy (igenkänningskomedi) that I represent. The award is a tremendous personal achievement. I hung my Hedersguldbagge next to my other Guldbagge Award in Åbergs museum. Name a few other awards. I am proud to have received the Ingmar Bergman Award in 1981
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(for the film Sällskapsresan), and Guldbaggen in 1991 for best male actor in the role of StigHelmer Olsson in Den ofrivillige golfaren. I also received Albert Engström-priset in 2012, Piratenpriset in 2015 and H. M. The King’s Medal – 8th size gold medal worn on the chest suspended by a blue ribbon (8:e storleken i högblått band) in 2003. Tell us about Åbergs museum. Åbergs museum opened in 2002. We are in a stylish barn by Väppeby gård in Bålsta. On our website we describe what customers can expect from a visit. “At the museum everybody can have a good time, doesn’t matter if you are young or old. You will find a fabulous collection of cartoons and art as well as one of the world’s premier collections of Disney artefacts. For the children we have the Tarzan jungle hut. Of course, there is also a shop and a restaurant available. There is a permanent exhibition of props, photos and costumes from the films about the lanky nerd Stig-Helmer. Outside the museum is a
.... “the creation of Åbergs museum.” large playground for children and two nice cows that never harm a fly. So, have a jolly day out and visit Åberg’s museum. We boast about being Sweden’s most amusing museum.” Åbergs museum and shop are open to the public Monday through Sunday from 11am until 4pm. Åbergs museum, so near to your home in Fånäs, is widely known for your Mickey Mouse themed paintings. Of all Disney’s wonderful characters, what made you choose Mickey Mouse? Pop art has always inspired me – Lichtenstein and Warhol, for example. I started making pastiches using Mickey Mouse as my model because pop art fascinates me. It “undresses” what is considered fine culture art and affirms the simple things in life and art – the so called “little life.” One might just as well paint a soup can as a beautiful landscape. Had I started sketching today I might have chosen Hello Kitty or My Little Pony as my model. Which artists inspire you today? My idols include the very talented artists Jim Dine and Claes Oldenburg. Jim Dine is an American pop artist from Ohio. He became popular in the 60s and is well-known
for his sketches of colorful hearts. Claes Oldenburg is a SwedishAmerican sculptor. He is renowned for his impressive public art installations depicting everyday objects. Have you visited Disney Land Park in California or Disney World in Florida? And if so, how did you experience your visit there? I have visited Disney’s parks in California, Florida and France. I found them well-organized and effective. I do, however, wish that I had been 10 years old and not middle-aged when I made my visits. It would have given me another perspective. What aspects of Swedish culture and life are you personally most passionate about promoting? As a member of Electric Banana Band, I am proud of the unprecedented success of the Swedish music industry globally. What have you planned for this spring and summer? This spring I opened my souvenir exhibition (souvenir-utställning) at Dansmuseet in Stockholm. I will be exhibiting my paintings on Österlen in Skåne and in Lindesberg in Västmanland. I’m also working on the script to the musical Banankontakt which premieres in October. Interviewed by Sofie Kinnefors
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[Lifestyle] Book
The Stockholm Series by Per Anders Fogelström Translated into English by Jennifer Brown Bäverstam. By Robert L. Johnson
Per Anders Fogelström and Jennifer Brown Bäverstam
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t was with enthusiastic pride that the staff of Stockholm’s Stadsmuseet (City Museum) and conservers of Per Anders Fogelström’s archives celebrated the year 2017. It was the centenary of the birth of the famed author and activist, recognized for his body of literature and honored for his life-long dedication to the beloved city of his birth. In November of that year I was privileged to meet and confer with these staff associates, inspect the archives, tour the Fogelström-related sites on Södermalm around Sofiakyrkan on Vita Bergen with Kent Josefsson of the Fogelström Society, and later attend
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one of the sold-out performances of “Mina drömmars stad” (City of My Dreams) at the Kulturhuset at Sergels Torg in Central Stockholm. Fogelström published all five volumes of his series during a span of six years – from 1960 to 1966. But it wasn’t until late 2011, while perusing the book section of Chicago’s SwedishAmerican Museum Gift Shop, that I found copies in English translation of the first three volumes of Fogelström’s Stockholm Series, as translated by Jennifer Brown Bäverstam, Penfield Press, Iowa City, Iowa. Before that time I was unaware of the person and the work of Per Anders Fogelström. Reading that first volume, “City of My Dreams,” (US publication in 2000) sent me on my present journey. I want to bring to Americans, especially Swedish-Americans, in reviewer John Felstiner’s words, “this clear, candid translation – the taste, feel and pace of another world – that of the Swedish working-class [as] one well worth knowing.” While I have great respect for readers who are dedicated followers of the now popular Swedish murdermystery genre that includes the late novelists Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson, my personal preference leans toward biographies and historical events. But there has also been space and time in my schedule for the well-received “Hannah’s Daughters” by Marianne Fredriksson and the more recent popular favorite “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman. As with many other faithful Swedish-Americans, the four volumes of Vilhelm Moberg’s “The Emigrants” occupies a central place on my book-
shelf. Clearly, and in every instance, the novels of both Moberg and Fogelström are by masters of historical fiction. First of all, each uses a very broad brush to fix the time in which their respective characters are set. For Moberg’s prospective immigrants Karl Oscar and Kristina we see how they are shaped by the social and religious, cultural and historic upheavals – specifically the devastating droughts that affected rural Sweden in the 1840s. These in turn exerted a greater awareness on the increasingly viable option of emigration. Even at the risk of being branded with the unpatriotic label assigned those who had no choice but to abandon their native land, thousands of mostly peasant Swedes – both brave and desperate, and mostly by foot and cart – journeyed to the coasts and to the ships that would transport them to an uncertain new beginning. Secondly, in Fogelström’s use of certified historical events such as the political awakening, labor unrest and trade union formation in the years leading up to 1900, we follow Henning Nilsson’s daughter Emelie, her extended family and friends as their horse-and-cart village within a city joins greater Stockholm. The villagers react to the daily dynamite blasting, the radically transformed city, and the beginning of new possibilities in a new century. Vilhelm Moberg and, later, Per Anders Fogelström developed fictional characters to anchor a place and a time and to move their respective narratives along a preordained historical path. For Moberg it is the
[Lifestyle] Book New World and for Fogelström it is a new city. Sometimes these are composites and sometimes not. In any event, molded by their circumstances, and as symbols of those preceding them and the tens of thousands who followed, each character appears to us as incredibly real, almost to the touch. It is through these characters and the microcosm of their individual lives that Fogelström fills his books with a warmth and generosity that are captivating. In the year 2018, there is the advantage of more than half a century of digestion and reflection of Volume I of the Stockholm Series, published in 1960. In 1850, the population of Stockholm was 93,000, while London was 2.2 million. By 1960, Stockholm had grown to 800,000, and Sweden to 6 million. By then, an incredible 25 percent (or 1.5 million) Swedes read “City of My Dreams” following publication. Such success of a novel was unprecedented. It was a national sensation in part due to an earlier Ingmar Bergman film “Summer with Monica” (1953) based on a
novel by Fogelström. The Stockholm Series became a national treasure and a must-read in public schools throughout Sweden. Fast-forward twenty five years to the personal library of Jennifer Brown Bäverstam’s Swedish motherin-law whose favorite books were those authored by Per Anders Fogelström. American-born and educated, Jennifer had begun Swedish language lessons in high school. Following university, as a skilled linguist and the new wife of a Swede, she couldn’t wait to tackle the Stockholm Series. Already busy as a wife and mother and with a career in music, her love of Fogelström’s series led her to contact him in 1992 with the offer to work on an English translation. In an immediate response, he enthusiastically agreed. By this time Fogelström was in declining health and died before publication but confident that Jennifer’s alliance with Pennfield Press was the winning formula to address a wider and equally appreciative audience in America. The first volume appeared in the year 2000.
Starting in 2000 with “Stockholm, City of My Dreams” to 2015 when the English translation of “City in the World” (Volume V) was published, the novels have been warmly received and critically acclaimed. Thinking of my own several dozen lengthy excursions to Sweden over the last 50 years, I think reviewer David Ferry summed up the skilful English translation exactly how outsiders view Sweden and the Swedes: “This translation makes clear what the qualities of this book are: the sweetness and unsentimental directness of it, the clear-eyed truth-telling, the unswerving respectfulness towards these human beings. The translation is as lucid as winter light. By means of it a wonderful writer is brought over into English.” In closing, as I begin my fourth read of all five volumes of the Stockholm Series, a close cousin of mine has discovered the Swedish term LAGOM; meaning not too much, not too little, but just the right amount. I may be in strict violation of LAGOM, but, then again, I may not. You decide. Read and discover for yourself!
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