THE KILLING - LESSON 1: CONTEXT + GENRE

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MAIN SEQUENCE OF EVENTS:
//Nanna runs away from a pursuer.
//Sarah Lund moves out of her office.
//Pernille calls Theis to fix a dishwasher.
//Politician Troels Hartmann visits the grave of his dead wife.
//Lisa texts Nanna.
//Theis shows Vagn his new house.
//The body of Nanna is discovered in the boot of a car.

 GENRE IN THE KILLING:
Nordic Noir, Thriller, Detective
Nordic noir is a genre of crime fiction from scandinavia, usually from a police perspective. It is straightforward, transparent and literal without metaphor and hidden meanings. It shows the contrast of a bland society with the darkness happening in it.

SOCIAL CONTEXT:
 The episode reflects socially-contested gender and racial/ethnic relations: the police management and sparring politicians are male, reinforcing patriarchal power, but the narrative follows the agency of a female protagonist, whose professionalism and efficacy is foregrounded by her male colleague's boyishness and willingness to give up. There is similar ambiguity in gender representation where Pernille and Theis are represented as equal partners in their business and family affairs, but, stereotypically. it is the husband who goes out to search while the wife stays at home. Denmark is represented as an avowedly multicultural society, with Vagn's racism represented as a character flaw in opposition to Theis's generosity. This episode shows the influence of social anxieties about the protection of children.
CULTURAL CONTEXT:
 This episode contains specifically Danish representations - the representation of rivalry with Sweden and the nature of Danish local politics, for example - but the crime narrative is of global cultural resonance, which may be why this was the first long-form Danish drama to appear on British TV.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
People more interested in crime and the criminal mind. Focus on the enemy often as an individual, rather than a group or country. Attack on family life and disruption of family routine , rather than the wholesale attack on a town/country/the world.
POLITICAL CONTEXT:
 The episode reflects a cynical view of spin-driven politics: the episode represents two separate worlds within the same society: that of family life and that of politics, the former with values of care, solidarity and authenticity, the latter with values of competition, underhand point scoring, and conspiracy. The series requires some understanding of Danish local politics.
ECONOMIC CONTEXT:
 The episode reflects the economic context of a small publicly-owned national broadcaster that can only finance one LFTVD every season - in cooperation with other european TV producers - and thus requires the drama to be both popular and to reflect the nation back to itself.

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