Nordic Noir

 Description: Nordic Noir (Scandinavian Noir), is a genre of crime fiction usually written from a police point of view and set in Scandinavia or Nordic countries. Plain language avoiding metaphor and set in bleak landscapes results in a dark and morally complex mood, depicting a tension between the apparently still and bland social surface and the murder, misogyny, rape, and racism it depicts as lying underneath. 

Origins: There are different views on the origins but most commentators agree that the genre had become well established as a literary genre by the 1990s; Swedish writer Henning Mankell, who has sometimes been referred to as "the father of Nordic Noir", notes that the Martin Beck series of novels by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo "broke with the previous trends in crime fiction" and pioneered a new style: "They were influenced and inspired by the American writer Ed McBain. They realised that there was a huge unexplored territory in which crime novels could form the framework for stories containing social criticism". 

One critic opines, "Nordic crime fiction carries a more respectable cachet... than similar genre fiction in Britain or the US". Language, heroes and settings and three commonalities in the genre, which features plain, direct writing style without metaphor. The novels are often police procedural, focusing on the monotonous, day-to-day work of police, often involving the simultaneous investigation of several crimes.

Features: Some critics attribute the genre's success to a distinctive and appealing style, "realistic , simple and precise... and stripped of unnecessary words". Their protagonists are typically morose detectives or ones worn down by cares and far from simply heroic. In this way, the protagonists' lives cast on the flaws of society, which are beyond the crime itself. This is associated with how this genre often tackles a murder mystery that is linked with several storylines and themes such as the investigation of the dark underbelly of modern society. This is demonstrated in the case of the Insomnia films, which featured crime- solving linked to the decline of the Nordic welfare state. 

A description of Nordic noir cited that it is typified by a dimly lit aesthetic, matched by a slow and melancholic pace, as well as multi- layered storylines. It often features a mix of bleak naturalism and disconsolate locations, with a focus on the sense of place where bad things can happen. Its key elements include a murky atmosphere, dark narratives, and flawed protagonists. Its popularity may lie in the fact that it usually undercuts the dominant narrative of the Nordics as thriving states with happy people and successful economics- there is a dark underbelly here, too. 

Audience: The boom in crime literature in 1990s coincided with a wider fascination with the ostensibly successful Nordic welfare states, and desirable Nordic stereotypes such as happiness, equality and high-quality design. The exploration of real life issues without pulling any punches has given Nordic Noir a sense of authenticity with audiences. A research group at Aarhus University has looked into why Danish TV programmes specifically have been so popular around the world, and found that it is often dependent on the type of viewer and where they come from. In Argentina, the niche audience of series like The Killing and The Bridge find them intelligent and even "too good to be true" due to the lack of corruption in the police force. While in Germany, the reasons for Nordic Noir's ongoing popularity include the general accessibility of Nordic television in Germany, the existing success of the genre in crime literature, and in the specific aesthetics of the series.