How have youth been imagined and addressed in Scandinavian screen fiction?
As a narrative subject, coming of age signifies a universally recognisable process of transition and transformation – a search for identity meant to culminate in finding one’s place in the world and in relation to others. Youth is a period of becoming, brimming with invigorating possibilities and disruptive uncertainties that remain an unbounded source of storytelling across media formats.
In Scandinavia, screen stories of growing up and coming of age hold a particularly special place in the region’s film and television production, rooted in an internationally recognised tradition of children’s and youth culture and supported by strong public funding frameworks. This dissertation analyses the historical development and present state of Scandinavian youth film and television drama as a significant aesthetic tradition of taking young people seriously, on screen and as audiences.
Adopting a regional perspective through comparative analyses as well as case studies, the thesis examines how the liminal experience of youth has been represented in Norwegian, Danish and Swedish screen fiction. It traces a historical evolution from fiction about youth to for youth and explores how contemporary film and television drama represent youth as a site of profound emotional crisis - a crisis from which it is increasingly difficult to progress.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: To be announced.
Time and place: Monday 23 November 2026, 10:15 AM, Sophus Bugges hus, aud. 3
Evaluation committee
- Senior Lecturer Dr. Malena Janson, University of Stockholm (first opponent)
- Professor Adriana Margareta Dancus, University of South-Eastern Norway (second opponent)
- Professor Kim Wilkins, University of Oslo (commitee administrator)
Chair of the defence
Supervisors
- Professor Emeritus Ove Solum, University of Oslo
- Associate Professor Birger Langkjær, University of Copenhagen
- Professor Anne Gjelsvik, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology