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The Bridge - Coggle Diagram
The Bridge
Background Knowledge
The Bridge is a Swedish and Danish co-production Crime Drama that is focused on the bridge that links both countries together.
The set episode is Episode 1, Series 3 which was first broadcasted on 21st November 2015 on BBC Four in The UK, SVT1 in Sweden, and DR1 in Denmark.
The writer of the The Bridge is called Hans Rosenfeldt, and it has a total of 30 episodes in 3 series.
Summaries
Series 1
A body was found on the bridge that links Sweden and Denmark (the capital cities of Malmo and Copenhagen are linked together)
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Series 2
The series ends with Saga turning in her co-worker Martin for the murder of the man who killed his son
Series 3
The series starts with a gender campaigner being found dead in Malmo, and Saga is placed with a new Danish coworker called Hanne to investigate the case with
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The episode ends with the pair going to investigate a building, however a trap was set which meant that the coworker was severely injured
Just before this happened, the coworker said that she wanted to be taken off the case
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Institutions
SVT is The Swedish Public Broadcaster which is funded by a licence fee. The difference between the licence fees in The UK and in Sweden is that Riksday is a company that owns all of the television sets in Sweden, and it is a PLC meaning that it is a company that is not controlled by the Swedish Government
Politically, Sweden is on The Left. The premier of Series 3 of The Bridge had 1.5 million viewers in Sweden alone which works out to be about 1/7 of the population
'Danmarks Radio' is Denmark's National Public Service Broadcasting Corporation. This is funded by a license fee that Danish people have to pay of they have a television, radio, or computer
Politically, Denmark is Left-Liberal
Danish TV Funding
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International funds that can either be regional or international, as well as pan-national funds
Economic Context
The Copenhagen Film Fund is an active participant in The Bridge as it wants to bring much of the production to Denmark in order to provide jobs and experiences for Danish talent. The Danish Film Industry benefits from this economically as well as gaining visibility to international audiences
People are employed in both Denmark and Sweden meaning that The Bridge must adhere to the regulations of both of the places. Most of The Bridge was shot in Malmo which is the Capital City of Sweden located in the south of the country
BBC Four
BBC Four is the broadcaster of The Bridge in The UK, and they broadcasted the show in its native language with English subtitles. In 2016/17, BBC Four had a budget of £48.7 million in order to bring arts, music, and culture to people in The UK
The channel provides a high proportion of ambitious and quality products in order to enrich audiences in different topics
42% of The UK's population regularly watch crime dramas which meant that by BBC Four showing 'The Bridge', they were guaranteed viewers due to the amount of people who enjoy watching crime dramas
The Bridge was given the Thursday 9pm slot on the channel which is reserved for foreign crime dramas
The channel also offers a wide range of foreign language films, dramas, and documentaries that are shown at peak-times
They will also be subtitled in order to allow people from all around the world to be heard in their own voice
The Daily Telegraph reported in 2014 that The Bridge was shown in 174 countries highlighting the fact that the concept appeals to global audiences
Global Audience
It is a Swedish and Danish production that was shown in The UK, and was very successful.
The pre-title sequence of Episode 1, Series 3 has very little talking, and instead it is manly focused on the visuals that are seen. Some things that are seen (eg: the sign that says 'do not enter') are universal meaning all audiences will understand what they mean
The theme song for The Bridge is called 'Hollow Talk' by K Anderson and Quiet Choir, and the lyrics are in English which also may be another way that The Bridge appeals to global audiences.
Audiences do not have to be able to speak the original language that The Bridge was shown in to be able to understand what is happening in the pre-title sequence. Crime dramas are universal, so can be enjoyed by the majority of people
Theory
Hall
In some ways, Saga is represented as a stereotypical woman, for example she is sexualised when she is seen to be changing her clothes in her office as her coworkers are looking at her
In other ways, she is nor represented as a stereotypical woman with few simple characteristics as she finds it difficult to understand other people's feelings whereas women are typically empathetic
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Gauntlett
Saga is a unique character that audiences may relate to as she has traits that previously have been under-represented in the media
Saga is a strong female lead character who is very good at her job as well as potentially having autism
Audiences may have been able to relate to the way that Saga is represented in The Bridge, and seeing this may have helped them to construct their own identity as wanting to be as hard working as Saga is despite potential limitations
Van Zoonen
Some of the female characters in The Bridge are seen in a stereotypical feminine way such as a Henrik's wife who is seen just as someone that he can have sex with
Audiences do not learn about her character, and she is not elaborated on
However, Saga is not represented in a stereotypical way as she is seen as a strong character, and audiences learn a bit about her back story; she is also very good at her job
It may be argued that Saga's physical appearance is stereotypical feminine (eg: blonde hair, make-up, skirts, etc)
Hook
Saga and Hanne are the two main character in Episode 1, Series 3 and they are both female
They are both strong, independent, and are good at their jobs hence why they have been assigned a complicated case
This highlights that Hanne and Saga are subverting the female gender stereotypes, and they are represented very differently to how minor female characters are represented as they are represented in a more stereotypical feminine way
Narrative
Audiences may identify or sympathise with Saga due to the way that the audience is positioned as they have seen with Saga throughout all of the episodes meaning they are likely to have a personal connection with her
She doesn't understand why Hans is not at work on time, and she also doesn't understand why he needs '2 minutes' when he was already late for work.
She asks the victim's wife if she wants to see the pictures of her wife that were taken at the crime scene even though the partner was visibly upset.
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