Beyond Eastern Noir

This book addresses representations of Russia and neighbouring Eastern Europe in post-1989 Nordic cinemas, investigating their hitherto-overlooked transnational dimension. Departing from the dark stereotypes that characterise the hegemonic narrative defined as ‘Eastern noir’, the author presents Norden ’s eastern neighbours as depicted with a rich, though previously neglected in scholarship, cinematic diversity. The book does not deny the existence of Eastern noir or its accuracy. Instead, in a number of in-depth case studies of both popular and niche feature films, documentaries and television dramas, it interrogates and attempts to add nuance to the Nordic audiovisual imagination of Russia and Eastern Europe. Tracing approaches of and beyond the Eastern noir paradigm across cinematic genres, and in relation to changing historical contexts, the author considers how increasingly transnational affinities have led to a reimagining of Norden ’s eastern neighbours in contemporary Nordic films. Making the notions of border/boundary and neighbourliness central to the argument, the author explores how the shared geopolitical border is (re)imagined in Nordic films and how these (re)imaginations reflect back on the Nordic subjects.