This article considers the Finnish drama comedy Päin seinää (Headfirst) (2014) as a work of neo-l... more This article considers the Finnish drama comedy Päin seinää (Headfirst) (2014) as a work of neo-liberal pedagogy that represents human waste management and the culture of cruelty as normal and routine, denying marginalized young people the possibility of a better future.
Dataset contains technical metadata for Finnish Fiction Films up to 2018. The data has been gathe... more Dataset contains technical metadata for Finnish Fiction Films up to 2018. The data has been gathered from the Elonet database managed by the Finnish National Audiovisual Institute, from the printed Finnish National Filmography, and through personal communication with the Institute. The dataset has been gathered in the context of the project <em>Movie Making Finland: Finnish fiction films as audiovisual big data, 1907–2017</em> (<em>MoMaF</em>).
Monissa 2000-luvun elokuvissa Suomi jakaantuu maantieteellisesti kahteen osaan, etelän pääkaupunk... more Monissa 2000-luvun elokuvissa Suomi jakaantuu maantieteellisesti kahteen osaan, etelän pääkaupunkiseutuun ja pohjoisen muuhun Suomeen. Maantieteellinen kahtiajako korostuu erityisesti elokuvissa, joissa nuoret irtaantuvat vanhempiensa hallitsemasta järjestyksestä. Tarkastelen sitä, miten maantiede toimii luokkajärjestyksen neuvottelijana 2010-luvun vaihteen molemmin puolin tehdyissä, tyttöjen irtaantumista esittävissä elokuvissa Kielletty hedelmä (2009) ja Elokuu (2011).
The increase in private-car use is the key sign of the modernization process. In Finland, the 195... more The increase in private-car use is the key sign of the modernization process. In Finland, the 1950s and 1960s were a special period in the development of car culture, because the number and relative share of private cars increased and, alongside transport and drives from A to B, motoring became a way of life.
In this article, I examine the ways in which car culture can be seen as a signifier of modernization in Finnish fiction films between 1950 and 1969. 1950s and 1960s saw the premiere of 334 Finnish fiction films, 223 of which feature cars. In the 1950s, almost two thirds of the films (138/210 films) contain scenes with cars, but in the 1960s, the relative number of these films is significantly higher (85/114 films).
I approach the cars and car culture represented in the films in relation to the development of cars on Finnish roads, some current issues of the time, such as road accidents, cars and horses on the road, and the car-related representation of youth. From a real-life perspective, the difference in car culture between the decades is crystallized by the fact that the 1950s is the decade of import restrictions and the 1960s the decade of their end.
In Finnish films of the 1950s and 1960s, the modernization of traffic is seen in the increasing number of cars, the diversification of car brands and narratively in the increasing number of shots seen from the moving car. By representing the car as a space for dialogue and placing the camera and the spectator in the moving car, the films guide the spectator to integrate into modern society. In particular, the proliferation of shots seen from the back seat of a car reflects the emphasis on individuality that characterizes modernization, in which the shared vehicle is replaced by a private one as everyday life becomes more technological.
This article considers the Finnish drama comedy Päin seinää (Headfirst) (2014) as a work of neo-l... more This article considers the Finnish drama comedy Päin seinää (Headfirst) (2014) as a work of neo-liberal pedagogy that represents human waste management and the culture of cruelty as normal and routine, denying marginalized young people the possibility of a better future.
Dataset contains technical metadata for Finnish Fiction Films up to 2018. The data has been gathe... more Dataset contains technical metadata for Finnish Fiction Films up to 2018. The data has been gathered from the Elonet database managed by the Finnish National Audiovisual Institute, from the printed Finnish National Filmography, and through personal communication with the Institute. The dataset has been gathered in the context of the project <em>Movie Making Finland: Finnish fiction films as audiovisual big data, 1907–2017</em> (<em>MoMaF</em>).
Monissa 2000-luvun elokuvissa Suomi jakaantuu maantieteellisesti kahteen osaan, etelän pääkaupunk... more Monissa 2000-luvun elokuvissa Suomi jakaantuu maantieteellisesti kahteen osaan, etelän pääkaupunkiseutuun ja pohjoisen muuhun Suomeen. Maantieteellinen kahtiajako korostuu erityisesti elokuvissa, joissa nuoret irtaantuvat vanhempiensa hallitsemasta järjestyksestä. Tarkastelen sitä, miten maantiede toimii luokkajärjestyksen neuvottelijana 2010-luvun vaihteen molemmin puolin tehdyissä, tyttöjen irtaantumista esittävissä elokuvissa Kielletty hedelmä (2009) ja Elokuu (2011).
The increase in private-car use is the key sign of the modernization process. In Finland, the 195... more The increase in private-car use is the key sign of the modernization process. In Finland, the 1950s and 1960s were a special period in the development of car culture, because the number and relative share of private cars increased and, alongside transport and drives from A to B, motoring became a way of life.
In this article, I examine the ways in which car culture can be seen as a signifier of modernization in Finnish fiction films between 1950 and 1969. 1950s and 1960s saw the premiere of 334 Finnish fiction films, 223 of which feature cars. In the 1950s, almost two thirds of the films (138/210 films) contain scenes with cars, but in the 1960s, the relative number of these films is significantly higher (85/114 films).
I approach the cars and car culture represented in the films in relation to the development of cars on Finnish roads, some current issues of the time, such as road accidents, cars and horses on the road, and the car-related representation of youth. From a real-life perspective, the difference in car culture between the decades is crystallized by the fact that the 1950s is the decade of import restrictions and the 1960s the decade of their end.
In Finnish films of the 1950s and 1960s, the modernization of traffic is seen in the increasing number of cars, the diversification of car brands and narratively in the increasing number of shots seen from the moving car. By representing the car as a space for dialogue and placing the camera and the spectator in the moving car, the films guide the spectator to integrate into modern society. In particular, the proliferation of shots seen from the back seat of a car reflects the emphasis on individuality that characterizes modernization, in which the shared vehicle is replaced by a private one as everyday life becomes more technological.
In several Finnish films of the 2000s, Finland is portrayed as divided geographically into two pa... more In several Finnish films of the 2000s, Finland is portrayed as divided geographically into two parts: the small urban area around Finland's capital, Helsinki, in the south and the rural areas in the country's north. This polarization frames conceptualizations of social class, particularly in films that depict young people leaving their homes. Forbidden Fruit (Kielletty hedelmä) and August (Elokuu) are examples of Finnish cinema in the 2000s that negotiate ideas about class and circulate this polarized imagination through geography. Both films depict the young leaving their homes and then clashing with a geographically marked border. The films are analyzed in the context of the neo-liberal success story which defines the ideal subject of contemporary society. The article argues that the cinematic journeys of the young show the power of geography in reproducing class structures.
Generational conflict is at the core of youth films. In several films in the 2000s, this conflict... more Generational conflict is at the core of youth films. In several films in the 2000s, this conflict has been connected to the ethos of neo-liberalism. This article presents two Finnish fiction films, Dome Karukoski’s <i>Tyttö sinä olet tähti</i> (<i>Beauty and the Bastard</i>) (2005) and Aleksi Salmenperä’s <i>Paha perhe</i> (<i>Bad Family</i>) (2010), as examples of the ways in which films in the changing Nordic welfare state, and under the prevailing ethos of neo-liberalism, function as a technology of class, i.e. how they negotiate the class divisions in contemporary society. The films, depicting the generation conflict within a middle-class and an upper middle-class family, are analysed in the context of hardening neo-liberal attitudes arising from the competitive efforts of individuals to achieve or sustain a successful position. The families in the films are understood to be miniature societies relating how young people negotiate the constraints of the dominant neo-liberal ethos. Both films represent a critical view towards generational continuity and a success story as the only acceptable option; however, as they also depict a shift from success to human waste management, they represent different attitudes towards neo-liberalism.
Proceedings of the Digital Humanities in the Nordic Countries 5th Conference Riga, Latvia, October 21-23, 2020, 2020
This paper is based on a crowdsourcing project which was realised at the School of History, Cultu... more This paper is based on a crowdsourcing project which was realised at the School of History, Culture and Arts Studies of the University of Turku between the years 2013-2018. The idea was to develop a format through which long-term crowdsourcing could be integrated into the humanities curriculum. The project was realised in close cooperation with the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI) in Finland. The aim was to help KAVI in developing its open database for Finnish cinema, Elonet, by engaging both graduate and postgraduate students in producing keywords, genre characterisations, plot summaries and other relevant fields of information for Finnish cinema. In total, the project produced metadata for 572 full-length films, both fiction films and long documentaries that had their theatre release between the years 1946 and 1985. The amount is substantial considering that, to date, around 1,600 full-length films have been released in Finland. At the same time, it produced a successful model for drawing on crowdsourcing in the classroom.
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In this article, I examine the ways in which car culture can be seen as a signifier of modernization in Finnish fiction films between 1950 and 1969. 1950s and 1960s saw the premiere of 334 Finnish fiction films, 223 of which feature cars. In the 1950s, almost two thirds of the films (138/210 films) contain scenes with cars, but in the 1960s, the relative number of these films is significantly higher (85/114 films).
I approach the cars and car culture represented in the films in relation to the development of cars on Finnish roads, some current issues of the time, such as road accidents, cars and horses on the road, and the car-related representation of youth. From a real-life perspective, the difference in car culture between the decades is crystallized by the fact that the 1950s is the decade of import restrictions and the 1960s the decade of their end.
In Finnish films of the 1950s and 1960s, the modernization of traffic is seen in the increasing number of cars, the diversification of car brands and narratively in the increasing number of shots seen from the moving car. By representing the car as a space for dialogue and placing the camera and the spectator in the moving car, the films guide the spectator to integrate into modern society. In particular, the proliferation of shots seen from the back seat of a car reflects the emphasis on individuality that characterizes modernization, in which the shared vehicle is replaced by a private one as everyday life becomes more technological.
In this article, I examine the ways in which car culture can be seen as a signifier of modernization in Finnish fiction films between 1950 and 1969. 1950s and 1960s saw the premiere of 334 Finnish fiction films, 223 of which feature cars. In the 1950s, almost two thirds of the films (138/210 films) contain scenes with cars, but in the 1960s, the relative number of these films is significantly higher (85/114 films).
I approach the cars and car culture represented in the films in relation to the development of cars on Finnish roads, some current issues of the time, such as road accidents, cars and horses on the road, and the car-related representation of youth. From a real-life perspective, the difference in car culture between the decades is crystallized by the fact that the 1950s is the decade of import restrictions and the 1960s the decade of their end.
In Finnish films of the 1950s and 1960s, the modernization of traffic is seen in the increasing number of cars, the diversification of car brands and narratively in the increasing number of shots seen from the moving car. By representing the car as a space for dialogue and placing the camera and the spectator in the moving car, the films guide the spectator to integrate into modern society. In particular, the proliferation of shots seen from the back seat of a car reflects the emphasis on individuality that characterizes modernization, in which the shared vehicle is replaced by a private one as everyday life becomes more technological.