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Okkupert

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Clarissa

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So we are now watching the Norwegian TV show Occupied about an imaginary Russian invasion of Norway. All I can say is that Putin must be deeply flattered. Everything he’s been doing has paid off if Europeans finally imagine Russians not as pathetic recipients of charity but as a fearsome, malignant power they cannot resist.

For me, the most interesting aspect of the show is that it reveals the emerging anxieties about the erosion of the nation-state model. The very meaning of the nation is in question and the characters are trying to learn to live with this new reality. 

7 responses to “Okkupert”

  1. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    Are you watching the original? How much English dialogue is there? (the version I can find has a Polish voice-over, I don’t mind it if the dialogue is norwegian and/or russian but I can’t stand it when the original is English?

    In the real world the government of Norway is apparently talking publicly about what it will do if the system of government in Sweden collapses….

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      We are watching the Norwegian version with English subtitles. The Russians in the series all speak English. There is very little Russian.

      I’m also surprised at how much English there is in the series.

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      1. valter07 Avatar
        valter07

        where did you find it? I mean the original?

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Netflix! But I’m not sure if Canadian Netflix has it.

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      2. cliff arroyo Avatar
        cliff arroyo

        “The Russians in the series all speak English”

        Are they by any chance Cold War era American movie Russians?

        In case you’re not familiar, that stereotype is, calculating, hyper-efficient, effortlessly multilingual, superbly organized, perhaps charming in a Henry James depraved European kind of way with a lingering fondness for luxury and western pop culture and slightly sad at how it must all perish.

        In other words – extremely unlike most real Russians….

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Yes! That’s exactly what they are like! Which is confusing because the Russians we know are not like that at all.

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  2. Michael Blekhman Avatar
    Michael Blekhman

    When I was a university student, I adored ‘The Planet of the Apes’. I think the idea behind the book is very close to what this Norwegian movie is about: apes attacking civilization. But showing apes as an invincible force is a big mistake. I agree with Clarissa.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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