Abstract: The concept of Nordic noir, today widely used in discussions on Nordic television crime series, is an oxymoron. While the word Nordic is closely associated with the five welfare states – Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland – and the good life, the French word noir (black) stands for crime fiction that works via staging negative affects and expresses a pessimistic world view. I explore how dark and melancholic Nordic noir guides viewers to understand their own negative emotions in relation to social structures. While researchers have asked how Nordic noir represents the welfare states, I will analyse how Nordic noir functions as an affective strategy that guides viewers to reimagine them. As the Nordic model is heavily promoted abroad and often received as an ambition for other countries, the way people imagine it has real significance to other democratic societies.

My hypothesis is that Nordic noir’s stylistic and narrative strategies produce emotional knowledge that converts viewers’ own melancholic emotions into a strategy of engaging with the world. The research questions are:

• How do stylistic and narrative devices employed in Nordic noir function both emotionally and connotatively?
• To what kinds of needs and concerns do Nordic noir’s style and narration appeal?
• How does Nordic noir guide viewers to understand their emotional life as the precipitate formed by the intersection of a set of social processes and institutions?
• How do meanings embedded in Nordic noir contest prevailing notions about the Nordic welfare states?

My research material consists of Nordic noir television series, books and articles on the Nordic region and television reviews, fan discussions and reception studies.

Dr Jaakko Seppälä is co-editor of Nordic Noir, Adaptation, Appropriation (2020) and co-author of The Films of Teuvo Tulio (2020).