The aim of the research project “The menacing immigration and ideal Swedishness: A semiotic analysis of the Sweden Democrats campaign films” was to highlight how ethnicities are portrayed in five different campaign films produced by the Swedish party the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna). The applied theories are stereotypes, binary oppositions as well as the theory of whiteness and blackness. The method used to analyse the campaign films are semiotics, and the tools denotation, connotation, anchoring, relay, metonymy and myths. The results show that a person’s skin colour is of minor importance. What does matter, is if you are Swedish or not and how Swedish you are. All of the campaign films concern questions about “Swedishness” and immigration. When immigration and non-Swedes are in focus, the films present a dark theme with a sinister undertone. In contrast, when the issue of Swedishness is presented the films portray harmonious and idyllic images of Sweden. Sweden, Swedes and Swedishness is habitually portrayed as being the ideal, the desirable, and the good. It is the norm for being socially acceptable. Immigration, immigrants and non-Swedes on the other hand are consistently portrayed in a negative light. These extraneous groups of people are labelled as the others; they are the bad, and are portrayed as a threat that we Swedes have to defend ourselves against. A third, but less prominent theme that could be deduced from the films is that the Sweden Democrats are portrayed as martyrs. By presenting themselves as being misunderstood and as being the voice of the people, it can be interpreted that they attempt to detract the stamp they acquired as a racist party. Although the Sweden Democrats seem to have refined the ways in which they express their opinions of Swedishness and immigration, it’s still a significant part of the message in their commercials. They glorify Swedes and reproduce coarse stereotypes of non-Swedes. With the portrayal and contrasting comparison there is an inherent consequence that immigrants are to be seen as less worthy, and that the Swedes in turn are indirectly attributed to a higher value and as such, being Swedish is set as the norm.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-101732 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Norrgård, Elisabet |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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