Danish television series have in recent years enjoyed an unprecedented level of international success, with series such as Borgen (2010-13) and The Killing (2007-12) travelling to multiple countries in Europe and beyond. Several explanations for the success have been put forward – ranging from aesthetic and thematic qualities such as identification of Nordic Noir and the prevalence of strong female characters (Agger, 2005; Jensen and Waade, 2013; Wille and Waade, 2016), over particular modes and principles of production (Redvall 2013), to the efficiency of the sales apparatus (Degn et al., 2015; Jensen et al., 2016).
This paper presents a quantitative content analysis (Krippendorff and Bock, 2009; Krippendorff, 2013) of the first episode of the 24 drama series that were produced in Denmark between 2005 and 2014 in order to characterize the series that travel well (defined as reaching five or more European markets) compared to the series that do not. Typically, content analysis of television series is focused on identifying bias, for example in the portrayal of women or minority groups (Gerding and Signorielli, 2014). In this analysis, we extent the coding frame to include aesthetic features in addition to narrative and character motivations and actions (Eskjær and Helles, 2012), similar to the landmark study of the Hollywood style by Bordwell, Thompson and Staiger (1985).
The paper contributes to the analysis of why series travel by taking a comparative look at all series produced in the period of study. Using principal component analysis, we identify similarities and differences between the series across a broad range of visual, narrative, and thematic dimensions, and describe what makes the travelling series stand out, and what they have in common with other Danish series produced in the same period.
We show that there are systematic differences in terms of formal characteristics, narrative style, character interaction, emotions and themes between Danish drama series that travel and series that do not. Furthermore, the findings suggest that previous explanations of what makes Danish series travel, emphasising the distinctive Danishness of the series, need to be balanced against the characteristics of series that do not travel. The analysis suggests that character interaction in well-travelled series is characterized by a higher emphasis on the expression of emotions, whereas less travelled series have a higher share of passive characters. Likewise, characters in well-travelled series tend to be more pragmatic and/or sad, whereas characters in non-travelling series tend to be more aggressive or violent. Also, well-travelled series place more narrative emphasis on questions of politics and the family, whereas less-travelled series emphasize material goods to a higher degree. In terms of visual aesthetics, the well-travelled series make
more extensive use of monochromatic lighting, and scenes play out in institutional settings (such as police stations, schools or factories) in well-travelled series, whereas the less-travelled series have a higher proportion of scenes set in private homes or suburban exterior locations. We conclude the analysis by linking the traits of the well-travelled series to notions of cultural proximity and cross-cultural recognisability, and note that elements of the well-travelled series are more likely to be understandable to audiences across different cultural borders, since they reflect more universally recognizable content or styles.