Breaking Borders: The International Success of Danish Television Drama

Abstract

‘Stories and images are among the principal means by which human society has always transmitted its values and beliefs, from generation to generation and community to community’ (Puttnam 1994: 357). These words by David Puttnam point to why TV drama and film matters. Through stories and images we experience and reflect on both contemporary reality and the past. Audiovisual narratives are powerful means to influence and develop our social imaginary, our ability to understand not just ourselves but also others. Behind both national and EU support for the audiovisual industries there is the belief that Europeans will only experience being European if they can imagine life across Europe, and that one of the key means of doing that is through encountering their European others on European screens. Behind the statutes and paragraphs of European programmes for cultural support lies the idea that our common, European heritage is also about constantly reflecting on or meeting with the past and the present through stories. Stories must be based on and result in cultural interaction, expressing and challenging the fundamental values, beliefs, forms of knowledge and experience and the traditions that are formed by the highly diverse cultural and social history of Europe (Council of Europe 2005).