Obviously that's part of Dr. Helmer's character, but I'm just curious, does the rest of Scandinavia have some sort of ill will towards Denmark in general for whatever reason?
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Modern Plumbing Studios, est. 2004
Scandinavians dont hate each other - actually they are very alike (political system, language, standard of living etc.). But due to these close bondaries, its obviously that Scandinavians like to tease or sometimes critizise each other. But it goes all the way around - danes to swedish and norwegians, swedish to danes and nor.... ok you got the point no?
shareI asked a young Danish filmmaker about this when he was in the United States. He said that Dr. Helmer was a character that would be very recognizable to a Danish audience, not as a representative of all Scandanavians but as a certain kind of upper-class arrogant Scandanavian who looks down on Denmark as if it were a sort of cultural backwater.
shareFinnish people do hate Swedish (or we should, all of us don't, those f u c k e r s) but I don't see any good reason to hate Danish people. Well we really don't hate Swedes but we don't like 'em either. It's probably 'cos those f u c k s always beat us in every sport (except curling). Helmer's just an arrogant Swedish doctor who thinks he's the centre of the world. (Now why does this remind me of Americans?)
share[deleted]
Well, the Finns aren't Scandinavians so your remark is out of line. Danes, Swedes, Norweigians are scandinavians from Scandinavia. The Finns are Finns from Finland. The scandinavians share the language and history from dawn of time. We all are brothers and sisters and that's why we like to tease each other. Altough our cultures are pretty much alike we have prejudices of the others, and some of those prejudices are used in Riget.
Just out of curiosity, isn´t Swedish officially spoken in Finland apart from, of course, Finnish? Is this connected at all with any sort of invasion, even a peaceful economic colonization? Excuse my ignorance, please.
I understand the Danes were the big cats in the Viking days. And later the Swedish became the most powerful / influential / rich (???).
Excuse me again to slide a bit off topic. But if any Scandinavian could enlighten me a bit on this maybe I´d get that small, "healthy" fight a little bit better.
[deleted]
Finland was indeed ruled by sweden for a long time. It was split up in 1809.
Wikipedia contains some information about this subject:
Sweden-Finland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden%E2%80%93Finland
And more on sweden's history:
Swedish Empire:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_empire
I'm Swedish and very envious of the Danes because their so much better than us politically, we often look over to them for inspiration. Like how to manage police in a soccer game but mostly the movies. MY GOD THEY MAKE GOOD MOVIES. Swedish cinema suck nowadays. Only Swedish film I want to see this year is Roy Anderssons new.
shareI'm Swedish and very envious of the Danes because their so much better than us politically, we often look over to them for inspiration.
On the other hand, we Swedes like you Finns very much. Probably because we beat you in every sport. Muahahahahaha!!
But seriously - if a Nordic or Scandinavian country was attacked, I would gladly fight to defend them.
May peace prevail on earth
On the other hand, we Swedes like you Finns very much. Probably because we beat you in every sport. Muahahahahaha!!
;D
Swedish snus is a damn good reason to live. Not for me though, one of my new year resolutions is to not touch it. But I'm glad you've found it!
May peace prevail on earth
I'm Swedish-American and I can tell you that the ancient rivalry is between Danes and Swedes as those were the powerhouse Scandinavian countries centuries ago. But now Norway has given us the paper clip, Denmark gave us uber-cynical literature, and Sweden gave us Nobel. Sufficed to say, Finland is just there for decoration.
shareWe all know the norwegians are the best anyway! :-P The only true wikings!
From what I hear, sweds and danes can't even understand each other! We norwegians can understand both of you... We have the power (and the oil!) Ha!
;-)
[deleted]
No, that was the joke. Scandinavians and Danes are as different as night and... uh, later that night. So Helmer's hatred is really over the top. It's sort of like a Canadian advocating a jihad against Minnesota.
shareI understand that it's not too clear for anyone without a general understanding of the scandinavian countries and their culture, but just like eluhnabroad says Helmer's hatred just adds an extra layer of absurdity to the whole series. It doesn't actually make any sense, I mean, the man is a lunatic for crying out loud.
shareHahaha! WHAT IS THIS TOPIC?!
First, an anecdote:
About a year ago a VERY drunk Swede tried to ”flee” from Denmark in a tiny rowing boat. He was homesick. It wasn't a very succesfull escape, and the Swedish Navy finally had to help him home.
For about two weeks all media was making jokes about this. The Swedish versions was about how the guy wanted to get away from the crazy Danes. And the Danes were just happy to get rid of another reckless Swede. Swedes = drunks, of course.
Swedes love to make jokes about Danes and vice versa. But the key word is ”love”.
Just to clear things up for all non-scandinavian readers:
1. Sweden is the ”big brother” of the Scandinavian family. Historically we've had the money, power and culture to stand out from the rest. Today things are different of course.
2. Denmark is the crazy kid of Scandinavia. More liberal in many ways. Not so ”uptight” as Sweden.
3. Finland – which definitely is Scandinavian in everyone's mind – is the proud and hard working part of Scandinavia. For many reasons – historically, economically (...and SPORTS) – they particulary dislike Swedes. Sometimes a bit too much in my opinion! ;)
4. Norway is the patritotic, conservative and RICH part of the Scandinavian family. Very proud and a more religious than other Scandinavians. They LOVE to flash their money and wave their flag. :)
5. Iceland – not to forget – is the tiny and wierdo child of the Scandinavian family. Here is were all the wierd buildings are built, were all the wierd artists are born, and were the food is just WIERD!!! :) In some ways a very liberal country (economics f.e.), in other ways very conservative (traditions f.e.). The recent financial crisis has probably shaken the Icelanders a bit though.
To sum up: There are definitely some kind of competition between the Scandinavian countries. Some people take it a bit too seriously, but most people just smile about it. However, if ”The Scandinavian Family” was a TV show like ”Big Brother”, Sweden would be tossed out during the first episode. No doubt. All other Scandinavian countries loves to harrass Swedes i think, haha!
@Luminousoctaves
I think you are getting some things mixed up;-)
Norway, Sweden and Denmark is the Scandinivian countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia
Norway, Sweden, denmark, Iceland and Finland is the Nordic countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_countries
But no, I don't think any of the countries really hates eachother... it's just friendly banter:-)
I think you are getting some things mixed up;-) Norway, Sweden and Denmark is the Scandinivian countries.
[deleted]
We swedish are incredibly uptight and it is really hard to get under our skin even if we do have a friendly mask to strangers. We have like thousands of hidden rules in society which we live after, it is very hard to even explain or social codes to strangers. Swedish are like werewolfs because they can do a 180 when they are drunk and become a different person, in other countries you have people become a bit more crazy when they are drunk but swedish people actually become a completely different person that just wasnt there some hours ago.
Danish are just more alive and less filled with angst and hidden thoughts, they are very open and not as political correct. Denmark is a small country with many habitants, so they all are used to communicating one with another. In Sweden we have this really dark forest and people used to live in small cabins very far from each other before everyone moved to town, anyway our culture is still born from that kind of enviroment even if we now like to think of ourselves as the most modern country in the world, so people still havent learnt to communicate with each other but they instead hang around in their mobile phones all the time. Finland is the same, actually even worse than Sweden.
Norwegians dont have too much dark forests and are quite open people, but it doesnt seem to be much in there at times...
No, I am beeing a bit harsh here. Norwegians are the most friendly, traditional and really nice people with a big capital N. I enjoy the company of danish and norwegians, not so much my fellow swedes and finns (despite my swedish and finnish genes). Also be careful not to hang around with the radical feminists in Sweden, the myth around our women are much better than the reality I live every day. My swedish girlfriend is nice though, but I had to experience hell twice in previous relationships to learn what kind of girls to look for.
[deleted]
We swedish are incredibly uptight and it is really hard to get under our skin even if we do have a friendly mask to strangers.
Also left out Greenland.
You! Obey the fist!
RIP Heath Ledger
"Just to clear things up for all non-scandinavian readers:
1. Sweden is the ”big brother” of the Scandinavian family. Historically we've had the money, power and culture to stand out from the rest. Today things are different of course.
2. Denmark is the crazy kid of Scandinavia. More liberal in many ways. Not so ”uptight” as Sweden.
3. Finland – which definitely is Scandinavian in everyone's mind – is the proud and hard working part of Scandinavia. For many reasons – historically, economically (...and SPORTS) – they particulary dislike Swedes. Sometimes a bit too much in my opinion! ;)
4. Norway is the patritotic, conservative and RICH part of the Scandinavian family. Very proud and a more religious than other Scandinavians. They LOVE to flash their money and wave their flag. :)
5. Iceland – not to forget – is the tiny and wierdo child of the Scandinavian family. Here is were all the wierd buildings are built, were all the wierd artists are born, and were the food is just WIERD!!! :) In some ways a very liberal country (economics f.e.), in other ways very conservative (traditions f.e.). The recent financial crisis has probably shaken the Icelanders a bit though. "
So it's like 1 is big bro, 2 is middle sib, 5 is youngest, 3 is sort of a step child and 4 is, um, wannabe oldest and twin to 2?
"To sum up: There are definitely some kind of competition between the Scandinavian countries. Some people take it a bit too seriously, but most people just smile about it. However, if ”The Scandinavian Family” was a TV show like ”Big Brother”, Sweden would be tossed out during the first episode. No doubt. All other Scandinavian countries loves to harrass Swedes i think, haha!"
Well you can't let big bro get too full of himself or he'll lord it over everyone right? XD BTW, I got relatives from Denmark and Iceland. Mostly Denmark though. Also British, but nevermind that.
You! Obey the fist!
RIP Heath Ledger
There's also Nords at the top of Scotland who think the rest of us don't notice, but we know that when we turn our backs that "strange accent" turns in to a whole different language and the horned helmets come out.
Every now and again an infant will go missing on the mainland just to turn up 10 years later on Orkney or Shetland sporting a massive beard and trying to build a great hall or a longboat out of wicker.
You don't know sh!t, Jon Snow!
Helmer's hatred for Denmark was hilarious :D. He's such a prick.
"Flash, Flash, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save the Earth!"
Since Denmark is most southerly (making it effectively North Germany in many respects) it is foodwise the best of the 3 (Denmark, Norway, Sweden). Where Norway and Sweden lean more towards light fishy & soupy dishes, Denmark has the famous hot-dogs, and a really meaty/sweet traditional Christmas dinner. Everything is also rather more expensive in Sweden & Norway compared to Denmark (maybe the reason for the more unimaginative food culture) Booze way more expensive in Norway & Sweden compared to Denmark. In some cases it's even harder to get a hold of. Whereas most shops & bars in Denmark will serve you alcohols unless you're obviously a kid or absolutely trolleyed (or both).
On the other hand, Norway & Sweden come up aces with regard to natural beauty, with their huge forests, mountains and apline traditions (skiing etc.) In this round Denmark loses big time. While not totaly lacking in natural beauty (notable decent beaches and great if the summerweather is good) but you'll find the countryside almost totally flat and covered in agriculture (fields, large stinking pig farms etc.). Though it must be said that the sweeping, almost luminous yellow rapeseed fields in early summer are quite breathtaking).
So in conclusion; Come from the south, stock up on food n' booze etc in Germany/Denmark (maybe even stop by Holland if you're into the greeny green). Smuggle all you're stuff into Norway or Sweden and you're all set for great outdoor experiences and have a well stocked (cheaply acquired) pantry.
Sådan!