Abstract
The 1950s was a decade of major social transformation in Sweden when the welfare state was being realized, and it has been suggested (Gunnemark, 2006) that the youth of this age became proponents of modernity, caught between the old and the new structures of society. With the film Hon dansade en sommar (One Summer of Happiness, 1951) as a reference, this chapter discusses how youth became more defined as category and identity in Sweden in the post-war period through its relation to leisure culture, not least cinema. Cinema had evolved in rural areas as part of a modern associational culture with progressive roots in the temperance movement and oppositional roots in the worker’s movement. In the post-war period, the government supported this culture and contributed to its expansion. It became a space in which youth throughout the country could come together, or individually, and submit themselves to, as well as reflect upon, images and narratives of the rapid and intense ongoing changes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The term cinema is here understood in accordance with the definition used for the Swedish equivalent (biografer) by the trade organizations that controlled ticket sales and cinemas in Sweden (Filmägarnas kontrollförening u.p.a. and Sveriges Biografägareförbund) (Film Owners’ Control Bureau Ltd. and Swedish Exhibitors Association). The definition is not bound to a venue; it refers to companies that exhibit 35 mm film programmes to a paying audience. A cinema can be permanently tied to a purpose-built venue; it can rent a multipurpose venue for single nights of exhibition or for a longer duration of time; it can exhibit film occasionally in its own venue; it can also lack a venue all together and travel with a tent.
References
Almqvist, T., Johansson, H., & Simonsson, L. (1976). Vad folket byggde. Ett utkast till folkrörelsernas byggnadshistoria. Stockholm: Sveriges arkitekturmuseum.
Berggren, H., & Trägårdh, L. (2006). Är svensken människa? Gemenskap och oberoende i det moderna Sverige. Stockholm: Norstedt.
Björklund, E. (2012). The Most Delicate Subject: A History of Sex Education Films in Sweden. Dissertation. Lund: Lund University. Lund.
Couldry, N. (2003). Media Rituals: A Critical Approach. London: Routledge.
Frykman, J. (1988). Dansbaneeländet. Ungdomen, populärkulturen och opinionen. Stockholm: Natur och kultur.
Furhammar, L. (2003). Filmen i Sverige. En historia i tio kapitel och en fortsättning. Stockholm: Dialogos.
Gunnemark, K. (2006). Ung på 50-talet: om förälskelser, mode och boende i en brytningstid. Stockholm: Bilda.
Höijer, B. (1998). Det hörde vi allihop! Etermedierna och publiken under 1900-talet. Stockholm: Prisma.
Idestam-Almquist, B. (1954). Ur en isbjörns memoarer: Svenska AB Nordisk tonefilm 1929–1954: en festskrift. Stockholm: Nordisk tonefilm.
Jernudd, Å. (2012). Spaces of Early Film Exhibition in Sweden, 1897–1911. In D. Biltereyst, R. Maltby, & P. Meers (Eds.), Cinema Audiences and Modernity: New Perspectives on European Cinema History (pp. 19–34). London: Routledge.
Jernudd, Å., & Lundmark, M. (2017). Cinemagoing in Sweden in the 1940s: Civil Society Organisations and the Expansion of Rural Film Exhibition. In J. Thissen & C. Zimmermann (Eds.), Cinema Beyond the City: Small-Town and Rural Film Culture in Europe (pp. 67–86). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Olson, H.-E. (1992). Staten och ungdomens fritid. Kontroll eller autonomi? Dissertation. Uppsala: Uppsala University. Lund.
Qvist, P. O. (1986). Jorden är vår arvedel. Landsbygden i svensk spelfilm 1940–1959. Dissertation. Stockholm: Stockholm University. Uppsala.
Samhället och filmen. (1973). Swedish Government Official Report SOU (p. 53). Stockholm: Utbildningsdepartementet.
Sjöholm, C. (2003). Gå på bio: rum för drömmar i folkhemmets Sverige. Dissertation. Lund: Lund University. Eslöv.
Vesterlund, P. (2007). Den svenska modellen—arbetarrörelsen, staten och filmen. In M. Jönsson & P. Snickars (Eds.), Medier & politik: om arbetarrörelsens mediestrategier under 1900-talet (pp. 206–244). Stockholm: Statens ljud och bildarkiv.
Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ziehe, T. (1989). Kulturanalyser: ungdom, utbildning, modernitet: essäer. Stockholm: Symposion.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jernudd, Å. (2018). Youth, Leisure, and Modernity in the Film One Summer of Happiness (1951): Exploring the Space of Rural Film Exhibition in Swedish Post-war Cinema. In: Treveri Gennari, D., Hipkins, D., O'Rawe, C. (eds) Rural Cinema Exhibition and Audiences in a Global Context. Global Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66344-9_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66344-9_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-66343-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-66344-9
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)