Comparing Phryne Fisher

Phryne Fisher

This entry was prompted by an anonymous note to another Swedish Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries fan on Tumblr, that got me thinking a little about the status of children's literature.

The Tumblr-note was about comparing Phryne Fisher to James Bond (e.g. here) and Indiana Jones. The latter was actually used by one of the producers, Fiona Eagger in the article about the future of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries I shared in my discussion about the subject. The anonymous author of the note also suggested Pippi Longstocking as a better comparisson and I could not agree more.

Phryne is an Astrid girl, which I have written an entry about before. (I have also discussed Jack Robinson as an "Astrid boy" here and here.) Pippi is good to use worldwide since she is the most famous of them, not least in the English-speaking world since I have understood that none of Astrid Lindgren's other books are particularly well-known there.

Pippi Långstrump, Herr Nilsson and Lilla Gubben
Orginal illustration by Ingrid Vang Nyman

As I talked about in my entry about Phryne and the Astrid girls, I think Madicken is an even better comparisson than Pippi because of the time period, the beautiful dresses, the little sister, the recklessness, the air planes and social issues. However, Pippi and Phryne certainly share a lot of qualities as well. Pippi is reckless, brave, outspoken and strong (both physically and mentally), but she is also tender, loving, caring and compassionate. Just like Phryne!

The latter, traditionally more female characteristics do both James Bond and Indiana Jones lack. Both of them are quite stereotypical macho men and this is the main reason why I do not like to compare Phryne to them. Unlike both Mr Bond and Dr Jones, and similar to both Pippi and Madicken (and the other Astrid children), Phryne uses her empathy and compassion as a strenght. This, I feel is extremely important to point out. We have a pop-cultural situation where the "macho man" is the norm and the only female characters who are considered strong, are those who are more or less just female version of that stereotype. I have discussed this topic before in both my Heroine entry of Phryne herself and the one about Johanne Hildebrandt's book Idun. We do not need any more emotionally closed off characters in today's pop-culture and comparing Phryne is actually sort of a depriciation of her as a character.

Madicken and Lisabet
Orginal illustration by Ilon Vikland

I have no idea why no one of the people creating Phryne have ever said anything about her similarities to (at least) Pippi. It might just be because of Astrid Lindgren not being so well-known in the English-speaking parts of the world, but it might also be the usual depriciation of children's literature.

Traditionally, children's literature has had a lower status and the ones writing for children have been seen as secondary authors. This actually even happened to Astrid Lindgren in the 1970's when there were first talk about giving the Nobel Prize to her. This was also a time, when the Swedish Academy (who are in charge of the Nobel Prize in litarture) was looking into taking in more women. Astrid was already then so famous and loved, that she would have been an obvious addition. However, she had some enemies, not least the author Artur Lundkvist who more or less meant that children's authors could not write real books.

I do not agree to this view at all. I think children's literature is the most important one. Reading as a child most often leads to you reading as an adult. Reading literature can change us and our perception of the world. It gives us knowledge but also the ability to process that knowledge to reach deeper understandings, something that is extremely forgotten and overseen today. This is why I think you should read, but you need someone to show you the basics first. So never underestimate children's literature. Good role models are always nice to have and if you find similarities with a character you have just got to know and want to tell someone else about, use them!

"I want to write for a readership that can create miracles. Children create miracles when they read. That’s why children need books." 

~ Astrid Lindgren

And about the quarrel between Artur Lundkvist and Astrid Lindgren. One can say that the former is almost totally forgotten among Swedes in general today while the latter has more or less become a saint...

The Detective and the Rose - Jack Robinson and Rosie

Jack and Rosie, Murder most scandalous

I mentioned Rosie Sanderson in my post about Jack Robinson, but never talked about her so much and I know you all prefer Phryne Fisher as Jack's companion (the whole Phrack thing) and I do too, but I think it is important to talk about Rosie as well.

We do not really get to know much about Jack's first marriage more than the fact that the First World War drove he and his wife apart. Rosie is vaguely mentioned already in Murder on the Ballarat Train and we get small glimpses into their estranged marriage, until we hear they get a divorce in Murder in the Dark at the end of season 1.

We (and Phryne) get to meet Rosie for the first time in Murder most Scandalous, the first episode of season 2 and she is part of the overarching plotline in that season. She is the daughter of the Deputy Commisioner, George Sanderson and we and Jack find out that she is now engaged to her father's godson Sidney Fletcher.

Rosie, Marked for Murder

I do not hate Rosie! In fact I feel sorry for her. She does not really do anything wrong. She seems to come from a privileged household and she was probably raised into a traditional female role. I discussed the thought of "the ideal woman" in my entry about Phryne and the Astrid Lindgren girls. It originated among the bourgeois in late 18th century Europe. The bourgeois woman was considered more or less too fragile to do anything.The man was the one out in society. He created it and did so to fit himself. The woman, on the other hand, was confined to the home where her main task was to please the bourgeois man who's guidance she needed to move through life. She was her husband's subordinate in everything and she was supposed to love him submissively. During the late 19th century, these gender roles spread to other social classes, which is quite strange since experiences from basically every other social class proved that women were just as capable as men.

These gender roles are interesting in relation to Rosie, Phryne and Jack and explains their characters and actions pretty well. We do not know if Rosie belonged to a working class family before her father gained power and titles in the police force. The fact that she married a working class man (Jack) seems to indicate this. She could have married "down" of course, the system provided women with far more opportunities to move in the class system of that time than men, but we can assume she was born rather privileged. This would also mean that she was raised to fit into the category of the ideal woman at the time, described above. This means that she was raised to not have anything to do with society outside the home and to marry and support someone like her father.

Phryne meeting Rosie for the first time, Murder Most Scandalous

Compare this to Phryne who was not raised among the bourgeois. Instead, she was raised very poor and in the lower societal classes, the women had to be out and about to provide for their families just as the men did. In theory, the women were subordinated the men, but in practice they were more or less equal. This meant that she is much more used to defy the norm of the woman (and the man) that is considered a static trait among the bourgeois. Instead of idolising her father like Rosie does hers. She more or less loathes him.

Jack and Rosie, Murder most scandalous

This background explains how they both deal with men, including Jack. Rosie idolises her father and wants Jack to have a career like his. The series has not given us any facts about Jack's character prior to the war. Therefore it remains my own speculation to think that he was probably not too content or happy with the prospect of imitating his father-in-law's career even then. For short, Rosie is not used to bend societal norms. She treats Jack like her father, because that is the only type of man she knows of. I also think this is why her marriage to Jack collapsed after the war. Again, we are not told or shown what actually happened, but due to Jack's sensitive nature, one might guess he was depressed and/or shell shocked which was the term used for PTSD at the time. This was probably something entirely new to Rosie and the fact that she was raised to more or less "obey" the norms to whatever cost probably did not help.

Jack and Rosie, Murder Most Scandalous

Similar to Rosie, Phryne also treats Jack like she would her father. Actually Concetta Fabrizzi  is the only one of the three women in Jack's life that we are aware of, that does not seem to do that (I am saving Concetta for a future Phrack post.). Phryne also tend to seek male bed partners that is similar to her father. However, Jack is nothing like Henry Fisher and while Rosie does not really seem to realise she hurts Jack, Phryne does. Even though Phryne is unfamiliar with men like Jack, she does not follow the norms as strictly as Rosie does and therefore is not unfamiliar with people who fall out of them... like Jack.

Jack, Murder most Scandalous

I have compared Jack to the Astrid Lindgren boys before and the comparison works even in this case. He is neither like George Sanderson nor Henry Fisher. He is sensitive, introvered and rather emotional. I find it interesting to compare him to the hero of the book Mio min Mio (Mio my Mio). When he lives in Stockholm and is called Bo Vilhelm Olsson, he learns that boys need to be tough and brave and should never show emotions. He is never happy with this and really blooms out only when he gets to Landet i fjärran (The land of far away) and becomes prince Mio. There he can really let go of the boy norms and show how scared he is, be emotional and even hug his best friend Jum-Jum. This is also when he becomes a super hero, saving all the children from the evil Riddar Kato with a heart of stone. Jack is pretty much the same. He becomes happy when he can break free of the male norm and be his own fantastic self.

Jack: "I went to war a newlywed"
Phryne: "But you came home."
Jack: "Not the man my wife married... 16 years ago"

 ~ Raisins and Almonds

Like I said in the beginning of this (too) long post, I do not hate Rosie and I do not think the series wants us to either. In fact, Rosie's plotline is a rather tragic one. Rosie does everything right according to the book, but still comes out on the losing end of things and I do not think she ever understands what went wrong. It is obvious that she still trusts and cares for Jack (not least because of the fact that she is openly jealous of Phryne), but she does not know how to love him. The same goes for Jack I think. He still cares for Rosie (He comforts her at the end of Unnatural habits.), but he knows he cannot be the man she needs and he does not love her (He goes to Phryne instead.).

Jack and Rosie, Unnatural Habits

A continuation of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries?

There has finally been some news about the future of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries which has made the fanbase more or less totally crazy. I have to say though, that as much as I want more about Phryne Fisher, Jack Robinson and everyone else, I still cannot help feeling a little cautious towards it.

Now, before you turn against me completely, please hear me out on this! A lot of franchises have suffered in recent years more or less due to overuse just because they became so popular that their creators would not let them finish.

I have seldom seen this issue being addressed, but Swedish comedian and author Jonas Gardell did so in the Swedish newspaper Expressen in March this year in the wake of the Swedish rock band Kent announcing they were going to retire. (Both links are in Swedish.)

"Lena Philipsson sjunger att kärleken är evig! Men hon sjunger det bara i tre minuter!" ("Lena Philipsson sings that love is eternal! But she sings it only for three minutes!")

~ Jonas Gardell, Modigt av Kent att sätta punkt

Gardell talks about the trend in pop-culture of today that nothing gets to have an ending. Even the more serious dramas do not get to end, with lesser quality as time goes by. Gardell himself wrote a series of three books called Torka aldrig tårar utan handskar (Never dry tears without gloves) about a group of homosexual men in Sweden during the 1980's when the first outbreak of HIV happened. It is such a wonderfully, sad plot that really touches your heart. (I have long intended to make a post about those books and the three part TV series that goes with it, but it is emotionally exhausting.) Both books and TV-series have had a lot of international success and the US industry thought about doing an American remake of it. However, they changed their minds because they did not know how to make more. Everyone dies!

I think Jonas Gardell has a point in letting something end even though there is a demand for more from the public. I love Phryne Fisher and all the others and I love Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, but I do not want it to turn bad just because of the demand for more. Fiona Eagger says in the article about the future of the show: "The fan base is so passionate. If you've got a successful franchise, why not (make more than one movie)?" which actually served as a warning bell to me. If they should continue the Miss Fisher universe, I think it would be best if they focused mostly on the matter of having a story to tell. And I might be an archaeologist, but I do not want a "female Indiana Jones". I want Phryne! I am for them making films, but they need to do it for the right reasons. Back in May I wrote a post on my Tumblr blog about how amazing it could be if Phryne would go to Sweden. The Nordic countries are often sadly overlooked, not least historically (For example the Tudors pale in comparisson to the contemporary Scandinavian royal dynasties!). We have a lot to offer and Phryne would probably fit in very well. I imagine she would like the Folkhemmet ideal (the open-minded and including part, not the racist and elitist one!), befriend Swedish forensic scientist Harry Söderman. Sweden was actually the country which invented scientific racism as a discipline back in 1922, we also passed a law of compulsory sterilization in 1934 because some people were not considered fit to procreate. I think this would be able to serve as a backdrop for a Phryne plot line. After all, there is a Swedish Murder Mysteries series about these issues. However, I would not want a story because it is a popular franchise. I want it only as long as it is good!

And about the whole prequel: I have a hard time seeing how they can make it canon based on the facts we have been given about Phryne's background in both books and TV shows. To me, Phryne is the way she is because of the war and René Dubois. An 18 year old Phryne would not have had time to reflect on the war which would probably make her rather much of a mess. René would also be lurking around the corner and I just do not see how they could make it work with a teenage Phryne being the same as her fantastic, hedonistic wonderful adult self.

I am sorry that I am so pessimistic towards a continuation of the Phryne Fisher franchise, but I have seen it happen to the Swedish Beck and Wallander franchises and I see it happens to the Harry Potter one at this very moment. Series that were once good, but then became overused and empty, turning fans against them instead.

Death at Victoria Dock - TV vs Book

Phryne Fisher

Death at Victoria Dock is the fourth book and the fourth TV-episode about the Honourable Phryne Fisher. However, the second book, Flying too High was never turned into a TV episode. It is still the fourth episode however, since for some unknown reason the TV version of the book after, The Green Mill Murder, was placed before Death at Victoria Dock in the line up of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries episodes from season 1. Because I could not really compare the book version of latter to the TV version of the former and vice versa, I needed to make a similar switch.

In the book Phryne happens to be witness to the murder of Yorka Rosen while driving past the docks. On TV, however, she hears him being shot outside, while meeting with Mr Waddington. On both occasions, he dies in his arms and also on both occasions, Phryne takes his death pretty hard.

Phryne Fisher

As I said in the entry about the book, I like vulnerable Phryne. It has nothing to do with me not wanting her to be the fabulous, reckless super hero. It just shows a much more complex character, letting her have a tender, vulnerable side to her. It makes her human and I love her even more because of it! I am so glad her feelings towards Yorka's death was left in the TV episode.

This is the book in which we first get to meet Constable Hugh Collins, but in the TV series, we have known him since the beginning. In the book he is Catholic, while his protestant faith clashes a little with Dot's Catholic one on TV. I was also really pleased to see that Hottie was actually canon even in the books. Dot and Hugh are just the sweetest couple ever!

Phryne Fisher

The depiction of the anarchist plotline is actually interesting in the book. We have already from the beginning known that Bert and Cec are communists and that Phryne accepts them just as they are anyway. The Death at Victoria Dock book actually dwells further into the socialistic bracket of the modern political scale and it does it very well. It is far from the Hollywood demonization of it.

Socialism is a very big field with lots of different variations, just like any other political ideology and movement. Some are better and some are worse than others and everyone of them has its benefits and its problems. I do not like to get into politics so much on this blog, but some things need to be clearified because there are a lot of misunderstandings going around about every one of the political ideologies.

In the wake of the US election Swedish media has had some sort of a wake up call and there have been a lot of discussion of the "bullying rhetoric" spreading from there to here. So the last couple of days have been a lot about that and lots of politicians have shown what great friends they are with and/or how much respect they have for politicians on "the other side of the scale". Just because you do not have the same opinion, does not mean you cannot share a friendship and/or respect for one another which both book and TV Phryne shows very well. She builds her own sort of family of people she likes. She never looks down on anyone or judge them for their opinions, their heritage or their personalities.

Phryne Fisher

In the TV episode, there is a lot less talk about different types of socialism in the TV episode, even though Bert and Cec tell Phryne about different variations as they go to the Latvian club and there is some talk about anarchism. It manage to show us that anarchistic methods might not be the best way to handle things (Just like the book do.), but it does not demonize all of socialism like many American films and TV shows tend to do.

There are a few changes to the more domestic plotline in the book where Phryne takes on the case of the missing teenage girl Alicia Waddington-Forsythe (Lila Waddington in the TV episode). Her father has remarried and she does not like her stepmother. When Phryne investigates, she finds Alicia's story is deeply tragic, being sexually abused by her brother who then moves on to get their stepmother pregnant and forced into a mental institution by that stepmother where they try telling her she is crazy for more or less telling the truth.

Jack Robinson

Lila Waddington's story is not as tragic. Her brother has still impregnated their stepmother, but the stepmother then tricks her into thinking she sees tears on her madonna painting and in the end it drives her to the mental hospital where Phryne and Jack come to save her. Her father is also the boss at the docks and there is a strike as Phryne goes to speak with him about the case in the beginning of the episode. Phryne also convinces him to talk to his workers in exchange for her discretion about his family "problems". We also get to know that Jack Robinson was part of the police strike of 1923, which Phryne did not expect.

Yes, Jack is in this episode even though he barely gets a few mentions in the book. Before I talk about him, I think I need to address the response to the blog post I wrote all about him a couple of days ago. I am both overwhelmed and scared about the whole thing. Social media is so strange. I shared the post on Tumblr myself since it is there I have "friends" I normally discuss Miss Fisher with. The fact that it was shared on other social media platforms without my knowledge does in fact frighten me a bit. This blog is my oulet for thoughts and feelings I have about subjects I am nerdy about. Because the entries to this blog are so deeply personal to me, I would like to have at least some sort of control about where it is being shared and what is being said about it. Not least so I can explain uncertainties and/or defend myself against criticism. I am so happy and overwhelmed and humbled by all the positive response to the Jack entry. I love that so many people have read it, but if you like something I have written and want to share it anywhere on the Internet, please use the comment section underneath any entry and tell me that you do so it will not be such a shock that I suddenly have had hundreds of visitors in a day.

"It'd be a tactical error to think you had med pegged just yet, Miss Fisher"

~ Jack Robinson

But, back to Jack. As said above, he only gets a few mentions in the book and keeps himself a little more in the background in the TV episode as well. Because of the switch in order between Death and Victoria Dock and The Green Mill Murder, it is a little hard to tell all of Jack's character in this entry without giving too much away from that episode. Jack still tries to remain firm about not letting Phryne in on the investigations (and she shamelessly uses Hugh to still be able to medle), but you also see him softening towards her. When she gets shot at, he seems really worried for her safety. The Green Mill Murder and this episode are also when I first started to realise that there was more to Jack than what he first appears to be. Over the course of the series, he is much like a chiffonier where Phryne and the viewers continuously find hidden compartments, not seldom where they least expect it.

Death at Victoria Dock was actually one of my least favourite episodes, but rewatching it now, after having read the book, I saw it in a rather different light. From time to time the plots of the episodes in the TV series can feel a bit forced together (probably to make Phryne only investigate one case instead of many like in the books), but this one flows better. The two cases (Lila Waddington and the anarchists) are still kept apart, but held together through Lila's father at the docks where Phryne more or less picks up both cases. It only shows that ones opinions might change based on circumstances and that Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is a series one must watch more than once.

Phryne Fisher and Jack Robinson

Detective Inspector Jack Robinson

"You might as well call me Jack. Everyone else does."

~ Jack Robinson, Murder on the Ballarat Train, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Vemod is a Swedish word that is not exactly easy to translate into English. It can best be described as an underlying, longing sadness. A sadness that is actually rather positive how strangely as that sounds. The concept might not have an equivalent in English, but I still think it summarize the character of Detective Inspector Jack Robinson perfectly.

I have talked a little about Jack in most of my previous entries about Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and the Phryne Fisher books. However, I have long felt a need to give him an entry totally on his own.

To this date I have only read four of Kerry Greenwood's books about Phryne Fisher and even though I enjoy the books just fine, I really miss the Jack of the TV series while reading. In the latest one, Death at Victoria Dock he only gets a few mentions and, unlike in the TV series, has remained pretty much in the background in the other three as well.

From Murder on the Ballarat train

There are also som major differences between the TV and book characters as well. Book-Jack is happily married with children and has much easier time accepting Phryne's meddling in police work from the very beginning. TV-Jack is far more reserved and at first thinks Phryne is a stupid socialite in need of a hobby. However, as they continue to meet at different crime scenes, he starts to respect her more. This is as far as I will take the comparison between the two. This entry will henceforth be entirely about TV-Jack because he was the one I fell in love with in the first place.

"I see a very careful man, who professes to be cynical in the face of mysteries he can't explain, and claims to have no passion in spite of a heart that runs as deep as the Pacific Ocean"

~ Phryne Fisher, Death Comes Knocking, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

Jack is a very private man. Therefore we do not know much about his personal life or his background and we have never visited his home.The little we do know is that he was married to the Deputy Commisioner's daughter Rosie, but that their marriage got destroyed by his participation in the First World War and he tells Phryne that Rosie has been living with her sister for "quite some time". They get a divorce at the end of season one.
There is a lot to say about Rosie and Jack's relationship to the other women in his life, Concetta and last, but certainly not least Phryne. However I have noticed a tendency in the fandom on the internet to view Jack only through those relationships (Especially the one he has to Phryne.) and I do not think that is entirely fair to the character. Because of this, I will focus on him in this entry and only briefly go into his relationships.

"It'd be a tactical error to think you had me pegged just yet, Miss Fisher"

~ Jack Robinson, Death at Victoria Dock, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

From Murder and the Maiden

In June this year, I wrote an entry in which I discussed the similarities between Phryne and the girls Astrid Lindgren (She would have turned 109 yesterday, 14th of November, by the way.) wrote about. The Astrid Lindgren parallel actually fits very well for Jack as well. He is more or less like a typical "Astrid boy". He is somewhat lonely, introverted and brooding and like them he needs to show himself worthy of the super hero title Phryne (and the "Astrid girls") have from the very beginning. The series is also extremely good at not showing all of him at once. This might be because the show is so focused on Phryne (Which it should be. It is her show!) and we get to know the other characters through her.

At first I thought he would be like so many male detectives in murder mystery franchises. Aloof and haughty and having trouble with their bosses and their women and using violence as a mean to enhance their position. But Jack is not at all like that. I actually appreciate how the series depicts him. He deals with his experiences both from his life as a policeman and from the war in a way that is quite unusual in pop-culture of today. Especially for a male character. He desperately wants to hide his emotions, but they more or less run straight off of him anyway. Nathan Page is also extremely good at showing them without saying a word. You see it in his face, usually in less than a second so you miss it if you blink. (Essie Davis, who plays Phryne, is just as good at this.)

From Dead Air

While Phryne is the super hero, Jack is totally human. He really feels compassion for both the victims and the criminals, not least shown through his special relationship with Elsie Tizzard that is revealed in Blood and Circuses. His way of dealing with violence is similarly refreshing. He does not, like for example the character Gunvald Larsson from the Swedish police film series Beck, do it to enhance his position at all. He limits it to when it is inevitable to use it to save himself or someone else and even then he seems to be unwilling to use it to kill someone.

From what I have gathered from fan discussions and fanfictions on the Internet, Jack is generally understood as "broken", but I do not really see that. I think he might have been broken when he got back to Australia after the war. He says the war changed him and he probably has suffered depression and/or PTSD. However, he is not broken when we meet him and this is actually where I think the vemod comes in because there really is a sad longing to him which is positive in nature and makes him a rather unique character. He is definitely the best depiction of how someone who has gone through a depression really is. There will always be a sadness left, but that sadness is not exactly negative and does not prevent you from having fun. I know. I have suffered from depression myself. Besides, the word vemod itself is poetic and beautiful. Just like Jack!

Jack and Phryne

Kerry Greenwood - Death at Victoria Dock

The fourth book about lady detective Phryne Fisher is called Death at Victoria dock. In this one Phryne first gets involved in a shooting as she is passing through the dock late one evening. A couple of anarchists have shot a young one of their own and he dies in Phryne's arms. Her other case is a domestic one as usual. The books start to feel a little formulaic to be honest. This one is also with a young girl who has been abused sexualy. Anyway Phryne is also hired to find Alicia Waddington-Forsythe who has gone missing. In this case Phryne gets help from her adopted daughters Jane and Ruth who go to the same school as Alicia.

There are sadly just a few mentions of Jack Robinson in this book, but we get introduced to Constaple Hugh Collins and Dot already from the start takes a fancy to him.

'That nice young constable is coming at eleven, Miss, and I thought you'd prefer rolls and marmalade today.' 
'Phryne thought she detected a blush on her maid's cheek, but it might have been the sun. (---)
'What is his name Dot? The constable, I mean.'
'Hugh, Miss... I mean Constable Collins Miss.'
It definitely was a blush, no doubt of it.

~ Kerry Greenwood, Death at Victoria Dock

Like I said in the entry about comparison between the TV episode and the book of Murder on the Ballarat Train I am a huge fan of Hottie. They both are so unbelieveably sweet together in the TV series and, unlike Phrack, this seems to be pretty much comes straight from the book.

Since this is one of my least favourite episodes of the TV series, I did not really expect to get into it so much as I did. I enjoyed Phryne showing a more vunerable side of herself. She seems really humble in the face of death this time and I cannot help loving her even more than I did before because of it. I know a lot of people want her to be totally unapologetic and do whatever she wants, but to me a really strong character is one who still can be humble, emotional and admit that she is wrong and apologise if she hurts someone. In light of recent event I think showing compassion is more important than ever. It is not that she hasn't shown compassion before, but she has never been so emotional. Getting shot at while driving seems to have really shocked her and I like it that she can be, but how she does not let it scare her off. It just adds to her strengths. It makes her human!

I must be going mad, she chided herself. I've seen lots of dead men. And I do not smell of blood. It is washed off me and I am wearing different clothes.

~ Kerry Greenwood, Death at Victoria Dock

As a Swede I couldn't help but smile at the telling of the colonial interest Sweden has had in Latvia, a part of history most Swedes do not know anything about at all. Yes, Sweden did have colonies as well. We were actually the big super power in Europe during the 17th century, but we mostly focused on colonising our neighbours.

 The second image was borrowed from here.

Disney - Zootopia

I recently watched Disney's animated film Zootopia and I can seriously not understand why it has not got more publicity, not least over here in Sweden. The film is seriously very good and extremely thoughtprovoking. It is an interesting take on "multiculturalism" and go against "racist" stereotypes.

The film centers around Judy Hopps who becomes Zootopia's first rabbit cop. Zootopia is a city where all types of animals (predators and pray) live in harmony. Or should I say, pretend to live in harmony... On a closer look, however, things are not as harmonious as they first appears. Predators are kidnapped all over the city and Judy teams up with the nice, somewhat criminal fox Nick Wilde to solve the case. They both also need to face the prejudices others have about their spieces and the villain might just be a wolf in sheep clothing...

The theme of the film is a really interesting and fits extremely well into the politics of today. Not least questions about biological differences in spieces that are living together. It is all about fighting racism and living together in peace even though you are very different. It is also about how outcast "people" might be made prejudice just because they feel left out and powerless. The film also shows that it is a choice how we deal with this powerlessness.

I really wonder why it has not got any more publicity and I think the reason is the over-exposure of Frozen, which the film actually jokes about quite a bit. I like Frozen just fine, but this film deserves to be acknowledged and praised, not least because it deals with topics that we really need to discuss more. This is why I can overlook the (too common) use of Stone Age as something savage.


Image borrowed from here.