Books in French are on www.livres-cinema.info
The Politics of Nordsploitation
History, Industry, Audiences
Edited by Tommy Gustafsson and Pietari Kääpä
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
The Politics of Nordsploitation takes a transnational approach to exploring Nordic 'exploitation' films in their industrial contexts, viewing them as not only political manifestations of domestic considerations but also to position Nordic film cultures in a global context. Incorporating a wide range of films, from international cult classics like They Call Her One Eye (1974), homegrown martial arts films like The Ninja Mission (1984) to contemporary crowd-sourced fan productions like Iron Sky (2012), this volume examines the remarkable diversity of genre-based, commercially and culturally exploitative film production throughout the Nordic countries – emphasized here through the term 'Nordsploitation'.
This volume provides a historical exposition of largely ignored marginal films and film cultural patterns. It also outlines how influential these films have been in shaping the development of Nordic cinema. The effects are visible in the films of the new millennium as previously marginalized practices now enter the mainstream. With sharp insights and new research, The Politics of Nordsploitation redefines the concept of 'exploitation' and its role in small nation cinemas.
About the authors:
Pietari Kääpä is Associate Professor in Media and Communications at University of Warwick, UK. His work combines ecocritical analysis with media industry and policy studies. His books include Ecology and Contemporary Nordic Cinema (2014) and the anthology Transnational Ecocinema: Film Culture in an Age of Environmental Depravation (2013), co-edited with Tommy Gustafsson. He is an editor of Journal of Scandinavian Cinema.Tommy Gustafsson is Professor of Film Studies at Linnaeus University, Sweden. He has published six books, edited three special journal issues as well as some 30 peer-reviewed articles. His work is mainly concentrated on film and television history, both international and Nordic.
Press Reviews:
"This is an accessible book for a wide range of readers (including undergraduate students) interested in film and cultural studies, and its commentary on the intricacies of moral politics in Nordic countries is definitely a contribution beyond exploitation or Nordic film studies." ―Scandinavian Studies
"This book fills a clear gap in the scholarship, and does so very well. The Politics of Nordsploitation: History, Industry, Audiences examines exploitation in a Nordic context, arguing that, because of local societal, political, and economic norms, the exploitation cinema of these countries 'both shares and challenges normative modes of exploitation....' The primary difference has to do with cultural attitudes toward sex, which is viewed as relatively unproblematic in Scandinavia, versus violence, which has been rigorously censored, and this volume consequently excludes sexploitation while focusing on violence and gore as the primary subject of censorship debates in the Nordic region. Distinguishing between two principle modes, local genre production and global exploitation, the book covers a wide range of films and topics, from Mats Helge Olsson's 'Entertainment Violence Factory' of the 1980s to Nordic Nazisploitation, from the Norwegian slasher cycle to transnational genre films, to an era of 'fanchising' and crowdfunding that produced hits such as Iron Sky. The Politics of Nordsploitation is therefore an essential volume for Bloomsbury's Global Exploitation Cinemas series." ―Linda Badley, Professor of English and Film Studies at Middle Tennessee State University, USA, and author of Film, Horror, and the Body Fantastic (1995) and Lars von Trier (2010
See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic
> From the same authors:
Documentary in the Age of COVID (2023)
Dir. Dafydd Sills-Jones and Pietari Kääpä
Subject: Genre > Documentary
Documentary in Finland (2023)
History, Practice and Policy
Film and Television Production in the Age of Climate Crisis (2022)
Towards a Greener Screen
Dir. Pietari Kääpä and Hunter Vaughan
Subject: General
Nordic Genre Film (2015)
Small Nation Film Cultures in the Global Marketplace
Dir. Tommy Gustafsson and Pietari Kääpä
Masculinity in the Golden Age of Swedish Cinema (2014)
A Cultural Analysis of 1920s Films
Transnational Ecocinema (2013)
Film Culture in an Era of Ecological Transformation
Dir. Tommy Gustafsson and Pietari Kääpä
Subject: On Films > Film selections
World Film Locations / Helsinki (2013)
Dir. Pietari Kääpä and Silja Laine
The Cinema of Mika Kaurismäki (2011)
Transvergent Cinescapes, Emergent Identities
Subject: Director > Aki Kaurismäki
> On a related topic:
Light in the Dark (2025)
A History of Filmmaking in Iceland
Menacing Environments (2023)
Ecohorror in Contemporary Nordic Cinema
Beyond Eastern Noir (2018)
Reimagining Russia and Eastern Europe in Nordic Cinemas
Transnational Cinema in a Global North (2005)
Nordic Cinema in Transition
Dir. Andrew Nestingen and Trevor Elkington
Nordic National Cinemas (1998)
Dir. Gunnar Iverson, Astrid Soderbergh Widding and Tytti Soila
Perverse Titillation (2011)
The Exploitation Cinema of Italy, Spain and France, 1960–1980
by Danny Shipka
Back
