The Bridge: Media Language Flashcards
Narrative
- This is usually based on a crime that needs to be investigated and solved.
Structure
- In the Bridge, there are elements of a flexi-narrative.
- The characters are complex, storylines interweave, and the audience is challenged through enigma and engagement with complex characters.
- Narrative disruptions occur that change the course of the story, these can be events that happen or revelations that are made by characters.
- Sometimes, the audience are in a privileged spectator position whereby they know more than the characters within the story world.
Binary Oppositions
(Structuralism: Levi-Strass)
- Binary oppositions function as a narrative element including:
Good vs Evil
Police vs Criminal - As well as, in the case of The Bridge, the cultural differences:
Sweden vs Denmark
Saga vs Hanne
The nuclar vs the non-nuclear family
Illusion vs reality. - The resolution of some of these binary oppositions may have an ideological signifigance, for example evil being punished and justice prevailing in a crime drama.
Plot
Genres of ‘The Bridge’
Noirdic Noir, crime drama
Crime sub-genre of ‘The Bridge’
Cop show (police procedural)
According to Glenn Creeber (2015), these are the defining conventions of Noirdic Noir
- Multi-layered storylines, slow and melancholic pace, dimly-lit aesthetic, interest in uncovering dark underbelly of contemporary life.
Typical settings in Noirdic Noir works
- Cold
- Gloomy
Typical mood of Noirdic Noirs
- Dark
- Morally complex
Type of language typically associated with Nordic Noirs
- Plain
- Deliberately avoiding metaphor.
Type of character frequently featured in Nordic Noirs
Challenges
Female protagonist
Typical issues in Scandinavia
Immigration, drugs, asylum seekers and economic crimes
Far-Right
- This political branch saw an increase in ideas since Scandinavian reccession.
Recurring situations in the series
Supports
- Crimes, investigations, violence/death, interviews with suspects, examining CCTV/ photos for sus pect identification, tense standoffs.
Elements of narrative in the series
Supports
- Investigations, solving crime, romance, enigma codes in the form of a ‘whodunit?’ and ‘why the crime scene has been so meticulously staged?’, driven by binary opposities.
Colour scheme used throughout the series
Supports
De-saturated
Iconography of the series
Supports
Oresund Bridge, Police unifomrs, guns, police cars (falshing lights, PCs/ Laptops/ Moblie phones, evidence bags, handcuffs, investigative jargon.
Settings in the series
Supports
Police station, crime scene, Nordic landscape, the bridge joining two cities/countries, incident rooms, prison, interview room, lab, bleak mountainous landscapes. leafless trees.
Stock Characters
Scandinavian Sherlock
Supports
- The Bridge clearly follows the codes and conventions of a Nordic Noir crime drama.
- Plain clothed detectives (with personal issues), unlikely partnership, anti social genius, strict police chief, and so on.
The Serial and Linear narrative
Supports
the nature of the series as a continous case, each episode merely representing a chapter in the larger story which is typical of modern crime dramas.
Style of The Bridge
Supports
Chiaroscuro lighting, closed frames signifying entrapment, eerie choral soundtrack, emphasis on windows and reflections.
Themes of The Bridge
Supports
Guilt, justice, conscience, crime, punishment, moral dilemmas and so on.
Restricted nature
Supports
The restricted nature of the narrative allows the audience to uncover the truth via the clues along with the main protagonists of the drama. The audience also has limited knowledge initially of Saga’s background or about what troubles Henrik.
Lead Characters and personal issues
- These characters are plagued with guilt or issues which affect their judgement and therefore make for not only more interesting and nuanced characters but unpredictable situations/scenarios.
Cross cultural clash
The clash between police forces of two different nations, offers a new look at well worn conventions.
Ambiguity
The ambiguous nature of not only the characters (like Saga Noren - who is an enigan to not only her collegues but to us, the viewer too) but the location too - tyhe Bridge spanning both countries is almost another character and other-worldly at that - not belonging to either country but existing n a form of spatial limbo.
Close-up shots
- Close-ups advance the relationships between
characters and establish tension and a dynamic. - This is evident in the conversation between Sagaand the other characters. Often the close-ups show the profile of the character or are in
silhouette, the opening introduction to Saga in the lift combines both to construct her enigmatic character.
Tracking Shots
Tracking shots are used to introduce both Saga and Hanne, constructing both as powerful women with a job to do and are also used to involve the audience as part of the investigative process as they follow the characters.
Establishing shots
- Establishing shots are quick ways of
communicating information, the bridge is used regularly to indicate changes of setting between Sweden and Denmark and bird’s eye view city shots are used similarly. - These shots also serve to create a sense of cultural verisimilitude establishing a real city in which the characters function, so reinforcing their believability.
Post-production
The post-production editing creates a desaturated colour palette which contributes to the dark, melancholic feel of the programme.
Camera shots through windows
- The film noir technique of shooting through windows, or behind obstacles is used, positioning the audience as looking in on the scene or the lives of the characters as an outsider.
- The sense of entrapment created by this filming in some cases suggests their isolation or that they have something to hide. For example, the audience often views Saga from behind glass or another barrier and Henrik and his children are first viewed through the window.
Music:
- The haunting track used for the credit
sequence foreshadows the slow pace of the programme and creates expectations of the style of programme to follow. - The tense music at the start of the episode has intertextual references to the horror genre building audience expectation of the macabre scene that unfolds
Diegetic sound:
- The clicking of the crime scene investigator’s cameras at the start establishes generic realism.
- The sound of the cans at Morten’s cabin is both unsettling and on the second visit, an action code for the explosion to follow which is then followed by a disconcerting silence.
Dialogue
- Saga’s clipped, at times forced, dialogue contributes to her idiosyncratic character.
- She is very literal in her understanding and her responses are refreshingly honest. When the owner of the site where the victim is thought to have been murdered asks her ‘Could you hurry up a bit?’, she replies ‘No’.
- The conversations between the detectives and Helle Anker’s wife create a back story and possible motives for her murder.
- Saga’s mother’s reference to ‘your crime’ in relation to Saga creates an enigma at the end of the first episode and provides some insight into Saga’s past, this is particularly intriguing as Saga has stated earlier in the episode, ‘I don’t like my mum’.
