ABSTRACT
The high numbers of war, political and LGBTIQ+ refugees and asylum seekers coming to Sweden has stirred heated debates, most of which take place in various kinds of national media. The debate has also been adapted by the international press, much of which have tried aggressively and provocatively to prove how immigration and assimilation in Sweden has failed and is out of control. Immigration has also become a national political matter clearly dividing the political parties and their voters, with the ‘leftist’ parties (still) keeping a more inclusive and humane approach and the Swedish Democrats party keeping an openly xenophobic (and homophobic) position. While Sweden has been one of the most generous nations in Europe (next to Germany) in terms of welcoming refugees, the neighbouring Nordic countries have maintained a far more restricted immigration policy and have often used the Swedish ‘failure’ as an indication of how justified their own restriction is. (The 2017 terror attack in the centre of Stockholm, carried out by a single man who a few months prior had been expelled from Sweden, has only fuelled this righteousness.) The precarious situation is now being increasingly referred to in various fiction and non-fiction films and television series through the inclusion of refugee or immigrant characters. These images serve to visualise how Sweden is transforming itself from an ethnically homogenous to ethnically heterogenous society, while also giving immigration a human face.
This chapter will focus on the representation of the queer refugee or immigrant in recent Swedish film and television productions, analysing her/his role within the overall narrative (and its representation of contemporary Sweden) and discussing the possible meanings such representation may hold in diversifying the current debate on immigration. Works focused on include Bron/The Bridge, season 4 (Swedish National Television together with Danmarks Radio, 2018), Innan vi dör/Before We Die (Swedish National Television, 2017), and Midnattssol/Midnight Sun (Swedish National Television, 2016).
