Course Syllabus

 

Danish Language and Culture Through Film and TV Series

Semester & Location:	Spring 2026 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Major disciplines: Anthropology, Language, Media Studies Related Disciplines: History, Sociologi
Prerequisite(s):	None
Faculty Members:	Anne Vibeke Gross - Please use the Canvas Inbox
Time & Place:	Mondays & Thursdays, 11:40-13:00

 

Course Description

This course introduces students to Danish culture through the study of film, TV series, and selected texts while living and studying in Denmark. The course also develops students’ ability to understand and communicate in spoken Danish.

Through critically engaging with Danish cinema and television, students will explore central themes in Danish history, identity, society, humor, and everyday life. The course will examine the stylistic traits, recurring themes, and production methods that characterize Danish media, including the influence of state-supported broadcasting and the international impact of Danish storytelling traditions.

In Danish language communication, the emphasis is on spoken everyday Danish, reading and listening comprehension, and basic grammar which allows you to interact in basic ways with your local surroundings. The functional approach is evident both in classroom interactions, hands-on exercises, and experiential learning through field studies around Copenhagen and environs.

 

Learning Objectives  

• Acquire knowledge and understanding of Danish culture and society through the lens of films and tv series
• Ability to speak, read, and understand Danish on a basic level
• Gain an understanding of connections between language and culture
• Enhance intercultural awareness and critical reflection
• Develop a sense of belonging

 

Faculty

Anne Vibeke Gross, M.A. in Russian Language and Culture and Danish Language and Literature from University of Copenhagen (2006). Lecturer at Sisimiut Gymnasium (2014) and Copenhagen Adult Educational Center (KVUC) (2014-2015) and teacher of Danish Language and Culture to Foreigners (2015) at Language Center Nordsjælland. Lecturer of Danish Film History at Workers' Educational Association (AOF) (2014-) and at Nordisk Film (2015-). Teaches Danish Language and Culture at DIS and Danish Language and Culture through Film and TV Series at DIS. With DIS since 2016.

Contact: Please use the Canvas Inbox

Office Hours will be scheduled with students individually.

Film & TV Series

• Films:

  • En kongelig affære / A Royal Affair (Nikolaj Arcel, 2012, 137 min)
  • Flammen og Citronen / Flame and Citron (Ole Christian Madsen, 2008, 130 min)
  • H.C. Andersen og den skæve skygge / H.C. Andersens' The Long Shadow, 78 min)
  • Marie Krøyer (Bille August, 2012, 103 min)
  • Festen / The Celebration (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998, 101 min)
  • Druk /Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg, 2020, 117 min)

   

  TV Series:

  • 1864 (Ole Bornedal, 2014, ca 60 min)
  • Matador/Monopoly (Erik Balling/ Lise Nørgaard, 1978-82,  ca 75 min)
  • Krøniken/Better Times (Charlotte Sieling etc./Stig Thorsboe&Hanna Lundblad, 2004-07, ca 60 min )
  • Borgen (Adam Price, 2010-2022, ca 60 min)
  • Lykke Per / A Fortunate Man (Bille August, 2019, 56 min)
  • Riget / The Kingdom (Lars von Trier, 1994, 64 min)
  • Klovn / Klown (Casper Christensen & Frank Hvam, 2005-2025,  3 x ca 25 min)
  • Familier som vores /Families Like Ours (Thomas Vinterberg, 2023, ca 50 min)

Readings

Book for Language:

• Danish at DIS: A Sense of Belonging

Texts about History and Society:

• Knud J. V. Jespersen: “The Enlightenment” in Knud J.V. Jespersen: “A History of Denmark” (Palgrave Macmillan 2011) p. 108-112
• Bo Lidegaard: “Prologue 1849-1901” in Bo Lidegaard “A Short History of Denmark in the 20^th Century” (Gyldendal 2009) p. 15-27 + 32-47
• Bo Lidegaard: “The Rescue” + “Keeping it running” in: Bo Lidegaard: “A Short History of Denmark in the 20^th Century” (Gyldendal 2009) p. 171-182
• Inger Stokkink: "The Rules of the Game" (Yourdanishlife.dk 2. November 2022)
• Read Knud J. V. Jespersen: “The Danish Model of the Welfare State in” A History of Denmark” 76-82 (Palgrave Macmillan 2004)

Texts and videos about Culture and Identity:

• Aksel Sandemose: “Janteloven” / The Jante Law (1933)
• Hans Christian Andersen: “The Ugly Duckling” (1843) in: “Andersen´s Fairy Tales” (Wordsworth Classics 1993) p. 386-394
• Henrik Pontoppidan: ”Eagle´s Flight” (1894)
• Niels Ingwersen: “The Modern Breakthrough” in “A History of Danish Literature” (University of Nebraska Press , Lincoln & London and The American-Scandinavian Foundation 1992) p. 261-272 + 280-283
• Kasper Monrad and Peter Michael Hornung: “The Modern Breakthrough in Danish Painting 1870-1890 – Part 1 - (Golden Days in Copenhagen 2002) p. 1-20
• Patricia M. Berman: “Skagen and the Modern Breakthrough” in “In another Light – Danish Painting in the Nineteenth Century” ( (The Vendome Press 2007) p.133-165
• P S Krøyer - What a Life (documentary film by Anna von Lowsow, 2008, ca 60 min)
• Xiaodong Yu, Feng Jiang, Su Lu and Neelam Hiranandani: “To Be or Not to Be Humorous? Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Humor” (Frontiers in Psychology 2016)
• Lita Lundquist: “Danish humor in cross-cultural professional settings: linguistic and social aspects” (in : Humor – International Journal of Humor Research February 2014) p. 154-161
• Gert Tinggaard Svendsen: ”Trust” (Århus University 2014)
• ”Søren Kierkegaard - The Concept of Anxiety Summary” (Youtube video from Free Indeed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBZdhWRrj_w )

Texts and videos about Films and TV series:

• Erik Hedling: The Battle of Dybbøl Revisited: the Danish Press Reception of the TV-series 1864” (in: Kosmorama, November 2015)
• Eva Novrup Redvall “Writing and Producing Television Drama in Denmark – From the Kingdom to The Killing” (Palgrave Macmillan 2013) p. 37-48 + 66-74 + 109-112

• Peter Schepelern: The last Tycoon – Erik Balling and the survival of Nordisk (in: Lisbeth Richter Larsen & Dan Nissen (ed.): “100 years of Nordisk Film”, Danish Film Institute 2006)

• Casper Tybjerg – Danish Cinema 1930–2000 (Storia del cinema mondiale: 3 (Grandi opere) 2001) s. 70-83
• Peter Schepelern – “Film according to Dogme” (2008) + “Looking back on Dogme”
• Louise Brix Jacobsen: Hello, my name is Frank Hvam – Autofictional humor in the Danish TV series Klovn (in: p.o.v. No 26, Aahus University – Humor in Film and TV, 2008)
• Danske Filmstemmer – Thomas Vinterberg om ”Druk” (Youtube video from Danish Film Institute 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evT1Sm2Idv8 )
• “Families Like Ours’ Director Thomas Vinterberg on his Apocalyptic Series: “I Started Thinking, What Would Happen if we Became The Refugees?” (by Damon Wise, Deadline, 08 2024)

 

Grading

Assignment	Percent
Engaged Participation	30%
Cultural Assignments (1+2)	35%
Online Worksheets*	10%
Oral Exam	25 %
Total	100 %

*Online Worksheets are part of the final grading and can be accessed in the "Danish at DIS" Canvas course. Please see Guidelines and assessment criteria for worksheets.

Field Studies

Excursions, walking tours, guest lectures or film watching related to Danish Films or TV-serials.

 

Approach to Teaching

The ambition is to create a classroom culture in which everyone feels at ease trying to pronounce the unfamiliar Danish sounds and words.

The teaching will include professor's lectures for inspiration and clearing up questions. But it is also interactive. You are expected to actively participate in exercises and class discussions, to have done the readings and other homework, and come to class with notes, questions and relevant observations.

More over group work and student presentations will also be part of the learning process. You are expected to be as attentive to presentations by other students as by the professor.

Laptops or phones are only accepted in class as tools for the teaching process (many texts are to be found on Canvas and you may like to have them in front of you, when we talk about them).

DIS Accommodations Statement 

Your learning experience in this class is important to me.  If you have approved academic accommodations with DIS, please make sure I receive your DIS accommodations letter within two weeks from the start of classes. If you can think of other ways I can support your learning, please don't hesitate to talk to me. If you have any further questions about your academic accommodations, contact Academic Support academicsupport@dis.dk

 

Expectations of the Students

Engaged participation is an integrated part of class and will be a large part of the course evaluation. Participating in class discussion requires a high level of preparation and a voluntary contribution of knowledge and ideas. In addition, when speaking Danish or discussing the connection between language and culture it is important to meet the level of preparation required to be an active participant.

Learning a language is hard work and requires a lot of commitment.

 

Evaluation

It is expected that you make your homework for each lecture including studying language material, making the worksheets and small experiental exercises for language and reading the texts and answering the questions in the reading guides for the cultural themes and the questions for discussion in class.

In most cases we will not go through the questions in the reading guides, but you will need your answers for understanding and being able to participate activily in discussions. Furthermore you will also need them for the cultural quiz at the end of the semester. And some of them would also be helpful, when you make the two Cultural Assignments.

Do notice that engagement in group and pair works will also be noticed.

But of course most important is your general activity and engagement in discussions in class, where the combination of knowledge, reflections, personal engagement and ability to express yourself is the ideal.

Notice that the more free exercises, where you can do more or less, often gives you the best possibility to show your engagement - and that bigger efforts are valued!

 

Academic Regulations 

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 

 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org