| Abstract | In this project , people who watched The Bridge (Season 1-3) in the U.K. were interviewed. The Killing (2007) has become a successful drama in the U.K. on BBC (Frost 2011). The most of fans of The Bridge I met at fan events were fans of ‘The Killing’ (Denmark) and Wallander (Sweden). Nordicana (London 2014, 2015) which were promotional events by Arrow Film, provides opportunities fans to meet actors and actresses from Nordic dramas and to screen new dramas from Scandinavia.
The Bridge fans in the UK. who are middle class, over 50’s -70’s showed multi-layered engagements with the programme. Through the interview at their homes, they also had such as cushions of ‘detective Lund’ or wore ‘Lund Jumper’. When audiences discussed ‘The Bridge’, they often refer or compare the drama with the Killing. Some of them even want to become ‘Media pilgrims’ (Couldry 2003) by visiting the actual locations of ‘The Killing’, or meeting with actresses and actors at the events in London. The patterns of their fandom can be rather a classic way from Jenkins’s view (2013) where today’s fans make their own youtube videos or blogs. Watching BBC2’s foreign quality dramas which are highly complex storyline with subtitles on Saturday night slot gives them cultural capital (Bourdieu 1979). In a way, they were pushed to read alternative sources such as reviews on the Guardians’ website to reassure their understanding of the storylines and discuss what is going on in the Killing as Jenkins et al’s (2013)’ new fans do. Since the Killing, they have developed their skills in the digital format. One self-employed in his 60’s used to find information on a weekly programme magazine Radio Times, but now he is following Nordic drama facebook. Another group of retired women joined the discussions over Guardian’s reviews when the Killing (Denmark) was on, and now they migrated themselves to another fan based facebook page. Another lady who recently became a fan of Nordic dramas reads those reviews and print them out in order to make notes in her scrap book. In tis article, I would focus on these older generation’s fandom and media engagement. But they always seek for face to face communication amongst fans. The retired lady’s group has gathered a few times a year and search for ‘Scandinavian’ restaurants in London which can be the similar habitus in the old study (Jenkins 1992). In the age of new and old media (Jenkins 2006), the older fans’ ‘habitus’ are becoming more dynamic between analogue and digital. |
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