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Until recently, Norway was not associated with a place where famous TV productions are made. This changed in September 2015, when the series SKAM premiered. The phenomenon of its popularity was even given a special name: the skam effect.
Complicated fate of Norwegian teenagers
The SKAM series (Norwegian: shame) was produced by the Norwegian public television NRK. It shows the life of high school students from Hartvig Nissen school in Oslo, their relationships and everyday problems. Each of the four seasons tells a story from the perspective of a different character, while touching on different issues.
In the first season, we get to know Eva and the story of her difficult relationship with Jonas. For this relationship, Eva sacrifices a long friendship; there is also a theme of loneliness, self-acceptance and betrayal.
In the second installment of the series, Noora is the main character, and the action revolves around her weakening relationship with her parents and her relationship with the most popular boy at school: William. Against this background, the problem of violence and rape as well as eating disorders is discussed.
The third season tells the story of Isak who discovers and barely accepts his homosexual orientation. The main theme of the season is Isak’s relationship with Evan, but the subject of mental illness also plays an important role (Evan suffers from bipolar disorder).
Attitudes to religion and morality are the leading issues in season four. Its main character is Sana, who tries to find herself in her two identities: Norwegian and Muslim.
Original production and promotion
SKAM broke viewership records in Norway and abroad. The series has also had many remakes, produced in France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Spain and the USA. This stunning success is admirable because it was a rather low-cost and originally quite niche production. The creators managed to attract viewers and maintain their interest for 4 seasons. And this despite the fact that the series premiere was not preceded by any promotional campaign!
This was due to the series ‘engaging formula – viewers could follow the characters’ lives in real time. For this purpose, fictitious character profiles were created on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Throughout the week, snippets of the episode appeared on NRK television and on social media, just as they chronologically “happened” in the story being told. The viewers could learn about the development of the action “on an ongoing basis”, additionally observing the heroes on social media. Then the entire episode was airing at the end of the week.
Thanks to this, the heroes became close to the viewers, and the anticipation of the episode became very exciting. The Norwegians still remember how exciting the week was when everyone waited for William’s response to Noora’s news at the most turbulent moment in their relationship!
SKAM effect
Since the premiere of the series, you can observe the so-called SKAM effect (nor: skam-effekt). This is a definition of the significant impact this series has had on its viewers. SKAM deals with important and controversial topics, but without strenuous morals. Such presentation of problems without imposing an interpretation facilitated the reception and allowed for a better understanding of the seriousness of the topic. The popularity of the series also among non-teen age groups helped to better understand what young people struggle with on a daily basis and how they deal with it.
Moreover, SKAM significantly influenced the interest in Norwegian culture and language. Many viewers, influenced by this series, started their adventure with the Norwegian language, which we can also see in Zoozanko 🙂 Indeed, SKAM is great for developing the knowledge of the Viking language, which we already wrote about in the entry about Norwegian series. After all, after watching a few episodes, you can easily recite all the days of the week in Norwegian!
“Norwegian” in the series
While watching SKAM we come across many elements typical of Norwegian culture. We will meet russetid, the high-school graduation celebration, and the national holiday on May 17. We will visit typical Norwegian holiday homes called hytter. We will also hear Norwegian dialects and youth slang (including ass , NKVO , hall etc), and lots of great Norwegian music.
The independence of young heroes who live alone and make important decisions without the help of adults is also interesting and characteristic of Norwegian culture. Norwegian children and young people are given a lot of freedom from their parents. They are expected to be independent from an early age.
Have you already watched SKAM? Do you have your favorite heroes? Or maybe you also became interested in the Norwegian language after watching this series?
