Performing Northern Places and Identities in Children’s Still-Picture Animation Films
Performing Northern Places and Identities in Children’s Still-Picture Animation Films

Summary/Abstract: This article concentrates on four still-picture animation films aimed at children, Rune Box, On the Pike’s Shoulders, Päiviö’s Feast, and The Feather Gown, all of which were presented on YLE, the national Finnish television channel, between 1990 and 2010. These animation films aim to preserve and reshape the Finnish cultural heritage, its myths and tales examining questions of life and death, the north, nature, and the relationships between animals and humans. By close-reading the animations, the article illustrates how the animations shape cultural memory, the concepts of place, and questions of identity. The analysis reveals the utilisation of northern images and beliefs in children’s fiction. It also highlights the kind of visual and cultural elements that are in contemporary children’s media representations associated with the north. In the article we postulate, first, that, in these animations, place is constructed via a network of practical, local, historically shifting interaction, which also features, in addition to practical considerations, an ethical consideration of place and nature. Second, we argue, that the dominant media helps to construct a global, homogenous children’s culture, represented, for instance, in Disney animations. The animations that we examine in our article, however, belong to a culturally and geographically specific place and make full use of the imagery, themes, and language of the local tradition. Our third point is, that the experience of watching still-picture animations produces cultural memory (cf. Sturken & Cartwright 2009), which is passed from one generation to the next and which enables the construction of a locally rooted identity. The article draws on post-structuralist theories of identity, representation, and place, as well as debates in media studies.

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