ON SOME TRENDS IN THE SATIRICAL LITERATURE AND CINEMATOGRAPHY OF SWEDEN AT THE END OF THE 20TH — BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY (C.-J. VALLGREN AND R. ÖSTLUND)

Abstract

The article deals with satirical tendencies in Swedish literature and cinema of the end of the 20th — beginning of the 21st century. On the example of the book by C.-J. Vallgren “This is for you for a brochure, Mr. Bachmann” and R. Östlund’s paintings “Turist” (“Force Majeure”), “Voluntarily-compulsory”, “The Square” and “Triangle of Sadness”, the main problems of Swedish society are analyzed, which are becoming pan-European scale. The paper concludes that both authors consider the most significant problems to be the disappearance of independent thinking, the distortion of ethical principles, the fear of losing personal well-being against the backdrop of growing ethnic and class contradictions in Europe, indicating the beginning of a new socio-political stage in society. Comprehending European double standards, hypocrisy, ostentatious political correctness, the authors testify that European society is turning into a refined capitalist minority that has lost its main value orientation — Christian humanism. The poetics of the literary and cinematographic works of Vallgren and Östlund differ significantly from the methods of their predecessors: modern authors abandon the satirical principles of secondary convention, allowing themselves only slight exaggeration. This testifies to the desire for journalism, documentary depiction, the movement from fiction to non-fiction, to the understanding of the historical context and socio-political perspective.