And then as farce: Globalization and ambivalence in Jo Nesbø and Morten Tyldum’s Headhunters (2011)

Abstract

Abstract This article will consider the aesthetic strategies of genre dialogue and parody in Morten Tyldum’s 2011 film Hodejegerne/Headhunters, based on the novel by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø. Situating the film within trans-national practices of production and distribution, the article argues that Tyldum and Nesbø’s film establishes a critical dialogue with its genre, its cinematic intertexts and the aesthetics of contemporary popular film. This dialogue in turn reflects and works through an ambivalence towards its own film-making contexts, and the socio-economic contexts of the global financial crisis within which both novel and film were produced. The article contends that such close study of the film’s ambivalent form provides a clearer picture of the practical issues confronting commercial cinema practices, in their efforts to negotiate national cinematic identity within a trans-national marketplace; as well as arguing for a more nuanced view of the way we read recent trends in the wider reception and discussion of popular world cinemas.