Reading some of the comments to my first couple of blog posts on Politiken got me thinking about a question I often hear discussed among foreigners in Denmark: do the Danes have a sense of humour? At this point you might be thinking that this is a bit of a silly question – every nation or nationality has some sort of humour, they’re just not all of the exact same kind. True. So perhaps a better question is: what kind of humour do the Danes have?
A peek at the thoroughly entertaining book ‘The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Danes’ reveals an interesting take on Danish humour by outsiders. As a side note, I’m a big believer that everyone should read their own country’s Xenophobe’s Guide (somewhat of a counterintuitive thought as the primary audience for those books are foreigners visiting the country discussed and wanting to understand it better). The reason being that one can never truly view one’s own culture with fresh unbiased eyes other than by learning how it’s viewed by objective outsiders (hint hint), and in this book’s case – outsiders with a great sense of humour.
In any case, the book says interesting things like “Danish humour suffers from the handicap of the Danes’ literal-mindedness”, “biting political satire is not widespread”, “sarcasm and self-deprecation are likely to be misunderstood”, and notably – “Danes have a weakness for slapstick”. Is it true that Danes are too literal to understand sarcasm, or too naive to observe humorous nuances?
Many years ago I was speaking to a friend in New York about her favourite nationalities when it comes to finding a boyfriend. “What about Scandinavians?” I asked her, being myself in the midst of a love affair with a Dane and as a result with anything Scandinavian. “Nah, too boring. I need some spice” she said. Funnily enough I felt somewhat offended and rushed to the defence of the Danes, trying to debunk the common preconception that Scandinavians are too cold to be ‘spicy’ or ‘humorous’. Pretty soon though I realized it was a lost cause with that particular friend.
My friend was not the only one who falls victim to this ‘common wisdom’ held by many, who tend to associate humour with warm climates (Mediterranean and Latin American countries), while seeing colder regions (Canada? Scandinavia?) as more sedate and lacking in biting humour, with Britain being an obvious exception. And I have to admit my first few experiences of Danish humour seemed to support this prejudice – having experienced some happy-clappy Danish weddings, with lots of ‘hurrahs’, comic speeches and funny song singing, made me feel that there’s something very naive, and even a little dorky about Danish humour. And watching some commercials, films and TV shows like The Julekalendar did in fact indicate a weakness for the ‘silly’ side of humour. I also often felt my cynicism was interpreted as negativity, and my sarcastic comments were sometimes taken literally.
But with time I realized that even though the Danish humour seems at first rather unsophisticated, reality was more complex than that. Most Danes I met displayed a much ‘healthier’ and more ‘intelligent’ sense of humour than others I’ve come across over the years (Mediterranean or not), with a full appreciation for irony, sarcasm and satire. Classic Danish films like ‘Italian for Beginners’ and ‘Babette’s Feast’, and even the memorable TV show ‘Matador’ (not to mention the iconic Olsen Banden series) showed that subtle and witty humour is very much a Danish staple. The recent TV show ‘Klovn’ is another great example. And I also came to appreciate the naivety in Danish society – a rare collective quality that is so very charming and refreshing after the blasé and jaded feeling of New York and London.
So Danish humour might not be of the dry, deadpan English type, but intelligent it certainly is. And while Danes do suffer from literal-mindedness in general, it doesn’t really seem to impede their sense of humour. And let’s face it – don’t all nations suffer from a weakness for silly humour on occasions? Perhaps my initial impressions of misunderstood sarcasm had more to do with the language barrier – with the different terms, intonation, nuances and everything else that goes with it – than with taking things literally.
As for the long pseudo-academic quasi-sociological comments on my blog that may be completely accurate but seem to me to have absolutely nothing to do with what I write about – well, it might be a lack of humour or simply a refusal to accept a blog that talks about ‘Danishness’ from an anecdotal rather than anthropological perspective (academic texts and scientific publications might be more appropriate than mainstream media for a research-based approach). Be it as it may, I’ll keep hoping there’s a silent majority out there that approaches my blog with sufficient humour to be able to get something out of it.
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