Line #79 Main/NorseByNorsewest


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10	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hotswedishgirlsba6_7217.jpg]]
11	[[caption-width-right:350:Some very pretty [[ArtisticLicenseGeography Danish]] girls.[[note]]They're actually Swedish. Denmark's national colors are red and white[[/note]]]]
12
13	->''"My name is Inga, and I'm from Sweden,\
14	I could fall in love with you!\
15	If you meet me, on Ibiza,\
16	I can show you how to party too!"''
17	-->-- Inga From Sweden, "My Name is Inga"
18
19	A sort of generic northern blend of the UsefulNotes/FaroeIslands, UsefulNotes/{{Norway}}, UsefulNotes/{{Iceland}}, UsefulNotes/{{Greenland}}, UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}}, UsefulNotes/{{Denmark}} and UsefulNotes/{{Finland}}. [[note]]In a few truly horrible examples, Sweden and ''UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}}'' are conflated, even though Switzerland is Alpine, not even vaguely Scandinavian. The same thing occasionally happens to Denmark and UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands (due to the words "Danish" and "Dutch" sounding vaguely similar; it doesn’t help that there are some other cultural similarities even after you start digging into them, e.g. being extremely bike-friendly.)[[/note]] [[PlanetofHats Everyone is]] liberal, [[EveryoneLovesBlondes blond]] and [[SexyScandinavian absolutely gorgeous]]. The streets are clean, the people are intelligent and creative, it always snows, they have Ikea and saunas, and the area pumps out an amazing amount of hot foreign exchange students (both male and female) with cute accents to tempt American high school students. The chances of meeting a pair of beautiful, buxom, blonde twins who won't rule out a {{Twincest}}uous [[TwinThreesomeFantasy threesome]] with any given tourist is [[EuropeansAreKinky uncannily high]]. Everything is ridiculously expensive by the standards of anywhere else (including the rest of Europe), but that's OK because higher education is free and so is health care.
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21	Everyone either skis or snowboards and eats a lot of chocolate. About the only other thing anyone remembers is that Franchise/{{Lego}} was invented there. The region is also known for having a thriving metal scene (BlackMetal in Norway and DeathMetal in Sweden especially) and video game sector (Sweden especially makes many of the most popular modern video games, including ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', the highest selling video game of all time).
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23	On the rare occasions when negative stereotypes of Scandinavians are shown, the stereotype of choice is to portray them as [[DumbBlonde painfully naïve]]. Finns (whose language is Uralic like UsefulNotes/{{Estonia}}n and UsefulNotes/{{Hungar\|y}}ian, rather than Indo-European like most other European languages) are known to be violent when their BerserkButton is pressed.
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25	Technically Icelanders and Faroe Islanders are not "Scandinavian" either, as the strict definition of Scandinavia is only Sweden, Norway and Denmark. The preferred term is "Nordic" which also includes Greenland and Svalbard. Icelanders and Faroe Islanders speak Scandinavian (AKA North Germanic) languages, however. Meanwhile, Greenland is owned by Denmark and has a long history of Norse settlement, but it, on top of being located in North America instead of Europe and not being Scandinavian, is mostly populated by the racially and linguistically[[note]]The Eskimo-Aleut languages, of which Greenlandic Inuit is a part, are concentrated in North America[[/note]] different Inuit people, therefore it is more of an EskimoLand than Nordic.
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27	Going back a little farther in time, one might have seen the region crawling with [[Myth/NorseMythology Valkyries]], [[HornyVikings Vikings]] and [[AllTrollsAreDifferent trolls]].
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29	Named for a certain port of ''VideoGame/TheLostVikings II'', which in turn is a reference to [[Film/NorthByNorthwest a Hitchcock film]].
30
31	The NordicNoir genre deconstructs this trope. Though Scandinavia is prosperous and well-organized, it is not devoid of crime.
32
33	----
34	!!Examples:
35
36	[[foldercontrol]]
37
38	[[folder:Advertising]]
39	* Creator/JohnCleese made a commercial for the Norwegian Tourist Board. It's rife with stereotypes; the "everyone skiing" one is rather prominent.
40	* The Swedish Bikini Team, who first appeared in Old Milwaukee beer commercials and became something of a pop-culture phenomenon in the early '90s.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
44	* Subverted in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers''. While he is indeed handsome, tall and blond, Sweden is reserved and appears intimidating to those who do not know him well.
45	* [[Myth/NorseMythology Baldr]] from ''VisualNovel/KamigamiNoAsobi'' is this kind of handsome. He has the blond look, and he and Loki both have braids.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
49	* ''ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible''. A few strips have suggested he's Norwegian, but mostly he's just a Viking, from Vikingland.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
53	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Beowulf\|2007}}''. More trolls, fewer Ikeas. The 2007 film even has Grendel speak Old English, and one or two references to "sea raiders".
54	* In ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', the kingdom of Arendelle appears to be on a Norwegian fjord. Anna and Elsa have a rather Nordic ethnic look to them. Kristoff is conspicuously dressed in Sami-style clothing and even has a reindeer as a best friend.
55	* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'' takes place in a setting astoundingly similar to earth but, according to Valka, definitely isn't, centered on the maybe-Iceland island of Berk. (The book version of Berk was based on the Viking Hebrides, which possibly partly explains the film version's accents.) Populated by HornyVikings who believe in trolls and ride dragons that seem to populate the whole world.
56	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Klaus\|2019}}'': The island of Smeerensburg is loosely based on a Danish whaling outpost in the arctic circle named Smeerenburg that was abandoned in the 1600s. There's also a Saami settlement nearby.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
60	* ''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer'':
61	-->'''Rachel Hansen:''' Better that you find this out now before you come home and find her in bed with Lars from Norway.
62	-->'''Tom:''' Who's Lars from Norway?
63	-->'''Rachel Hansen:''' Just some guy she met at the gym with Brad Pitt's face and Jesus' abs.
64	* In ''Film/EarthGirlsAreEasy'', it's Finland that seems to be confused with Switzerland. The movie features a TV ad where two bikini-clad blonde women invite the viewer to come to Finland, whilst showing scenes of Alpine skiing and yodeling. While skiing is indeed quite popular in Finland, yodeling most certainly isn't. (Though ''Yoiks'', traditional songs/singing techniques of the Samish, are often confused with yodeling by outsiders.) The aliens watching the ad ask if they're in Finland; host Valerie doesn't help matters by telling them "Finland is the capital of Norway!"
65	* ''Film/IllTakeSweden'' a 1965 comedy starring Bob Hope, Tuesday Weld and Frankie Avalon about a trio of Americans encountering sexy Sweden. Yes, it's as bad as it sounds.
66	* ''Film/KingRalph'' features the King and Queen of Finland as minor characters. Unlike Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Finland is not (and has never been, though there was a near miss in 1918) a monarchy. When questioned about it by the Finnish media, the film-makers claimed this was supposed to be an intentional [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] of HollywoodAtlas.
67	* Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson from Mel Brooks's ''Film/TheProducers''.
68	* The ultimate subversion of this trope is probably Ingmar Bergman's ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'', which violates just about everything we associate with modern Scandinavia. Here, Sweden is a (literally) stuck-in-the-Dark-Ages theocracy with bleeding penitents and plague victims roaming around and a knight returned from the Crusades who's constantly brooding about death (understandable, since Death, is literally stalking him).
69	* It's possible that the now mostly-forgotten TropeMaker for the portrayal of Sweden (and by extension the rest of the Norselands) as "sexy" was the 1968 {{Mondo}} film ''Film/SwedenHeavenAndHell''. Now much more infamous for being the original source of ''Series/TheMuppetShow''s' "Mah Na Mah Na".
70	* ''Film/TradingPlaces'', the Sweden[=/=]Switzerland confusion is {{lampshaded}} in this conversation on the train on New Year's Eve:
71	-->'''Ophelia:''' (''in disguise'') Hello I am Inga, from Sweden!\
72	'''Coleman:''' (''disguised, more accurately, as a priest'') But you're wearing...[[{{Oktoberfest}} Lederhosen..?]]
73	* ''[[Film/Underworld2003 Underworld: Blood Wars]]'' introduces the Nordic Coven, vampires who live in the far northern lands of arctic tundra. All of them have MysticalWhiteHair, which seems to be an exaggeration of Nordic blondness at first, but it's revealed that it is a side effect of their ritual to cross into the sacred world. Selene later undergoes this ritual, which [[LockedIntoStrangeness dyes half of her hair white]].
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Literature]]
77	* Terry Jones's book ''The Saga of Erik the Viking'' which lent its name but not its plot to Terry Jones's film ''Film/ErikTheViking''.
78	* In [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 Mike Nelson's]] Death Rat!, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin by Mike Nelson]], a group of Danish agents pursue the protagonist at the behest of his rival. They are portrayed as brave, intelligent, and exceptionally capable in matters of surveillance and hand-to-hand combat, but woefully awkward, excessively proper, and prone to apologizing profusely for things like using "sauna" as both a noun and a verb.
79	* The ''Literature/{{Backstrom}}'' novels about a useless and unappealing inept copper in Sweden, are set largely in Stockholm and via the appallingly racist and cloddish Ewart Bäckström, shed light on Swedish prejudices about everybody else -- including a cast of immigrants and other Scandinavians from neighboring countries.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
83	* Many reviewers outside of Scandinavia have stated that the reason ''Series/NeverWipeTearsWithoutGloves'' struck such a chord with them was that it took place in Sweden. The story, which is based on experiences of the author Jonas Gardell, follows a group of gay men in the eighties when AIDS begins to spread and depicts society's fear of gay men in general and AIDS victims in particular, as well as the prejudice and harsh mistreatments and injustices that took place. According to many of the reviewers, this was all the more effective and moving because it took place in a country that is thought to be so liberal, open-minded and loving, because "''If it was like that in Sweden, what was it like in our country''?"
84	** Since Sweden actually ''is'' (and was) one of the most liberal and open-minded countries in the world when it comes to gay rights it doesn't just play with the trope but really gets the message across.
85	* ''Series/Reboot2022'': Bree is a former duchess of the fictional Nordic country of Fjorstadt, which is portrayed as cold, sunless, and populated by dour people who smell like herring.
86	* ''Series/WelcomeToSweden'' is about the American main character moving to Sweden with his girlfriend, and ''he's'' the FunnyForeigner to the Swedes.
87	* A pair of Swedish detectives are featured in an episode of ''Series/BrooklynNineNine''. They are a tad SarcasmBlind, have a hard time following Peralta's irreverent sense of humor, and are perfectly fluent in English, Norwegian, Dutch German, French, Russian, and Finnish. But not Danish.
88	-->'''Deputy Inspector Carlson:''' That is a garbage language for garbage people.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Music]]
92	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DgO6Ttn7rU Inga From Sweden,]] the page quote.
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Video Games]]
96	* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/CrusaderKingsII''. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Iceland all have the norse culture in the early start dates but split up into Swedish, Norwegian and Danish in their corresponding de jure kingdoms from 950 onward, subverting this trope. However, if you happen to unite all these kingdoms in a united Scandinavian empire, they will stay Norse forever, thus playing this trope straight.
97	* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'', the Nords, Tamriel's ProudWarriorRace of HornyVikings, are firmly fantasy northern European in terms of their modern culture and their physical appearance (tall, muscular, fair-haired, pale-skinned). They have a cultural love of battling, as well as mead, feasting, and a strong [[WarriorPoet bardic tradition]]. Their old religion (pre-dating that of the Imperial [[SaintlyChurch Nine Divines]]) also has many elements straight out of Myth/NorseMythology, particularly the WarriorHeaven of Sovngarde. Their first names are typically pulled from medieval Norse while they have badass sounding clan names or sobriquets, such as Arkming the Flayer, Ulfgar the Unending, Else God-Hater, Falk Firebeard, Frofnir Trollsbane, Aldi Winterblade... the list goes on and on... Their homeland of Skyrim is [[GrimUpNorth cold and untamed]] while being [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou full of vicious wild animals and other threats]]. Their ancient culture has a number of other influences as well (Hinduism and Ancient Egyptian Mythology), making it more CultureChopSuey though still heavy with Norse elements.
98	* Parodied in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow1'', when a radio show spoofing {{Creator/NPR}} has a couple of guys talking about illegal immigrants to the US... from Norway, and their stereotypes of them are deliberately ridiculous.
99	* ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' has Skellige, a CultureChopSuey of Norway, Ireland, and Scotland acting as a FantasyCounterpartCulture to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse%E2%80%93Gaels Norse–Gaels]] who settled in Great Britain during the Viking Age.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Web Animation]]
103	* Averted with Tord in ''WebAnimation/{{Eddsworld}}'', who doesn't fit the typical stereotype--he's got brown hair instead of blond, he's average-to-passably cute looking rather than being inhumanly sexy ([[SelfFanservice unless you ask the fangirls, of course]]) and he's a violent weapon fanatic.
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:Web Comics]]
107	* ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'' manages to [[ZigzaggedTrope zigzag]] this trope. The comic shows the Nordic countries' stereotypes of ''each other'' rather than the Hollywood stereotype of them and goes out the way to show that the countries have their own distinct cultures.
108	** Out of all the characters, Sister Sweden plays this trope the straightest, although that's possibly not the best word choice in this context.
109	** [[PrettyBoy Iceland]] and his sister are [[BishieSparkle beautiful]], although Sister Iceland is rather flat.
110	** A sauna makes an appearance in one comic and is referenced in another.
111	** The comic's creator [[LampshadedTrope dives headlong]] into the trope in [[https://web.archive.org/web/20131014005750/http://humon.deviantart.com/art/Sexy-Scandinavian-406354577 this unrelated piece.]]
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Western Animation]]
115	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'' does this too, having both Sweden and Norway appear like this in their respective episodes. With Skwisgaar and Toki hailing from said countries, it makes for several related jokes. Especially when Skwisgaar's mother appears. They also burn down Finland and kill the Queen of Denmark (whom Skwisgaar thinks is Dutch).
116	* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' plays this trope straight. The gang meets a single mother with three beautiful daughters named Inga, Ola and Heidi. [[CuteMute None of them can speak.]] They just walk around, be overly hospitable and cry if they believe they offended their guests in the slightest. They aren't even the [[BigBad Big Bads]] of the episode for crying out loud.
117	* In Season 20 of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', the country of Denmark plays a big role. After South Park's local internet troll [=skankhunt42=] (real identity: [[spoiler:Kyle's father Gerald]]) harasses a Danish volleyball player and breast cancer survivor to the point that she kills herself, the whole country declares war on internet trolls, citing the old Scandinavian troll myths. Interestingly enough, Denmark was referenced in an earlier season in the episode "Canada On Strike", and the Danes are called "the Canadians of Europe" (even being drawn the same way as the Canadians are; in Season 20, the Danes are drawn like regular people).
118	* ForeignExchangeStudent Gustav from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' claims to hail from the ''country'' of Scandinavia, where "[[HornyVikings vikings]] teach gym class, and everyone has a pet [[PolarBearsAndPenguins penguin]]". It eventually turns out that he is [[FakeNationality an American pretending to be Scandinavian]] so he can refine his meatball recipe.
119	* ''Literature/VickyTheViking''
120	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Detentionaire}}'' has Holger, a tall, blonde CampStraight Swedish exchange student. While unfailingly kind and loyal, he's also quite the {{Cloudcuckoolander}}.
121	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NorseByNorsewest