A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Ambiguity and Liminality as Sonic Strategies in The Bridge




AuthorsHuttunen, Kaapo

PublisherLiverpool University Press

Publication year2025

Journal: Music, Sound, and the Moving Image

Volume19

Issue1

First page 27

Last page52

ISSN1753-0768

eISSN1753-0776

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.3828/msmi.2025.2

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingNo Open Access

Publication channel's open availability No Open Access publication channel

Web address https://doi.org/10.3828/msmi.2025.2


Abstract

The internationally successful Nordic crime fiction series The Bridge/Bron/Broen (Sweden/Denmark, 2011–2018) takes place in the Öresund region, an area situated ‘in-between’ two neighbouring countries, Denmark and Sweden, and deals in various ways with issues related to ‘gaps’ between people and in the society. As a key representative of audiovisual Nordic noir, it is marked by dark and bleak imagery, a ‘whodunnit’ crime plot, and social commentary. But it also employs a notably ambiguous and idiosyncratic audiovisual style, central to which, as this article seeks to demonstrate, is the soundtrack, which consciously breaks conventional boundaries of music and sound design. In tandem with the other expressive and narrative modes, it creates a layer of ambiguity to the series that requires deciphering from the audience, opens outward to the world outside the story, and creates a liminal atmosphere that is symbolically concordant with the story and themes of the series.



Last updated on 15/12/2025 01:48:36 PM