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Historisk tidskrift 132:1 • 2012

Innehåll (Contents) 2012:1

Uppsatser (Articles)

Filmen i statens tjänst. Civilförsvarsstyrelsens filmaktiviteter under kallakrigsåren 1949–1952

Fredrik Norén

 

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Summary

The film in the service of the state. The film activities of Civilförsvarsstyrelsen during the cold war years 1949–1952

This article examines the film activities of Civilförsvarsstyrelsen, a Swedish state-controlled civil defense authority under the Ministry of the Interior. Studies of the film activities of the Swedish state, especially from the years following 1945 until the breakthrough of television in 1956, are rare. This study captures the period between 1949 and 1952, a time characterized by an increase in welfare reforms, an escalation of the Cold war and the highest attendance rates in Swedish cinema history. It was also the time when Civilförsvarsstyrelsen started to produce films, and did so to a greater extent than at any other period. The aim is to provide a deeper understanding about how the civil defense used and related to the film medium.

The investigation shows that the civil defense expressed a positive attitude towards the use of the film medium as a means of reaching a bigger audience. Furthermore, there was great awareness of the medium’s potential as a tool for propaganda and information. But despite the positive attitudes there was also ambiguity towards the medium. For example, the civil defense board wanted to use the films as a means to influence the citizens to embrace the civil defense ideals, but at the same time there existed a general concern in society towards film as a psychological weapon. And despite its popularity, the film medium was never institutionalized and funding was not very generous. The explanation for this ambiguity could be the general uncertainty and lack of understanding of what effects film as a medium had on its audience.

Keywords

Sweden, 20th century, civil defense, film propaganda, Cold war, information film, state-controlled film production