Boats in fields. Uwe Janson's Peer Gynt (2006)

Tanya Thresher

doi:10.7557/13.3385

Authors

Tanya Thresher American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/13.3385

Keywords:

Peer Gynt, film adaptation, self-reflexivity, identity, symbolism, landscape, boat motif, self-discovery, romantic/anti-romantic

Abstract

This article analyses Uwe Janson’s 2006 TV-film adaptation of Peer Gynt. This 81-minute-long film was shot on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea and makes extensive use of the landscape in its investigation of identity. The article examines the effects of limiting the geographical space of Peer’s journey of self-discovery and pays particular attention to the symbolic use of boats. It also explores how Janson mirrors the self-reflexivity of Ibsen’s work and maintains the romantic/anti-romantic dichotomy evident in the poetic text.

Author Biography

Tanya Thresher, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Tanya Thresher holds a PhD in Scandinavian Languages and Literature from the University of Washington, USA (1998). She worked as a professor in the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin from 1997-2011, and is currently working at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Her email is tthresher@aus.edu.