Janteloven, or the law of Jante, is a Danish code of culture that is pervasive throughout modern Scandinavian film. It emphasizes the importance of society over the individual. While only formally written down in the 1930s novel, En Flygtning Krysser Sitt Spor, by Aksel Sandemose, Janteloven’s influences run deep in Danish society. Janteloven is used as a device to highlight community in Danish film. There are 10 formal rules of Janteloven, which ultimately boil down to a single theme: “You are not to think you’re different, or better, than anyone.”
As translated by Kusum Gopal of the Cambridge Journal of Anthropology, the rules of Janteloven are:
Thou shalt not think that thou art something special.
Thou shalt not think that thou art as much as we are.
Thou shalt not believe that thou art wiser than us.
Thou shalt not believe that thou art better than us.
Thou shalt not believe that thou knoweth more than us.
Thou shalt not believe that thou art greater than us.
Thou shalt not believe that thou art worth anything
Thou shalt not laugh at us.
Thou shalt not believe that anyone is concerned about thee.
Thou shalt not believe that thou can teach us anything.
(Gopal, 65-66). Gopal goes on to talk more about practical applications of these codes after interviewing others about how Janteloven plays a role in their lives. Of those interviewed, some said that they refused to show their entire house to first time guests for fear of showing off (Gopal, 67). One wouldn’t read on public transportation to avoid looking elite (Gopal, 67). Another mentioned that the owner of Maersk drove an average Saab to avoid standing out in society (Gopal, 67). It was conjectured that for the film world, filmmaker Lars Von Trier may not be able to live in Denmark if he ever got too popular (Gopal, 68). Von Trier would stick out and be different from society, something that goes against Janteloven.
There are many films in which Janteloven appears to guide the plot line. In particular, Frygtelig Lykkelig is about a police officer, Robert, from the populated city of Copenhagen being placed on a smaller detail in the tiny bog town of Skarrild. From the start, Robert isn’t excited to be in Skarrild. Coming into town, Robert has an air of superiority about him. Robert does not want to be bothered by the lowly townspeople of Skarrild. He rejects offers to play poker with the town’s shopkeeper, physician, and priest. Based on early conversations with his supervisor, it’s clear Robert’s unhappy to be there.
It’s readily apparent that Robert is different and alone. After Robert is dropped off by the Chief of Police of Tonder, a long shot reveals Robert standing alone in the streets with his back to the town (Frygtelig Lykkelig, 3:43). His back to the town implies that Robert feels a disconnect from Skarrild. He’s facing away to avoid becoming intimate with it and actively trying to separate himself from the rest of the town. As Robert locks eyes onto a local girl, he doesn’t bother to acknowledge her. He looks on and walks alone into his new living space. Robert believes he’s better than the town of Skarrild, something that breaks the laws of Jante and would be considered uhygge, or bad. This lays the foundation for a growing tension between Robert and the rest of Skarrild.
Robert’s first encounters with people often don’t go well. For example, Robert distinguishes himself from Skarrild in his first encounter at the bar. While the bartender remarks “Funny, the old marshal always came in for his beer around this time,” Robert refuses a beer by saying “I’m the new marshal so I just want a soda” (Frygtelig Lykkelig, 8:45). This distinguishes Robert from the bar patrons and gives the impression that Robert is too good to have a beer on his police shift – something that would seem normal to outsiders, but is out of place to the people of Skarrild. Robert differentiates himself from the old marshal in this scene, conveying the idea that he’s better than the old marshal and can do the job more correctly.
Additionally, Robert doesn’t handle the introduction between himself and Dr. Zerlang well. Robert gives cold responses to Zerlang. As Zerlang gets the idea that Robert doesn’t want to talk, Zerlang starts telling Robert more about the town and how matters are typically handled between each other without police intervention. In this scene, tension is created between Robert and Dr. Zerlang because Robert believes he’s too good to be bothered with Skarrild’s culture. By saying “Good thing for everyone I’m only here for a short while,” (Frygtelig Lykkelig, 4:28) Robert makes it clear that he has no desire to be in Skarrild long term, and has no wish to be immersed in the culture there. Robert acts so cold because he believes he’s special and better than the townspeople of Skarrild. Peter Gratale writes “These rules…encourage assuming that they are no better than the person they are meeting” (Gratale, 2014). Robert’s disinterest in Zerlang and Skarrild in general give the impression that Robert thinks he’s better than Zerlang, the person he’s meeting. This results in breaking Janteloven and makes Robert seem less likable as a character, therefore alienating him from the community.
Furthermore, Robert handles a criminal case with a shoplifter incorrectly according to normal Skarrild practices (Frygtelig Lykkelig, 16:10). Robert starts by interrogating Knud, the shoplifter, and creating a formal police report. When Robert asks Knud for his name, the shopkeeper remarks, “We just call him Klepto.” Robert makes a point to ignore the shopkeeper’s comments by referring to the shoplifter by “Knud.” The shopkeeper informs Robert that it would be appropriate for Robert to simply slap Knud and send him away. Despite the shopkeeper’s nudging, Robert refuses to hit the child. In this scene, we see Robert believing his morals are better than the townspeople of Skarrild’s morals and, further, he can teach others how to deal with crime more effectively. When the shoplifter tries to appeal to Robert’s sense of logic, saying that it’s better for him to be hit lightly at the store than to be beaten at home, Robert chooses to let Knud go with a warning. Here, Robert ignores the shopkeeper’s advice, furthering the idea that Robert is better than the townspeople and knows how to deal with crime better than them. Robert, a newcomer, blatantly ignores a man who is well established in Skarrild. Robert isn’t adhering to the society’s code of culture – he’s sticking out. Robert’s trying to separate himself from Skarrild and be ‘better.’
As the film moves into the rising action, we see Robert start to assimilate to Skarrild’s culture. Robert is hanging his laundry in a way that’s abnormal for Skarrild (Frygtelig Lykkelig, 21:12). Ingelise, a troubled, married woman from town who Robert has a romantic interest in, comes by to inform Robert that he looks like an outsider. Rather than give Ingelise his standard, “this is how I do it,” answer, Robert allows Ingelise to teach him how to hang his laundry.
The laundry scene shows Robert adhering to many Janteloven principles. Robert starts to believe he’s not special after learning that Ingelise moved to Skarrild from another place. Robert has finally found somebody he views socially equal to himself. He no longer believes that he’s this special being from the outside world, and finally sees that there are some people with backgrounds similar to his. While talking to Ingelise, Robert lets his guard down and, for a short moment, doesn’t think he’s better or smarter than Skarrild. For the first time, Robert’s found someone he can relate to.
Robert further assimilates to Skarrild’s culture when he’s called to the convenience store a second time (Frygtelig Lykkelig, 34:00). Robert is called to deal with the shoplifting Knud once again. As the shopkeeper lets Knud out of the closet, Robert firmly smacks Knud. Robert walks away, clearly shaken by his actions. As Robert starts to leave, the shopkeeper gives Robert a bottle of wine in appreciation of the way Robert handled the situation.
The viewer sees Robert abandon his sanctimonious morals of never hitting a child. Robert no longer places his values on a pedestal above the values of Skarrild, and is finally starting to behave in a way that is normal to Skarrild. To the outside world, Robert may have “sunk” to lower values, but to Skarrild, Robert is one of them now. Robert stops differentiating himself from the rest of Skarrild, a sign that he’s beginning to adhere to Janteloven. As a result, Robert wins favorability with the shopkeeper.
We see Robert abandoning more of his old values as the story progresses at (Frygtelig Lykkelig, 1:12:06). Here, Robert finally has an alcoholic beverage at the bar while on duty. This is a marked shift from where he refused to drink at the bar with a holier-than-thou attitude at the beginning of the movie. The bar patrons praise Robert. The patrons finally approve of Robert, with the bartender remarking “it’s just like the old marshal. He could put ‘em away, too.” Here, the community of Skarrild has started to accept Robert as their own. By mentioning that Robert reminds her of the old marshal, the bartender has started to feel familiar with Robert. Skarrild was willing to accept Robert as soon as Robert would adhere to Janteloven and allow himself to be a part of the community. Robert’s acceptance in the community grows in direct relation to how well he adheres to Janteloven.
Robert becomes a full member of the Skarrild community towards the end, as he’s trying to make his way back to Copenhagen. Robert stops by the card playing shopkeeper, doctor, and priest to say his final goodbyes (Frygtelig Lykkelig, 1:32:32). Robert approaches the three with a humble attitude. Unfortunately for Robert, Dr. Zerlang informs Robert that his actions towards killing Ingelise and her husband earlier in the movie were known, and that Zerlang would blackmail Robert if he left Skarrild. When Robert realizes he’ll be a member of Skarrild for the rest of his life, he accepts his fate. In a symbolic move, Robert sits down to play cards with the rest of the group. We see Robert release his idea that he’s better than playing cards with three older men. Robert now views himself as a piece of Skarrild, and more importantly a member of the ‘us’ that’s emphasized so heavily in Janteloven.
Throughout the film, we see Robert’s character development juxtaposed with Janteloven. While Robert comes into Skarrild cold and unwilling to be a member of the community, he lowers his guard as the film progresses. We see that as Robert becomes more accepting of the community, and the community becomes more accepting of Robert. The result is that Robert loses the thought that he’s too good for Skarrild. With Robert’s loss of sense of superiority, Robert adheres to Janteloven and therefore fits in the community of Skarrild.
In Stephen Richard Trotter’s Breaking the Law of Jante, Trotter mentions an analogy between Janteloven and a crab in a bucket: “Any [crab] that tries to get out gets pulled back.” (Trotter, 4). The crab bucket is a metaphor for society, whereas the crab can represent Robert in Frygtelig Lykkelig. Robert constantly avoids assimilating to Skarrild’s society, but finds himself more similar to other inhabitants as time goes on. Eventually, we find him being forcibly pulled in by the card players as they claim Robert is their guy now.
We see Janteloven also play a role in the popular TV mini-series, Riget. In Riget, a prominent Swedish doctor, Stig Helmer, has recently moved to Denmark as a consultant neurosurgeon. The viewer’s first interaction with Helmer is at the beginning of the first episode. Helmer walks in to the hospital security pod making strict demands of the relaxed security guard on post (Riget, 7:15).
The viewer forms a negative opinion of Helmer as an old, crotchety man. Helmer walks in and announces his position as consultant neurosurgeon as if that should get him special treatment. Helmer speaks down to the security guard, implying Helmer thinks he’s more important than the security guard. It’s clear that Stig Helmer believes he’s more important than the security guard, and further that Helmer thinks his role as a consultant neurosurgeon makes him extraordinary. These two ideas go against the principles of Janteloven and give the viewer a negative opinion of Helmer. The negative opinions form the idea that Helmer doesn’t belong in this community.
On the other hand, adherence to Janteloven makes many characters appear favorable to the viewer. When introduced to Dr. Moesgaard, the supervising surgeon on staff, it’s easy to notice how he follows Janteloven. Helmer approaches Moesgaard to discuss a junior registrar, Dr. Hook, who ordered a CT scan outside of hospital protocols (Riget, 12:13). In particular, Helmer takes issue with somebody with a lesser title ordering expensive CT scans. Moesgaard appears to dismiss the entire ordeal, defending Hook’s ability as a physician and highlighting Hook’s positives, such as the value Hook brings to the hospital staff.
Here, we see that Moesgaard does not look down on someone for a lack of experience. Moesgaard has a profound respect for Hook as a physician. Moesgaard does not believe Hook is inferior as it appears that Moesgaard takes no issue with a junior physician ordering scans reserved for consultant neurosurgeons. Moesgaard pays no attention to medical hierarchy here. This implies that Moesgaard doesn’t think he’s wiser, better, or greater than Dr. Hook. Moesgaard certainly doesn’t think that he’s something special in this situation.
At the same time, we see Helmer paying strict attention to the hierarchy of physicians. This provides more evidence that Helmer doesn’t adhere to Janteloven. The viewer gets a chance to see Moesgaard and Helmer side-by-side, and observe how likable each character is. It’s clear that Moesgaard is the more likable character as a result of his easy-going personality formed by adhering to Janteloven. Therefore, Moesgaard appears to fit in well with the community.
Peter Gratale discusses the idea of hierarchy and ambition in his article, Janteloven: The Root of Scandinavian Modesty.
“Unlike “Keeping up with the Jones’” where it pushes us to constantly be better than everyone around you, Janteloven has the opposite effect as it is not always good to stand out amongst others and teaches that you shouldn’t always compare yourself to others, but only to yourself,”
(Gratale, 2014). The viewer sees Helmer try to stand out against Dr. Hook. Helmer has worked his entire career to achieve the position of consultant neurosurgeon. A rift is created between Helmer and Moesgaard when Helmer complains about Hook’s prestige and titles. The issue can be seen as a result of Helmer attempting to bring recognition to himself and how much more prestigious his position of consultant neurosurgeon is in relation to Hook’s role as a junior registrar. The viewer sees Helmer comparing himself to Hook, which creates a violation of Janteloven. Had Helmer kept to himself and focused on improving himself, rather than focusing on Hook’s errors, the viewer likely would’ve had a more favorable opinion of Helmer.
Janteloven is a set of guiding principles that governs interaction among Danish people. Janteloven has developed roots in Danish media, such as film, to highlight community. In particular, we see that Janteloven is a focal point of Frygtelig Lykkelig along with Riget. In both works, the viewer can observe that a character does or doesn’t fit in with society based on their adherence to Janteloven.