A Danish Film Director Dares to Make a Movie with an ‘All-Nordic Cast’

What are the idols of the age? What do the kind of people who use the words ”holistic” and “iconic” think are the most important, indeed the only goals, that we must all strive to attain? You know the answer to that: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But in tiny Denmark, which early on played such an important role in defying Muslim bullying — remember the twelve Muhammad cartoons published by Denmark’s largest newspaper Jyllands-Posten — there is now another act of defiance, this from a Danish film director, Nikolaj Arcel, and a celebrated Danish actor, Mads Mikkelsen. They have made a movie, set in 1750s Denmark, that has an entirely white “Nordic” cast. And they make no apologies. More on this defiance of Diversity can be found here: “‘It would be a little weird!’ Danish director dismisses concerns over all-Nordic cast and lack of diversity in latest film set in 1750s Denmark,” by Thomas Brooke, Remix News, September 8, 2023:

Prominent Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen and award-winning filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel have defended the lack of diversity in their latest film, with the latter claiming it would “be a bit weird” to have included ethnic minority actors in a production set in 18th century Denmark.

Now what are those new standards on “diversity” that Hollywood has adopted? You can find all about them here. An excerpt:

The Academy announced in September 2020 a set of rules to encourage diversity would take effect with the upcoming 96th Oscars ceremony in March 2024.

To be eligible for Best Picture, the ceremony’s top prize, a film must meet two of four new diversity standards.

The first, Standard A, can be met in one of three ways: 1) Either one lead or significant supporting character is from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group; 2) at least 30% of the acting ensemble is from at least two underrepresented groups (women, the LGBTQ community, disabled or deaf people, or people from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group); and 3) the storyline centers on an underrepresented group.

Standard B: Films must meet one of three criteria: At least two creative leaders or department heads (including casting directors, cinematographers, composers and more) must be from an underrepresented group, at least six crew or technical positions must be from an underrepresented group, or at least 30% of the crew must be from an underrepresented group.

Standard C: The film’s production, distribution or financing companies offer paid internship or apprenticeships and training opportunities for people from underrepresented groups.

Standard D: The film studio must have multiple senior executives from underrepresented groups on its marketing, publicity or distribution teams.

Affirmative Action, having been driven, one hopes permanently, from Academia, has now found a new home as a poisonous plant in Hollywood. We must hope that the Supreme Court — I can’t wait, can you? — will decide a case brought before it by an aggrieved white male who was not hired as a leading or main supporting actor, or as a casting director, cinematographer, composer, or member of the crew or of the advertising team, even though he had won awards in the relevant field, all because of those new DEI standards..

Now let’s return to the commonsensical Nikolaj Acel and Mads Mikkelsen, who make no apologies for their “all-Nordic cast”:

One of the new standards is that a movie must feature a lead or supporting character who is from an “underrepresented racial or ethnic group.”

Beginning in 2024, film producers and directors will be required to submit to the Academy a dossier of the sort that points to the race, gender, sexual orientation and disability status of their film’s cast and crew members.

The star and director of “The Promised Land” were responding to questions fielded during a press conference at the Venice Film Festival where the film premiered earlier this month.

The historical drama follows soldier Ludvig Kahlen, played by Mikkelsen, who seeks to cultivate the barren land of Jutland, Denmark in 1755, but faces hostility from the landowner, Frederik De Schinkel, who does not welcome Kahlen’s presence.

An unnamed Danish journalist asked the pair for their thoughts on the lack of diversity in the film, given the entirely Nordic cast, and whether they were concerned that the film would struggle to meet the new inclusion standards introduced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make it eligible for the Academy Awards category of Best Picture.

“If it’s not because of artistic reasons, but because of a lack of diversity this film cannot compete in that competition. Are you worried about that?” the journalist asked, to which Mikkelsen swiftly replied: “Are you?”

“You’re putting us on the spot so you answer the question,” he added, visibly amused by the line of questioning.

Mads Mikkelsen treated the matter of enforced-by-fiat “diversity” in Hollywood with the amused contempt it deserves. Neither he nor Acel were in any mood to compromise with the fanatical wokesters of Hollywood. They’re not worried; they don’t care that much about being disqualified from the Oscar competition; they’d like to compete, of course, but not at the cost of artistic authenticity. And a movie set in 1750s Denmark would be ludicrous if a black actor were used, at a time when the country may have contained none, or possibly one, black person.

The journalist cited “Parasite,” a South Korean film that became the first foreign language film ever to win the Best Picture award in 2020, as an example of another film that lacked diversity but was considered eligible for the category because of its South Korean origin; he then asked for their thoughts on the “conundrum” that an all-Nordic cast would not be eligible.

There was no “conundrum.” The journalist apparently was unaware that the new Diversity and Inclusion standards were not in effect in 2020, when the all-Korean film “Parasite” won the Best Picture award. Those standards go into effect in 2024.

Tackling the first question, director Nikolaj Arcel insisted the film had focused on authenticity over diversity.

“First of all, the film takes place in Denmark in the 1750s,” Arcel said. “We do have a plot line [but no black actress is shown]about a girl of color who is being subjected to racism. It was very rare to have people of color in Denmark in the 1700s, almost nobody. She was probably at the time the only one in the entire country of Denmark,” he added.

The filmmaker said that meeting the new diversity guidelines set by Hollywood had not been a consideration.

“It wasn’t a thought in our mind. I think it would be a little weird. It’s just historical and how it was in the 1750s,” he explained.

Of course, there are people who pretend to believe that there is nothing disturbing about seeing a production of Hamlet with the Prince, or Gertrude, or Polonius (but not his daughter Ophelia) played by a black man. We are supposed to ignore the anomaly, to pretend it makes no difference to our reception of the play. Or think of Othello played by a Chinese actor, chosen in order to make sure that some goddam “diversity standards” are being met, and we, in the hapless audience, are supposed not to notice, even as our brains make us do nothing but. Would Desdemona played by a black actress and Othello played by a woman disturb you? It shouldn’t. Would it make it harder for you to pay attention to the plot and poetry of the plays because you just can’t get your head around a black Hamlet or a female, but very butch, Othello?

What about Falstaff played, for “diversity’s sake,” by a thin woman? Why should we cast Falstaff as a fat man, just because silly old Shakespeare envisioned him that way more than 400 years ago? We don’t need to be stuck in his Stratford-on-Avon mud. We’ll keep his words, of course, but the casting should be up to us.

What about it, Diversity fiends? If we want diversity, where else might we look to improve things?

How about with basketball teams? I’ve noticed — no doubt you have too — that white players have been grossly underrepresented in the sport, both at the college and professional levels. Why, sometimes 90% of the players on both teams are black. Shouldn’t we do something about that? And while we are at it, what about the Chinese who are historically underrepresented in the NFL? Surely we need to fix that.

And I’ve noticed, too, that a very high proportion of physicists and mathematicians in universities are Jewish. No doubt this is a problem that needs to be fixed; surely the Department of Education ought to be figuring out a way to decrease their numbers, for the sake, yet again, of “Diversity.” No, just kidding. Gallows humor. How else can a sane person deal with our Gods of the Copybook Headings — Diversity, and Equity, and Inclusion?

But now I am not kidding at all. Of all the professions, and academic departments that I’ve examined, one leads all the rest in its astounding lack of diversity and inclusion. Departments of Middle Eastern Studies throughout the land appear almost entirely to be made up of Muslims — mainly Arabs, with a smattering of Iranians, as well as the odd Turk. And ideologically, these Muslim faculty members are united in their animus to Israel. So shouldn’t university deans be looking to increase the number of non-Muslims in such departments, and even looking into the possibility of hiring people who are not so driven to oppose the existence of the Jewish state? How about some Copts, some Israelis, a Berber separatist, even a Jewish American scholar who formerly would have been driven from the field, to shake up those departments? Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. That’s what we need in a very few places, and you know where.