Written by Matthew Pardue
And so, we have one of (if not the) my last webcomics, at least until I pick up new ones. Next week I’ll do something different for the final review of the year. Until then, here’s a European webcomic that I can pretty much sum up as “People are weird no matter where you go.”
I’ll start by going ahead and saying that Scandinavia and the World (SatW) has an almost hilarious level of offensive potential. Cultural differences cause some of it; the author (I don’t know her real name, but she usually goes by Humon [hell, maybe that is her name; I don’t know any other Danes, so there’s no telling]) points this out frequently and makes it the basis of many pages. Different things offend different people depending on where you’re from. For example, prepare to see a fair number of comic strips about homosexuality and religion if you read through the archives; some even center around how many Americans perceive these issues differently from other parts of the world. Not that the mere mention of such things is what’s potentially upsetting. Rather, Humon doesn’t exactly take a delicate approach with her average joke. I don’t think she’s ever deliberately rude, but she isn’t walking on eggshells either. The good news is that beneath most comics she explains the cultural differences involved, a courtesy I appreciate because more than one page left me thinking, “Christ, I can’t believe you wrote that” (believe it or not, I don’t think I’ve used him yet in my tour of religious exclamations).
Special mention goes to occasional racism strips that usually boil down to Denmark being unintentionally offensive (from the perspective of America) out of inexperience in the matter. I don’t think I should show the page about a…very unfortunate language mishap where some Danish words sound like racial slurs. Of course, the whole point of the page is to explain the misunderstanding, which I guess shouldn’t be upsetting in itself.
…It occurs to me that much of this review is going to essentially be “It’s ok, guys; SatW isn’t meant to be offensive, and if you give it a chance, you might really like it.” Maybe I should actually give you a page or two to look at so you can see why I enjoy it before I dig this hole any deeper.
From left to right: England (obviously), Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. History strips like this make up a good chunk of SatW.
And stereotypes (playful stereotypes, but still) make up another. The joke isn’t just that America is generally bad at geography (although I’m pretty sure we are). Humon explains beneath the comic: “Not a month goes by without someone confusing Sweden/Switzerland or Denmark/Netherlands. With Sweden/Switzerland it’s because of the names of the countries, but with Denmark/Netherlands it’s because people from Denmark are called Danish and people from Netherlands are called Dutch.”
America gets made fun of a lot, but to be fair, so does everyone. Humon is pretty equal opportunity about her teasing.
Even if you don’t like the humor on its own merits, I also read SatW because of the new cultural perspectives, joking though they often are. Humon’s explanations after each comic elaborate on her personal experiences with other nationalities and the ideas and practices she’s encountered, Danish or otherwise.
I think it’s pretty cool from an anthropological standpoint. This webcomic is a hell of a lot cheaper than travelling across Europe to see what people are thinking and doing, and I rarely get other opportunities to talk to non-Americans.
“Denmark is an incredibly safe aka. uneventful place to live…Even our nature is ridiculously safe. We have no nature catastrophes like hurricanes, earthquakes or big forest fires. No mountains to fall from. Our biggest predator is the fox, and our only poisonous snake is only sort of lethal if your [sic] old or sick. So when a moose swam from Sweden to Denmark, we freaked out! Because what if it stepped on someone!?…Danes have no idea what to do around big wild animals.”
All that said, let’s step back to the disclaimer: SatW features adult language and content. In particular, I’ll mention the semi-frequent sexuality (not that it can get that explicit with the Barbie Doll art style, although now and then Humon does more detailed pages). That folds back into different cultural perspectives. I can remember two strips off-hand that discuss how the average, traditional American is desensitized to most violence but freaks the hell out over the act that creates virtually all life (excluding bacteria and test tube babies, I guess). Regardless, SatW isn’t even within eyesight of, say, Game of Thrones, so I don’t think we should make a big deal about it.
Well, that’s pretty much the comic: possibly offensive but possibly good, depending on how seriously you take things. I think it’s usually funny, for however little that’s worth.
Humon also has a few other comics, all of them more adult than her first, so if SatW ticks you off, I recommend quitting while you’re ahead. Niels, for example, is about a sociopathic-yet-creepily-affable bisexual mob boss in a three-person marriage who commits some horrifying murders during the course of the comic, all while helping raise a kid with his two partners. When I found it after browsing SatW, it felt like the creators of Sesame Street had done a spin-off where Kermit became a drug addict and Bert and Ernie were jaded hitmen. Humon has a crazily broad range of tones and themes in her various works, so if you read her portfolio as a whole, be prepared for things to switch from lighthearted humor to what the hell, would it’ve killed you to put up a warning label?
Anyway. Here’s the first Scandinavia and the World page, if you’re interested (perhaps only to see if it lives up to the disclaimer). I’ll see you next week.