I skuggan av 1968 : Individ och kollektiv i svensk dokumentärfilm 1967–1972

We know from previous research that Swedish film in the years around 1968 was radicalized and focused on social injustices and societal problems. But we know very little about how these social injustices and social problems were portrayed in Swedish documentary film during these years. This essay aims to provide increased knowledge about the relationship between the politically and socially upheaval years around 1968 and various expressions in Swedish documentary film during these years. The aim is achieved by studying to what extent and in what way the documentary film is characterized by the conflict between left and right and the conflict between freedom and authority. We use Bill Nichols' categorization of documentary film into six different modes and with particular focus on observational and participatory modes from the 1960s and early 1970s. The results show that the left-right dimension is the dominant conflict perspective in all five films examined. It is mainly social groups and collective belonging that are in focus and have agency. The films analyzed here are usually dominated by an observational mode. Different modes can be combined with and reinforce each other in a way that makes what appears on the screen go beyond Nichols' strict categories. There also seems to be a certain connection between different modes and the left-right dimension and the libertarian-authoritarian conflict dimension. A poetic mode and above all a participatory (cinéma vérité-inspired) mode contains the demolition of authority we associate with 1968 and the impact of the libertarian-authoritarian dimension.