Modern Water Sprites

• Main Author: Zimmer, Fabian
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Amsterdam University Press 2023
• Subjects: Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5117/9789462986534_ch07; https://scienceopen.com/book?vid=169dd8c2-fedf-46c7-a7bb-c985a565badc

In the 1950s, the Swedish State Power Board Vattenfall commissioned a large number of short films documenting the construction of water power plants in northern Sweden. Focusing on a selection of these films, I argue in this chapter that Vattenfall’s film production must be seen in the context of a larger shift in Vattenfall’s PR strategies. Starting in the 1950s, Vattenfall used film as a central medium for mitigating conflicts surrounding the construction of water power plants. Mobilizing new and ambivalent narratives of modernity, the films were designed to depict Vattenfall as an environmentally and socially friendly company –an image that was perfectly embodied by the allegory of the modern water sprite.