‘The movie ended quite well, but not that well, and I liked that because that’s how it is in reality’: Reception of and Debates on Suzanne Osten’s Films for Children

The Swedish director Suzanne Osten is a pioneer of great importance for child culture and children’s rights in Scandinavia. Ever since 1968, she has directed norm-breaking theatre plays of high artistic quality for young audiences. She has also directed two children’s films, Carmen’s Revenge (1996) and The Girl, the Mother, and the Demons (2016), both of which were initially banned for audience members under 15 years of age by the Swedish Media Council. This chapter focuses on these films but also on the intense debates following them, since these debates reflect society’s conflicting notions on childhood in an interesting manner. Not least, the debates reveal important issues about the complex balance between on the one hand children’s rights to experience art and on the other hand their need for protection. In addition, the chapter proceeds from so-called reception studies that has a long tradition within the research field of children’s theatre studies in Sweden but is largely unexplored within cinema studies. Children themselves have claimed that Osten’s films are interesting and important, and drawing upon these viewpoints, the chapter also discusses the sometimes striking differences between children’s and adults’ notions of child culture. In conclusion, the chapter argues for the importance of giving children the chance, ideally together with adults, to experience art that portrays complex subjects.