Northern Jutland as an Intertextual Location: Hyperrealities in Peripheral Denmark

With the region of Northern Jutland as a concrete case, the discussion about peripheral areas in Denmark will be contextualized in Augé's theory about anthropological places and non-places, and his theory will be expanded constructively and critically with the concept of intertextual locations.

The hypothesis is that places can appear not only as places in their own right, but also as locations in media contexts at the same time. They may have been used in films and TV series, so that they have become known in this way. E.g., the Odessa Steps from Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925) or Mount Rushmore's presidential sculptures from Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). More generally, places may also appear as stereotypical location topoi. E.g., underground car parks are recognized from innumerable crime films and thrillers as a dramaturgically perilous location, and not just as an Augé-non-place. They are not just places to park. In the same sense, already in 1981 in his treatment of hyperreality Baudrillard claimed that America in itself was a sign, as America could only be recognized from media and films and not cognized in itself.

The article will view Northern Jutland in this light, and places in Northern Jutland from the Skaw (pictorial art and film) through Nordkraft (film), Mariager Fiord with the cement factory from Hans Kirk's Daglejerne and De ny Tider (literature) are cases that seek to verify and illustrate the hypothesis of the article. The aim of the article is to suggest how Northern Jutland can be regarded as a location potential of this kind, which is can promote film and media production in the region. An important point in this connection will be that there may be a local and peripheral wish to become an intertextual location because this may lead to regional development if successful, as interviews carried out for the article with key regional executives demonstrate.