Now that I've (very) tangentially mentioned Scandinavia in my last post, allow me to segue into telling you about one of my new favorite things:
This is an online comic, drawn by a Danish woman, in which each of the Scandinavian countries (and often other countries too) are personified as cute little bobble-headed figures, dressed in the colors of their respective national flags for easy identification, whose interactions draw on the stereotypes and histories between their countries.
It's awesome. And I've learned a whole lot about Scandinavian and European international relations, even if the artist makes clear she's just playing with the clichés, and not meant to be taken as fact. (For example, in explaining why her comics almost never feature the Faroe Islands: "The thing
about the Faroes is that Danes usually forget all about them because they’re
small and they don’t hate us quite as much as Greenland.")
As an example, here's one of my all-time favorites: Still a Long Way
Theoretically, as an American I suppose should be insulted, but instead I can't help loving that her cartoon-America is a big, goofy, enthusiastic guy who's trying really hard, but still manages to muddle things up more often that not. Come on, who hasn't ever been asked by a well-meaning American, "Denmark, that's where they speak Dutch, right?"
Also, how
much do I LOVE that personified Norway (that nature-loving, sea-faring nation) always walks around happily clutching a fish?
Germany comes up sometimes too, being Denmark's only neighbor to share a land border, so occasionally the reader is treated to a German neurosis or two, as in this one: Evil Flag
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