Benoni

If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

Note; darkness unfolds, prematurely

Yes, I would be Benoni from Knut Hamsun work. It’s deeply connected with my fathers history also, the darkness of the mid 1970s in Northern Norwegian society. There was a television series called ‘Benoni og Rosa’ from 1975 and my father knew the dark side of being different in a closed environment.

I watch the series online a few years ago, and it really affected me deep. I thought it would be painful but it was also very interesting seeing 70s actors being in a fictional 1800s Northern Norwegian community. Benoni was a fisherman visiting Lofoten region and his love interest Rosa being central to the story. If you live in Norway I believe you can watch the whole series on NRK nett-tv (online television) and I can recommend doing that.

I’m as some already know a Sámi woman and there were some Sámi persons in the series and books. That one character became my fathers cruel nickname from his Norwegian classmates, I don’t understand why the society was so closed off from other Northern towns with slightly different way of speaking. Maybe it’s Norwegianization related, forced assimilation policies toward Sámi and Kven cultures in Norwegian society.

Sometimes I just need to talk about dark topics, and this time it’s about 1970s television series being used to harm an innocent boy doing his best to blend in with the other children while being hurt deep.

Those are some thoughts today, I don’t know what more to write.

Thank you for reading my blog ❤