How Netflix is creating a common European culture
Streaming subtitled box sets is the new Eurovision
“BARBARIANS”, A NETFLIX drama set 2,000 years ago in ancient Germania, inverts some modern stereotypes. In it, sexy, impulsive, proto-German tribesmen take on an oppressive superstate led by cold, rational Latin-speakers from Rome. Produced in Germany, it has all the hallmarks of a glossy American drama (gratuitous violence and prestige nudity) while remaining unmistakably German (in one episode someone swims through a ditch full of scheisse). It is a popular mix: on a Sunday in October, it was the most-watched show on Netflix not just in Germany, but also in France, Italy and 14 other European countries.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Netflix Europa”
From the March 31st 2021 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Europe
France is desperately searching for a government
Party rivalry threatens deadlock before compromise
A Russian missile hits a children’s hospital in central Kyiv
The Kremlin tries to deny responsibility
Viktor Orban solidifies his credentials as the EU’s pantomime villain
The Hungarian prime minister’s “peace mission” to Russia has peeved Europeans