A Man Called Ove played with a trope that might be familiar to viewers who have seen Up (and other media, of course, though I’m struggling to remember them at the moment): an older man who, in his youth, fell in love with a woman who helped him come out of his shell, but who lost her in some tragic incident and consequently withdrew from society and human connection. This man will, over the course of the story, learn to love life again and form new connections, no longer relying on his now-dead wife as an intermediary for connecting with others. Even though this is just a media trope, I feel like there is some innate truth to it that causes it to crop up so often in media. Women are often seen as emotionally intelligent, sensitive persons compared to men, and often wives and girlfriends are expected to be the sole bearer of a man’s emotional baggage. When suddenly deprived of that sole outlet for emotional expression, men in the real world might react in a way similar to Ove–cutting themselves off from all other people. If we think about it, how often do you see depictions in the media of women who can’t bear to have any human connections or work through their emotions on their own after their husbands die?

I won’t say that this trope exists solely because of this phenomenon, or even that this male behavior is universal (it’s probably a very Western-centric take), but I do think the trope can provide some insight into how we view the emotional capabilities of men and women.