In Sweden this has long been portrayed as a foolish, nationalistic enterprise by someone who should have known better, sacrificing lives for no reason. (Combined with a bit of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante)
I wonder if it wouldn't have been (previously) portrayed as primarily courageous in the US, had it all taken place with people from there?
... related, while there is a lot of new excitement about human spaceflight in the US now, almost every single piece of ~current mainstream TV/film drama (with the notable exception The Orville) focusing on space/scifi is dystopic and/or really negatively focusing on the human/family costs of the main characters (example: For All Mankind), to the point where it's getting a bit silly.
Isn't it embarrassing that it was foolish? I think so. Compare with many other polar expeditions that seem to have be carried out in higher professionalism. This was people who had no training in the area (and didn't ensure they had) who went to an adventure they were not ready for. We'd be embarrassed if it happened today, too?
I wonder how recent the portrayal you describe is. The popular view may have been influenced by Per Olof Sundman's book about it from 1967, it was certainly of that opinion. But I wonder if it was a widespread opinion also before then. I believe they got state funerals when they were found.
Sweden in past and US today are gynocentric societies. They take "women have always been the primary victims of war" quite literally.
No enterprise can be good, if it leaves widows and orphans behind.
There is an interesting footnote to the story. One of the team members, Nils Strindberg, was an early believer in cremation, and belonged to a cremation club. When his body was found, he was cremated according to his will.
In his absence, his fiancé had long since married another man. When she died, she asked that her heart be cremated. It ashes were then secretly buried by Nil's friends alongside his ashes.
Funny thing was that they could have used kites like Børge Ousland, who sometimes moved hundred kilometers per day. There is nothing radically different in modern kites. Especially if they had visited Japan. Rokkaku-kite is just few bamboo sticks and canvas and scales up to 10 square meters. And you can chain them, if you want more speed.
I wonder if it wouldn't have been (previously) portrayed as primarily courageous in the US, had it all taken place with people from there?
... related, while there is a lot of new excitement about human spaceflight in the US now, almost every single piece of ~current mainstream TV/film drama (with the notable exception The Orville) focusing on space/scifi is dystopic and/or really negatively focusing on the human/family costs of the main characters (example: For All Mankind), to the point where it's getting a bit silly.