Scandinavia and the World

Child-like Joy

Poor Norway.

Hans Christian Andersen for Denmark, the creator of Pippi Longstocking (can't remember the name) for Sweden and Tove Jansson for Finland, right?

edited 28th Sep '17 9:04:45 AM by Quag15

Sweden is Astrid Lindgren. You got them right. The works of those three authors are incredibly popular in Finland. Tove Jansson and Moomin are probably the most popular these days. Most Finnish chidren become Moomin fans at a very early age because an anime adaptation from the 90s is still very popular here. Personally, I never got what's so special about Moomin. I've never been a fan, myself, but I've still seen just about every episode of the show and read some of the books and comics.

From my perspective as a relative outsider ^note  I got to know about them when I did a piece for a cable channel here about the then-recent movie, Moomins on the Riviera, some 3 years ago, the appeal of the Moomin stories is both in the chemistry and personality of the characters (especially the personality part, as both male and female characters' personalities are equally interesting, in different ways) and the ability of Jansson to deal with tough (such as in Moominland Midwinter) and lighter subject matters with relative ease.

edited 28th Sep '17 9:47:09 AM by Quag15

It would have been interesting if Disney got the rights to the Moomins brand. Just imagine that, the Moomins probably could have become just as big as Pooh. Because if anyone remembers, Pooh was originally a British series and took off in America when Disney got their hands on it. I never grew up with the Moomins, because I am American but after getting familiar with the series I kind of wish I could have grown up with it. The Moomins really need to become a thing in America just like in the Nordic countries and Japan.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/TheMoomins

I've never heard of the Moomins.

I've heard of the Moomins but they were never a thing in Australia.

The most interesting thing about them is that the original Moomin character - Moomintroll (though I, of course, know him as Muumipeikko) was created when Jansson had an argument with her sister (when they were children, obviously), and decided to fire the next shot by making a drawing of her sister as a hideous caricature with a face that is almost entirely just a massive nose. That drawing, apparently, was the inspiration for the - well, I suppose "species" is the right word - of the Moomin.

Incidentally, even though I think of them in the Finnish names the characters and setting have, I'm not necessarily much closer to the original than English-speaking fans are. Tove Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finn, so the originals are all in Swedish.

If I had to pick one thing that people should check out about the Moomin, I'd recommend looking up the Groke, especially in the anime - and not necessarily with the English cast, because the Groke's voice in Finnish is better. There aren't many characters in the show who are obviously villains, but the Groke is a monster. (Apparently there's a tragic backstory and so on, but from the point of view of most characters, she's a monster.)

The Groke freezes everything she touches, and when she moves you can see that even the ground is covered in ice. Still, she visits the main characters every now and then, presumably looking to enter their house and maybe stay there - it's impossible to tell, because very few of her utterances consist of words. It's mostly just kind of groaning or growling.

On my anecdotal experience - not my own, but what I've heard from plenty of people - it seems by far the most common fictional character to appear in Finnish people's nightmares. My brother, who is 27, still has nightmares of the Groke every now and then.

So you know, that's pretty cool for a kids' show. There are a couple of things that even I like about it, as you can see.

The funny thing is even though many people who grew up on the show find her frightening, for some reason I don't. I guess it's because I only got into the Moomins recently and I do have to say if I ever have kids I want to get them the books for them. Like I said, I think us Americans should get into this series.

I wasn't one of the kids who was afraid of the Groke, either. I do understand why she's scary, though. There's the ice thing, of course. Then there's the way she appears: you always see just the eyes and creepy, sort of smiling mouth first, because those are the only non-dark parts of her. She moves slowly but with purpose, and often will give chase. Literally the only line she ever has (in the anime) that isn't just growling is "I'll be back". Usually when she's about to make an appearance, you're shown shots of the plants dying of the cold, and it suddenly gets dark (or darker).

Then there's the shape. It's not even vaguely humanoid: just a sort of shapeless, shrouded figure with very prominent facial features (but just the eyes and mouth, and the nose only when she's standing in the light). She's got short arms but long fingers. Her footprints show that she's got weird feet, as well - but you never see most of her body because it's all covered in that shroud.

Who were we talking about, Cheshire cat?

As scary as the Groke is, I think the Lady Of the Cold is scarier in that she seems more intentionally malicious. Groke is scary but misunderstood, while the Lady Of the Cold in the book has the ability to kill someone with her freezing powers. Once you get beneath her character, the Groke is someone I have to feel sad for because she wants friends and warmth but her abilities prevent her from that.

http://moomin.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lady_of_the_Cold

I've heard of the moomins but wasn't knowledgeable about them as a kid. The way I would be knowledgeable about Hans Christian Anderson's works (once I learnt they weren't just folktales, but had an author), or Pippi.

I had never heard of the Moomins either. Of all the three authors from the comic, Andersen is the only one I was familiar with (I read some of his stories when I was a kid and rather liked them, even though most of them were downright depressing). What amuses me reading this discussion, especially the reference to Disney above, is that apparently they took pages from the Groke when they "adapted" HC Andersen's The Snow Queen.

Wait, Elsa appears in a Scandanavian kids show? ;)

I vaguely remember the Moomin cartoon. It creeped me the fuck out. I don't remember anything specific. Yet, just seeing some pictures of it again made me uneasy.

It's got scary parts, but since this conversation has only focused on that, I should probably point out that it's mostly a cheerful and happy show. It's much more about comedy and friendship and adventure and so on than it is about horror. Still, it does have those horror scenes in it, and to be honest, that's one thing I quite like about the show, and I wish more children's shows had that. (You know, within reason.)

I find myself praising and defending a show I don't even really like here. I suppose that's one of the "perks" of being from a small and entirely irrelevant country: when someone does actually listen to you, you feel defensive because of your (self-)perceived inferiority.

Don't worry national treasures should be defended to healthy levels. I know Finland is not a talked about country, but I think it's kind of a shame not more people in America can appreciate the Moomins. I also have developed an animated crush on the 90's anime version of Snufkins, and it looks like a wide demographic of female fans, who grew up with the show did as well.

I can understand and empathize about the inferiority complex part. Here in Portugal, it has also been felt, both in the past and in the current days (there's still a noticeable problem of Cultural Cringe here in regards to areas such as cinema, even though this country has given a couple of cult filmmakers of fine quality like Manoel de Oliveira and Pedro Costa; our music used to suffer from this, but it's more diverse and filled with little hidden gems that are going abroad nowadays), though things are getting better, with more and more foreign people appreciating our stuff.

Still, Finland may not be talked about too much nowadays, but I think you guys did pretty well, all things considered, in showing/giving things and some of your best people to the world: Sibelius' music, the Kalevala, Moomins, Nokia, metal bands, Kaurismäki's movies, Paavo Nurmi, Kimi Raikkonen (and many other racers), Jari Litmanen or Sami Hyypiä...

edited 1st Oct '17 8:21:31 PM by Quag15

And lest we forget, the word perkele.

Halloween Appropriation

Shinto Kami

For the full-size version, click the eye button to the right of the random comic button.

I like these prints.

Holy shit, Moomin!

For some reason, he is very frequently used in my country's comedy sites and I've been always wondering where he's from! Now I know.

More Than You.