History Main / TheManInTheMoon

* The last Vitalite advert where [[TheFaceOfTheSun an anthropomorphic sun]] and a chorus of anthropomorphic sunflowers sang [[RepurposedPopSong a spoof of "Israelites" by Desmond Dekker]] had a moon with a face show up to take the sun's place after the latter {{Rage Quit}}ted over [[LeastRhymableWord not being able find a rhyme for "polyunsaturates"]]. After the moon sings the jingle, the sun immediately returns due to not approving of being replaced.

* In ''VideoGame/LocoRoco'', the Moon is very much alive.

* As a whole, stories of the Moon Man are thought to be relics of the [[Myth/NorseMythology Germanic/Anglo-Saxonic/Norse]] god [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani Máni]]. Particularly, they may be derived of a myth in which he rescued two children, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hjuki_and_Bil Hjúki and Bil]][[note]]If the names sound familiar, it's probably because the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme is also derived from this myth[[/note]] from their [[AbusiveParents abusive father]], which send them outside at night get water from a well. Since they have accompanied him ever since, and many actually reffer to lunar cratters/phases, they're the ''children in the Moon''.

** As a whole, the Man in the Moon seems to be a prevalent motif in Tolkien's work, dating first to his early writtings in which he invisioned an elf living in a hut in the Moon
** "The Cat and the Fiddle" was a famous (well, among philologists) mystery: nobody knew it's origin or meaning. As a scholarly in-joke Tolkien claimed it was a remnant of Bilbo's original song.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' featured the Mare in the Moon; this one is more SealedEvilInACan.

!!Western Examples

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* A 1940s text story from ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' was titled "The Boy who bossed the Man in the Moon".
* In ''ComicBook/EightBillionGenies'', someone made a wish that gives the Moon has a face, a ''huge'' mouth filled with teeth, and an appetite that eats ''anything'' that gets close enough to it.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', the big moon Aladdin and Jasmine were [[RidingIntoTheSunset riding into]] turns out to be the Genie. "Made you look!"
* Tweedledum turns into a singing moon during "The Walrus and the Carpenter" segment of ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'', while Tweedledee turns into [[TheFaceOfTheSun the sun.]]
* The Moon in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' for some reason has [[BigBad Oogie]] [[ChekhovsGunman Boogie's]] face on it!
* The Man In The Moon serves as the BigGood in ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'', the one who decides who becomes a Guardian.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* A female example in ''Film/ImJuli''. Daniel has a short hallucination sequence after [[SlippingAMickey drinking the drugged beverage]] served by [[MeaningfulName Luna]]. In this sequence, his bus travels across the night sky while the full moon shows Luna's face watching the bus passing by.
* The inspiration for the title and opening plot of the movie ''Film/TheManInTheMoon''.
* Appears during the 'Your Song' sequence in ''Film/MoulinRouge'' and sings with the voice of Placido Domingo.
* The [[OlderThanTelevision 1902 film]] ''Film/ATripToTheMoon'' (original French title ''Le Voyage dans la Lune'') provides the UrExample in film. The moon is depicted not only being a sentient being with a face but is also covered in giant mushrooms, apparently has enough oxygen for the humans to breathe, and is inhabited by savage RubberForeheadAliens called Selenites. Also, you can jump down from the moon to earth without getting hurt too much.
* In ''Film/TheTrumanShow'', Christof and the other showrunners are shown to be working from behind the fake moon on the Seahaven set. Also, in one scene, Truman depicts himself as an astronaut by drawing a spacesuit in the bathroom mirror.

[[folder:Folklore]]
* Medieval Christian tradition holds that the man in the Moon is Cain, who was forever doomed to circle the Earth. This is referenced in Dante Alighieri's ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno and Paradiso]]''.
* Similarly, a Literature/{{Talmud}}ic tradition holds that the face of Jacob is engraved upon the Moon.

!!Other Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In ''[[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Lagann]]-[[TheMovie Hen]]'', the [[BigBad Anti-Spiral]] appears in the moon right before Nia undergoes her FaceHeelTurn. Also note that this was [[AlmostKiss right before Simon and Nia kissed]].
* In ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' one enemy tries to make the Man in the Moon sneeze by shooting a blimp, propelled with the force of a thousand nosebleeds, into its nose.
* The moon in ''Manga/SoulEater'', which just [[NightmareRetardant isn't as nightmare-inducing]] as the one hovering above Termina because it doesn't threaten to fall on Death City or wherever. [[SlasherSmile But it's just]] [[BloodFromTheMouth as creepy]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* In ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'', the moon, like [[TheFaceOfTheSun the sun]], is often depicted with a face.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* In the mythology of the Haida in northwest America, the Man in the Moon is a boy gathering wood taken up into space as a punishment for disrespect.
* The Chinese have a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Gang Man.]] Either he used to live on the sun, but switched places with his two sisters when they got tired of men on Earth admiring their beauty every night; or he's stuck up there chopping trees for all eternity because he somehow offended the gods -- accounts differ. Then there's a [[MoonRabbit Rabbit]] pounding elixirs, and a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_E Lady]] (she ate the pills of immortality meant for both her and her husband to prevent him from becoming an immortal tyrant) in the Moon, all from separate folktales.
* In yet another Chinese myth, the Sun is a lovestruck (but ugly) male chasing after the Moon, a beautiful but haughty female.
* The Japanese GodOfTheMoon, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, is often believed to be male.
* The ''[[https://yokai.com/katsuraotoko/ katsura-otoko]]'' is an exceptionally beautiful male ''yōkai'' that [[LiteralManeater sucks the life out of any human gazing at the moon with his beauty]]. The word can also be used metaphorically to mean a very handsome man in general.
* One foolish old Maori woman got angry at the moon and called it a "cooked head," a grave insult (that may refer to cannibalism?). The moon abducted her and now she's stuck up there forever.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* In ''Franchise/{{Tamagotchi}}'', Tamagotchi Planet's moon is itself a Tamagotchi with eyes and a visible face. The planet's [[TheFaceOfTheSun sun]], Sunnytchi, is the same deal.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' has Mr. Shine; to distinguish him from his partner [[TheFaceOfTheSun Mr. Bright]], he is depicted as having a crescent moon-shaped face.
* The falling moon in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' grows a face and ''cries rocks''.
* Twila of [[VideoGame/MarioParty Mario Party 6]] is the smiling, largely friendly version. Partnered with [[TheFaceoftheSun Brighton]].
* The Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Lunatone invokes this trope, and it is similarly crescent-shaped. It appears in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Sapphire]]''; its counterpart in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Ruby]]'' is [[TheFaceOfTheSun Solrock]].
[[/folder]]

* In ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' one enemy tries to make the Man in the Moon sneeze by shooting a blimp, propelled with the force of a thousand nosebleeds, into its nose and... Well, it's a WidgetSeries by Gainax, so let's leave it at that!

* The ''[[https://yokai.com/katsuraotoko/ katsura-otoko]]'' is an exceptionally beautiful male ''yōkai'' that sucks the life out of any human gazing at the moon with his beauty. The word can also be used metaphorically to mean a very handsome man in general.

-->-- '''Endymion''', John Lyly.

* The Moon in ''[[VideoGame/{{Something}} Something Else]]''. It has an evil smirk on its face. [[spoiler: Also, the true base of the Evil Guy.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Gronk}}'': In [[http://www.gronkcomic.com/2011/08/08262011/ this comic]], Gronk tries saying [[Literature/GoodnightMoon goodnight to the moon]]. The moon responds in a very rude manner.

* The Chinese have a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Gang Man]]. Either he used to live on the sun, but switched places with his two sisters when they got tired of men on Earth admiring their beauty every night; or he's stuck up there chopping trees for all eternity because he somehow offended the gods -- accounts differ. Then there's a [[MoonRabbit Rabbit]] pounding elixirs, and a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang_E Lady]] (she ate the pills of immortality meant for both her and her husband to prevent him from becoming an immortal tyrant) in the Moon, all from separate folktales.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' 's episode "The Griffin Family History" had Peter in the role of an ancestor working in Hollywood in the 1920's, and in one film, he looks through the telescope at the Man In The Moon.

* ''WesternAnimation/RubyGloom'''s seemingly ever-present moon has a vaguely feminine face. Apart from singing the opening theme, it rarely does more than sit in the sky and look cheerful and somewhat out-of-place. Sometimes it reacts to what the characters are doing.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', the moon is an animated minor character with arms, legs, and visible buttocks, who enjoys harassing his sunlit neighbor, The Sun, by [[VisualPun mooning him]].
* Dora The Explorer has a few moons with faces on them. The Full Moon in her regular world and a Crescent moon in Fairy Tale land.

* The Man in the Moon is an actual (non-appearing?) character in the ''[[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians Rise of the Guardians]]''.

* ''WesternAnimation/MoonBreathBeat'': At one point in this DerangedAnimation cartoon, the woman and her two cats morph into the man in the moon, who blows another universe out of his mouth. Then later he reappears and sucks them back up.
* Luna of ''WesternAnimation/LetsGoLuna'' is a female moon with a face, arms, and legs.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' episode "More Than One Moon", Sydney tells the story of the Man in the Moon to Mindy. In the episode "[[Recap/ReadyJetGoS2E24MoonFaceLoneStar2RocketKids Moon Face]]", Mindy thinks that the moon has a face because of the dark splotches, and the kids investigate to see what causes them.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In "Let's Play Simon Says", the moon is depicted with a sleeping face.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon ''WesternAnimation/HoneymoonHotel1934'', the moon looks through their window, says that he can see everything they do, and blushes when they turn out the light.
-->'''Moon:''' Is my face red!
* ''WesternAnimation/CityIsland2022'': There is a talking moon named Celeste.