Line #37 Main/TheManInTheMoon


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7	->''"There liveth none under the sunne, that knows what to make of the man in the moone."''
8	-->-- '''Theatre/{{Endymion}}''', John Lyly.
9
10	The brother trope to TheFaceOfTheSun, the Man in the Moon is that old conception of the Moon as [[ItKindOfLooksLikeAFace possessing a face, most often a male one]]. The moon is often an aged but benevolent figure who stands over the Earth, granting it natural bounty or serving as the destination for young adventurers. This trope, while at least OlderThanFeudalism, is nowadays mostly only seen in quirky video games and {{animat\|ionAgeGhetto}}ed children's media.
11
12	This conception, incidentally, is primarily Western. East Asian cultures, such as that of Japan, tend to see the Moon as having a [[MoonRabbit rabbit]] on its face, rather than possessing human features.
13
14	Also, as the Moon appears to be flipped in the Southern Hemisphere (because people in the Southern Hemisphere are effectively standing upside down relative to the Northern Hemisphere), the traditional Man in the Moon is upside down and quite hard to discern.
15
16	Bears little to no relation to WeirdMoon. See MoonRabbit for the version more popular in East Asian cultures. Men ''on'' the Moon may be {{Lunarians}}. See also GodOfTheMoon, for entities distinct from the moon itself but which otherwise embody or govern it.
17
18	Not related to the [[Film/TheManInTheMoon film]] of the same name.
19	----
20	[[foldercontrol]]
21
22	!!Examples
23
24	[[folder:Advertising]]
25	* A man with a crescent moon for a head wearing CoolShades, known as "Mac Tonight" was once part of the side characters for UsefulNotes/McDonalds, as well as an early role for Creator/DougJones.
26	* In an older commercial, the Man in the Moon (shaped like a crescent moon) noticed Ronald [=McDonald=] and his friends having a picnic, and said he'd never had a cheeseburger, so Ronald used his Magic Pogo Stick to bring him one. When he landed back on Earth, the Man had become a [[DoubleEntendre full moon.]]
27	* The Man in the Moon logo for Proctor and Gamble made them the target of Satanic Panic.
28	* ''Creator/SpaceChannel'' had as one of its bumpers a parody of the famous ''Film/ATripToTheMoon'' scene, only instead of the rocket hitting the Moon in the eye, it lands in its mouth, and the Moon starts smoking it like a giant cigar.
29	* 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 crescent 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.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
33	* 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]].
34	* 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.
35	* 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]].
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
39	* In ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'', the moon, like [[TheFaceOfTheSun the sun]], is often depicted with a face.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Comic Books]]
43	* A 1940s text story from ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' was titled "The Boy who bossed the Man in the Moon".
44	* 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.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
48	* 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!"
49	* Tweedledum turns into a singing moon during "The Walrus and the Carpenter" segment of ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'', while Tweedledee turns into [[TheFaceOfTheSun the sun.]]
50	* The Moon in ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' for some reason has [[BigBad Oogie]] [[ChekhovsGunman Boogie's]] face on it!
51	* The Man In The Moon serves as the BigGood in ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'', the one who decides who becomes a Guardian.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
55	* 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.
56	* The inspiration for the title and opening plot of the movie ''Film/TheManInTheMoon''.
57	* Appears during the 'Your Song' sequence in ''Film/MoulinRouge'' and sings with the voice of Placido Domingo.
58	* 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.
59	* 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.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Folklore]]
63	* 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]]''.
64	* Similarly, a Literature/{{Talmud}}ic tradition holds that the face of Jacob is engraved upon the Moon.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Literature]]
68	* From an old NurseryRhyme:
69	-->''The man in the moon''\
70	''Came down too soon''\
71	''To ask his way to Norwich.''\
72	''He went by the south''\
73	''And burnt his mouth''\
74	''While eating cold plum porridge''
75	* Many of Creator/EricCarle's books have the moon depicted as a [[GiganticMoon huge full moon]] with a smiling face. This is especially prominent in ''Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me''.
76	* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/ExtraterrestrialCivilizations'': (DiscussedTrope) Dr Asimov credits the illusion of a man (or a woman, or [[MoonRabbit a rabbit]], and so on) in UsefulNotes/TheMoon for inspiring humanity's search for civilizations from alien worlds.
77	* In ''Literature/TheGuardiansOfChildhood'', the Moon is a broken down space sailing ship. Owned by the noble family of Lunanoff, it was attacked by the Nightmare King Pitch and damaged beyond function in the battle, leaving it in its disguised state as an ordinary moon. The only remaining member of the Lunanoffs, the Man in the Moon is raised to adulthood by the ship's crew of robots and large insects and keeps a watchful eye on the Earth to keep the children safe from Pitch's lingering influence beyond the [[SealedEvilInACan can]] he was sealed in as result of the same battle.
78	* Creator/JRRTolkien based one of his poems on the NurseryRhyme listed above. He also put the Man In The Moon in his poem based on "Hey diddle-diddle, the cat and the fiddle." In Middle-earth the moon-ship is steered by a male Maia.
79	** As a whole, the Man in the Moon seems to be a prevalent motif in Tolkien's work, dating first to his early writings in which he envisioned an elf living in a hut in the Moon
80	** "The Cat and the Fiddle" was a famous (well, among philologists) mystery: nobody knew its origin or meaning. As a scholarly in-joke Tolkien claimed it was a remnant of Bilbo's original song.
81	* In Creator/TomiUngerer's ''Literature/MoonMan'', the eponymous character is initially crammed in a round shape on the Moon, with his face covering a large surface on it.
82	* Creator/LFrankBaum wrote a short story based on the above nursery rhyme in his book ''Mother Goose in Prose.'' In his version, the reason why the Man in the Moon burns his mouth on cold porridge is because he perceives hot as cold and cold as hot: he also warms himself with ice and puts hot coals in his drinking water.
83	* ''Literature/MyNewKitten'': A interesting example of this Trope, the Moon appears to have a nose; no eyes, no mouth, just a nose.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
87	* On the Playhouse Disney children's series ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'', the moon was named Luna and was a good friend of Bear. Bear and Luna often meet on Bear's balcony and Bear tells Luna what he has done during the day and they sing the "Goodbye Song".
88	* ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'' features the Moon as a character with a face who provides monologues to break up the segments of the show.
89	* Dorothy Jane in ''Series/TheTorkelsons'' often sat on her windowsill and talked to the Man in the Moon.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Music]]
93	* Ada Jones' ''If The Man In The Moon Were A Coon'' [[ValuesDissonance from 1907]].
94	* Music/ConwayTwitty's "I Don't Know a Thing About Love (The Moon Song)":
95	-->I talked to the man in the moon\
96	I said, "Sir, is she coming back soon?"\
97	He smiled and he stated\
98	"Son, I'm over-rated\
99	I've had to much credit in those old love tunes\
100	I don't know a thing about love\
101	I just kind of hang here above\
102	I just watch from the sky\
103	Will love grow or will it die\
104	I don't know a thing about love"
105	* The Music/{{Erasure}} song "Man In The Moon" portrays him as a benevolent, smiling figure.
106	* Referenced in the Music/{{Shinedown}} song "Second Chance":
107	-->I just saw Hayley's comet she waved\
108	Said why you always running in place\
109	Even the man in the moon disappeared\
110	Somewhere in the stratosphere
111	* The video for Music/TheSmashingPumpkins' song "Tonight, Tonight", largely an homage to ''A Trip to the Moon'', of course features a face in the moon.
112	* A stanza of ''Well Done Liar'' or ''Martin Said To His Man'', one of a whole genre's worth of British nonsense songs describing a man telling tall tales to his friends while drunk, includes the words:
113	-->I saw the man in the moon\
114	Clothed in St Peter's Shoon...
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
118	* In Polish legends, a wizard Twardowski (pronounced Tvardovsky) is said to have got stranded on the moon after his last ditch attempt to get out of a literal DealWithTheDevil .
119	* 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 from 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]], who sent them outside at night get water from a well. Since they have accompanied him ever since, and may actually refer to lunar craters/phases, they're the ''children in the Moon''.
120	* Many [[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Eastern Orthodox]] Christian icons depicting [[Literature/BookOfGenesis God creating the sun and moon]] show them with faces, as can be seen [[https://web.archive.org/web/20211003181637/https://store.ancientfaith.com/creation-of-heavenly-bodies-large-icon/ here]] and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20210410114016/https://www.uncutmountainsupply.com/icons/of-christ/the-creation-of-the-stars-11t08/ here]].
121	* 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.
122	* 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.
123	* In yet another Chinese myth, the Sun is a lovestruck (but ugly) male chasing after the Moon, a beautiful but haughty female.
124	* The Japanese GodOfTheMoon, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, is often believed to be male.
125	* 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.
126	* 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.
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
130	* [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1989/06/28 Referenced]] in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''.
131	-->'''Calvin:''' "I saw the man in the moon tonight."\
132	'''Calvin's Dad:'''(not paying attention) "Mmm."\
133	'''Calvin:''' "I didn't know the moon made faces."\
134	'''Calvin's Dad:'''(still not paying attention) "That's phases."
135	* In ''ComicStrip/PricklyCity'', the moon starts to make faces when Carmen says we haven't been back in a long time.
136	* Happens in the ''ComicStrip/{{Scamp}}'' newspaper strip. It even says hi to the dogs, but rather than seeing the face everyone else sees, Tramp sees Lady's face and realizes he's been away from home far too late.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
140	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' one of the moons sometimes really has a face, especially when full. Justified since it is made entirely of GreenRocks.
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Theatre]]
144	* ''Theatre/{{Endymion}}'' fittingly draws on this imagery as it is about a man who falls in love with the moon goddess.
145	* Referenced in ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream''; in the ShowWithinAShow, Starveling plays Moonlight, who is represented by a man with a lantern, dog and bush, which was the common conception of the Man in the Moon at the time. Spectators wonder [[FridgeLogic if he should be inside his lantern, which also stands for the moon's light]].
146	[[/folder]]
147
148	[[folder:Toys]]
149	* 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.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Video Games]]
153	* In ''Videogame/AdventureQuest'', there are two weird moons; one has a face and leads to the Void, where the strongest monsters of the game are held. The second also has a face and is an interpretation of the BigBad.
154	* In ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'', the moon is visible in the obligatory ice level. It not only has a full face, but tattoos and a cigarette in a long holder. Its cigarette's smoke is the aurora which laces through the sky.
155	* ''VideoGame/AyoTheClown'': In the first level, if you look at the moon, you'll see that it has a little face.
156	* During the Halloween event in ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', the moon appears as [[https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/File:Droknars_Forge_Halloween_2008.jpg huge with a creepy face]] in certain cities.
157	* In ''VideoGame/HellPie'', the moon at Flavor Peaks is full and has a face on it.
158	* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' has Mr. Shine; to distinguish him from his partner [[TheFaceOfTheSun Mr. Bright]], he is depicted as having a crescent moon-shaped face.
159	* The falling moon in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' grows a face and ''cries rocks''.
160	* In ''VideoGame/LocoRoco'', the Moon is very much alive.
161	* Twila of [[VideoGame/MarioParty Mario Party 6]] is the smiling, largely friendly version. Partnered with [[TheFaceoftheSun Brighton]].
162	* ''VideoGame/MoshiMonsters'' has a moon with a face on it.
163	* The Moon in ''[[VideoGame/{{Something}} Something Else]]''. It has an evil smirk on its face. [[spoiler:Also, the true base of the Evil Guy.]]
164	* 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]].
165	* In ''Wiz 'n Liz'', the moon has a face. Usually it just looks like it's asleep, but every now and then it will yawn, and come out with an incredibly creepy grimace.
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Web Animation]]
169	* ''WebAnimation/TheAmazingDigitalCircus'': [[ADogNamedDog The Moon]] is the crescent moon personification of the night in the Digital World and is female, [[LoveConfession confessing her love]] for Caine when he takes Pomni into the sky during their tour, which freaks him out into leaving before she "gets frisky".
170	* ''WebAnimation/{{ENA}}'': ENA's friend [[MeaningfulName Moony]] is a floating crescent moon with a face. Her whole body is actually a ball, but only the moon part has anything in it, giving her a TwoFaced look that matches ENA.
171	* A Running Gag in [[WebAnimation/HourOfPoop HourOfPoop's YTPs]] is the moon having Charles Laughton's face.
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder:Webcomics ]]
175	* ''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.
176	* ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'': In one of the comic's many nods to the franchise, the moon looks like the one from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''. It also has [[spoiler:eye lasers]].
177	* In ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'', the sun and moon have faces and occasionally make quips about what's going on down at ground level. They transform into one another at dawn and dusk rather than rising or setting.
178	[[/folder]]
179
180	[[folder:Web Original]]
181	* Not visible from Earth but one of the reasons the ''Website/SCPFoundation'' and the American and Russian governments agreed to stop manned missions to the moon was because the dark side looked like Alastair Crowley's face.
182	[[/folder]]
183
184	[[folder:Western Animation]]
185	* 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]].
186	* ''WesternAnimation/CityIsland2022'': There is a talking moon named Celeste.
187	* ''WesternAnimation/ColorClassics'': The 1935 short ''Dancing on the Moon'' has a gag where the Moon briefly becomes a caricature of "moon-faced" Kate Smith, saying her signature "Hello, everybody!".
188	* ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' has a few moons with faces on them. The Full Moon in her regular world and a Crescent moon in Fairy Tale land.
189	* ''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.
190	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' had Craterface, the mascot of Luna Park, to whom Bender shoves a beer bottle in his eye in a reference to the ''Film/ATripToTheMoon'' ur-example.
191	* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' consistently had a happy face on the moon, and one episode's plot revolved around MAD [[DefaceOfTheMoon changing it to their logo]].
192	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In "Let's Play Simon Says", the moon is depicted with a sleeping face.
193	* Luna of ''WesternAnimation/LetsGoLuna'' is a female moon with a face, arms, and legs.
194	* 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.
195	-->'''Moon:''' Is my face red!
196	* ''WesternAnimation/MollyOfDenali'': At the start of the episode "Mystery In the Night Sky," Nat tells Molly about how the moon is putting on his parka to tell us that it will snow.
197	* ''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.
198	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' featured the Mare in the Moon; this one is more SealedEvilInACan, and a tripple {{Pun}} since "Mare" can mean female horse (which she is), the scientific term for the dark spots on the moon, and a mythological being that induces night''mares'' (which she does).
199	* 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.
200	* The Man in the Moon is an actual (non-appearing?) character in ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians''.
201	* ''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.
202	* The Man in the Moon appears as an actual character in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode of the same name.
203	* The Man in the Moon in the WesternAnimation/TomTerrific story arc "Moon Over Manfred" controls the moon phases which manipulates earth's tides. Only here he's quitting his job because he's always being buzzed by satellites.
204	[[/folder]]

Context Main / TheManInTheMoon