The Complete Amateur’s Guide to Moomin
This video is brought to you by contributions to Patreon.com/henrykathman From viewers like you. Thank you When it comes to fandoms on the internet,
it is often interesting to see what is suddenly able to become popular. With each passing year, many have been able
to track which fandoms are the most pervasive on the internet, while almost never being
able to predict future hits. On one day, everyone might be raving about
a new tv show that has just come out, only for most people to move onto a game that received
an update the next day.
While there are certain incorporated elements
of a work that might have more guaranteed success with future audiences; the media that
truly resonates with large groups of people often do so by addressing a fundamental idea
or theme that had been previously under-addressed or unmentioned. And in recent months, this hasn’t been more
apparent than has been with the sudden rise of the Moomin series within
certain fan communities in the United States. While this is a cute approachable series that
has had a recently released tv incarnation, what further differentiates Moomin from the
expected fandom cycles can be seen within the history of the series. Unlike most other popular media franchises,
the moomins have had a widely successful career throughout the world for nearly 75 years,
only for it to be widely ignored and undistributed in America, until now.
Though with this sudden popularity, there
are many people who are now just coming into the series and discovering the staggering
amount of Moomin related media, while also being contrasted with the many existing fans
throughout the world who might be a little confused at their reactions. So let’s ask ourselves: Who are the Moomins,
what is it about these characters that resonates with audiences, and what has suddenly changed
to create the present phenomenon that has been dubbed “The Moomin Renaissance”. To answer these questions and more, I spent
a majority of 2019 reading, watching, and researching every piece of moomin media; books,
plays, television, films, video games, operas, anything that I could get my hands on. All to better understand these fascinating
characters like Snufkin, the Snorks, Sniff, Little My, and of course, the Moomin Family. Though before I can discuss and analyze each
major piece of Moomin Media, it is going to be vital that we first discuss the woman that
made this all possible.
Tove Jansson was born to a Swedish speaking family of artists in Finland. Because Swedish is a minority language amongst
the country, most of her time was spent with her family, who lived a very bohemian lifestyle
alongside her father Viktor, her mother Signe, as well as her two siblings, Per Olov and
Lars. With their father being a sculptor and their
mother a graphic designer, all three of the children went on to be decently respected
artists, all studying art throughout Europe before the rise of Fascism. During that time, Tove gained some international
fame while writing for Garm, an anti-fascist satirical magazine that was extremely critical
of both Hitler and Stalin, in a time when Finland was partially allied with Nazi Germany. This sort of writing work for Garm and other
magazines was enough to help Jansson kickstart her work as a novelist.
Jansson had always been writing since she
was very young, even creating a full book when she was 14. As a result, so much of her writing was reflective of the people and events
she experienced throughout her life; some of which were filled with great
doubt and sadness. Not only was Finland in the process of combating
Fascism and Stalinism, but the world’s future became more uncertain with the onset of nuclear
warfare and environmental degradation. Though amongst this sadness, Jansson was always
able to take comfort in the people around her, from her family to the many people Jansson
came to love over the years. This prevalent combination of comfort and
anxiety helped to greatly define Jansson as a writer, to the point where certain characters
and stories became homages to the people and places that she loved, such parallels will
be pointed out as we are introduced to each respective character.
Though as Finland gained independence from
the Russian empire and the rest of Europe was comprehending the full effects of world
war two; Tove would later remark, “It felt completely pointless to try and create pictures. Perhaps it was understandable that I suddenly
felt the urge to write down something that would begin with ‘Once Upon a Time.’ What followed had to be a fairytale – it was
inevitable – but I excused myself with avoiding princes, princesses, and small children and
chose instead my angry signature character from the cartoons.” According to family stories, the aforementioned
angry creatures came about from philosophical arguments Tove would have with Per Olev. Such arguments were common occurrences between
the two, as Tove liked the writings of Nietzsche and Bergson, while disagreeing with Kant and
Schopenhauer. Which, I'm sorry, Tove, love me some Henri
Bergson, can’t stand Kant, but I gotta draw the line at Neitzsche. Regardless of her position
on racist pseudoscientists like Kant, the story goes that one of these arguments angered Tove so much that she drew what she considered the
Ugliest Creature imaginable in the family’s outhouse. “The Snork” as she would call it, would
go on to appear in many paintings and cartoons by Tove.
Once Tove had decided to pursue a new book,
Her uncle had given her a name that he once used to deter her from eating at night, telling
to beware the Moomintrolls. The name stuck and would be incorporated into
the first book, Moomin and the Great Flood. If you are amongst the people who have recently gotten into Moomin, you might be surprised
at what you find when reading through Jansson's early writing for the Moomin as, especially
within her 1945 short story, The Moomins and the Great Flood.
Clocking in at around 50 pages, this quick
tale depicts the journey of Moomintroll and his mother to find a new home, as well as
the missing Moominpapa. Throughout this journey, the two see a wide
variety of locales, from a dark forest, a garden made of candy, a great stormy sea,
and eventually a flooded valley that would eventually become a new home for the Moomins. It is in this book that we are introduced
to a number of colorful characters, including the cowardly Sniff, a girl with glowing hair
named Tulippa, the mysterious traveling spirits called the Hattifatteners, and eventually,
the eccentric Moominpapa.
Already within these first stories, we can
see some of the real world influences that went into Jansson’s writing; most notably
within Moominmama and Moominpapa. In most of her appearances, Moominmamma is
characterized with warmth and practicality to her, as she always seems to have something
useful in her handbag that can help those she cares for. Both Tove and Per Olev would say how their
mother Signe was a heavy influence on this characterization, according to Per Olev, “ [Our
mother] taught [us] how to navigate by the wind, the clouds, the anthills and the moss
on the trunks. She often skied after [us], forgave all [of
our] naughtiness and glowed with peaceful and confident warmth, just like Moominmamma.”. Despite only being present for the final portion
of the story, this similar influence can be seen with Moominpapa, whose eccentric and
exploratory nature is greatly reflective of their father Viktor, who shares a love of
throwing parties, exploring new places, and witnessing small disasters. But alongside this eccentric nature, Moominpapa
also evokes the distant tension that was felt between the two throughout Viktor’s lifetime.
The two greatly disagreed on a lot of subjects,
from Viktor’s antisemitism, Tove’s involvement in Leftist Circles, his irresponsible nature,
and the resulting amount of work that was placed on Signe as the primary breadwinner
and caretaker of the home. Despite this, Tove still maintained a great
respect for her father, which is demonstrated in Moominpapa’s characterization as somewhat
selfish albeit well meaning. While the colorful characters and beautiful
illustrations made this book quite enjoyable, the overall narrative suffers from an extremely
rushed pace, where our heroes are moved quickly from set piece to set piece, as small characters
appear and disappear with very little consequence.
Perhaps it is for this reason that this first
short story did not go on to sell very well. With such a lack of consistency within the
characters and the continuity, reading The Great Flood feels similar to early drafts
of the Hobbit, as it helps to introduce the characters and the basics of the world, but
it serves more like a small amusing fairytale that could serve as a jumping off point for
grander stories. All of which we will see the following year,
where Jansson’s work began to really take to the skies. Part 3: Facing the Apocalypse. With the release of her first story out of
the way, Tove Jansson would make quick work to write her next story with the Moomins. Released in 1946, Comet in Moominland already
displayed a striking improvement from the previous story. Alongside the charming
characterizations established in the first story, so much of the book is improved by being given more time to develop
both the plot and tone of the story. In this book, Moomin and Sniff undergo a journey
once they learn about a comet that risks the total destruction of Moomin Valley. While much of the story still follows an episodic
structure similar to The Moomins and the Great Flood, the presence of the comet helps to
create a tone of fear and horror that feels impossible to ignore; much as the characters
might try to otherwise.
Despite the almost idyllic characterizations
that define the Moomin family, there is almost an air of disapproval that is leveled against
them. As the comet moves closer to the valley, we
see more of the terrible effects it has on the world. The skies grow constantly dark, animals become
dangerously aggressive, the weather grows hotter and dangerous, even the sea dries up. Likewise, the characters are initially prone
to downplaying the danger the comet presents, though this becomes increasingly difficult
to do as time goes on, to the point where the potential destruction is all but impossible
to ignore. We see people hastily abandon the valley,
coop themselves up in their homes, and a few exclaim the futility of the situation. Despite Jansson completing the book’s writing
mere weeks before the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6th 1945, one of the most popular
interpretations of the story from readers is that the comet serves as an allegory for
the potential destruction wrought by nuclear warfare, as it not only destroys everything
in its surrounding area but also out of the control of common people.
As I said before, much of Jansson’s writing
is defined by a sense of fear and uncertainty, according to her, "In every honest children's
book, I think there is an element of fear. Anxious and self-confident children alike
are unconsciously drawn to it, and to destruction." It is within this story that we are able to
see more of an underlying philosophy that would go onto define many future stories with
the Moomins. Even though it can be easy to characterize
the Moomins as childish and naive, there is open-mindedness and resilience that is still
present throughout the story.
Despite some of the chaos and disagreements
that can be seen between the Moomin family, it never comes to translate into distrust
or hatred towards other people. No matter how dire the world gets, the Moomins
are always there to provide a friendly face and a determination to help make things better,
even at a small scale. Though the Moomins were not the only reason
Comet in Moominland is a vast improvement from the first story. On their journey to find out more about the
comet, Moomintroll and Sniff are introduced to characters that would become integral to
the series.
There’s the Hemulens, troll creatures similar
to the Moomins who are preoccupied with order and collecting items. The intellectual Snork and his sister, the resourceful albeit somewhat
inattentive Snorkmaiden. Snorkmaiden is often portrayed as Moomintroll’s
primary love interest, alongside…. [Audience cheers for Snufkin]
Of all the characters in this series, there are few that seemed to have the same level of attention as Snufkin, the mysterious and aloof
traveler who is considered Moomin’s closest friend, amongst other things. There are a number of reasons someone like
Snufkin might become such a popular character. From his carefree nature, his many moments
of wisdom, to the internet’s affinity to tall angsty white dudes, though I think a
lot of this appreciation comes from Snufkin’s disgust with authority. Similar to Moominmama and Moominpapa, a lot
of this characterization is drawn from people in Tove Jansson’s real life. In this case, Atos Wirtanen heavily inspired
much about Snufkin. Wirtanen was a prolific writer in many leftist
circles and had met Jansson when she was creating illustrations for various newspapers and would
eventually begin a relationship, even at one point being engaged.
Like Snufkin, Atos was often seen with his
large hat and pipe, had a great love for nature and traveling, and often desired to live a
life where material possessions weren’t necessary. As Snufkin would put it, “That’s how it
is when you start wanting to have things. Now, I just look at them, and when I go away
I carry them in my head. Then my hands are always free because I don’t
have to carry a suitcase.” While there were many admirable traits to
Atos, and likewise Snufkin, there was still an element of distance between Atos and Tove,
and he would never commit to a permanent life with Tove, eventually breaking their engagement. While they may have not ended up together,
it is clear that Tove still greatly cared for him, especially when
examining the relationship between Moomin and Snufkin. While Snufkin would always come to settle
in Moomin Valley each summer, eventually, he would have to leave with the coming of
winter. While Moomin still greatly admires Snufkin’s
way of life, there will always be a sort of pining for one another that will remain as
constant as the coming winters.
Comet in Moominland went on to sell slightly
better than Moomin and the Great Flood, though thanks to this connection with Atos Wirtanen,
The Moomins would become the trolls we know and love today. As previously mentioned, Jansson had a lot of experience as an
illustrator for many newspapers and magazines. One of those was the Swedish leftist magazine
Ny Tid, which translates to New Times. The magazine was looking for new material
to be placed in the children's section. That editor? Atos Wirtanen. Wirtanen asked Jansson to start publishing
a weekly comic adaptation of Comet in Moominland. Jansson accepted the offer, but her time at
Ny Tid was cut short after a year when the comic strip attracted criticism from many
of Ny Tid’s readers. There was a common consensus that the Moomin’s
lifestyle was too materialistic and aristocratic for the paper’s liking. Despite its short tenure in print, this would
not be the last adaptation of this story.
We’ll go into more of these adaptations,
but this story has appeared in almost every future adaptation of the Moomin books, including
televisions shows, a film, a Bjork Song, and a theatrical production in 1949. This play was notable in that it was directed
by Vivica Bandler, who would go onto direct a second play, as well as a television show
based on the Moomins. It was during this time that Tove says she
“went over to the spooky side,” and began a relationship with Vivica. At the time, Vivica was married, not to mention
that it was illegal to be in a same-gender relationship in Finland.
As a result, the relationship was kept secret
and would go on to be a big influence for the next Moomin Story. 1948’s Finn Family Moomintroll is where we see Moomin settle into many of the expected
staples of the series. Also referred to as The Magicians Hat, the
story centers on the Moomin family finding a mysterious hat that has many magical properties. From creating flying clouds, turning water
into raspberry juice, sprouting massive jungles, and even transforming people into different
creatures. As it turns out, the hat is the possession
of the Hobgoblin, a strange wizard that has flown all over the world on a black panther
for centuries, searching for a special gem called the king's ruby. It should be noted that the Hobgoblin's name
is derived from the Swedish word 'Trollkarl', which means 'Magic-man'. However, because of the extremely literal
English translation, Penguin Books likely interpreted this word to mean 'Troll Man',
resulting in the namesake we have today. As for why he flies around on a black panther,
the Hobgoblin is meant to resemble the magicians commonly seen in circuses
who were often accompanied by exotic animals.
All of these traits that international audiences
would see as a strange quirk of Jansson’s writing, are the result of the translation
team misinterpreting a Swedish pun. Regardless, the prescience of the Hobgoblin’s
hat causes some chaos for the Moomins. Alongside the hat, this story marks the first
appearance of the Groke. The Groke is a mysterious spirit that wanders
Moominvalley, leaving a trail of frost and ice wherever she goes.
Despite her monstrous appearance and cold
exterior, the Groke is a monster that is to be pitied and not feared. The books go on to highlight the loneliness
and solitude that always follows the Groke, as she goes on to embody the fear and evilness
that can be found in each reader, according to Jansson’s biography “She is in [each]
human and you can’t escape from her. She is waiting.” Though no matter the obstacles, the moomins
always try to deal with these hardships with the same politeness, propriety, and perseverance. Aside from the Groke and the Hobgoblin, the
other most notable characters in this story come in the final third of the story, when
a pair of small creatures wander into Moominvalley with a suitcase stolen from the Groke.
The pair is named Thingumy and Bob and the
suitcase they have stolen contains the King’s Ruby, the very same one that the hobgoblin
searches for. The two then take refuge with the moomins,
who help to ward off the Groke and give the two a place where they can feel safe and accepted. While the two’s role in the plot might seem
incidental, aside from one point where the two steal Moominmama's handbag, their place
in the story takes on a different dimension when examining their Swedish names of Tofslan
and Vifslan. These two names are the pet names that were
used between Tove Jansson and Vivica Bandler. From this lens, we have two characters that
strongly care for one another, while also safeguarding the precious King’s Ruby from
the Groke, an embodiment of loneliness. It’s not hard to see this as an allegory
for what the two had to undergo during their relationship to one another, as the two had
to keep their relationship safe and secret, lest they also be taken by the Grokes of the
world.
Though the lovely thing about Finn Family
Moomintroll is that it shows the welcoming presence this series offers to those who come
across it. By the end of the story, Thingumy and Bob
feel so accepted by the Moomins, that they are comfortable enough to show the King’s
ruby to everyone in Moominvalley. Everyone is so accepting that not even the
Hobgoblin, for how long he has searched for the King’s ruby, is willing to take it from
the two. Because Moomin valley is a place that strives
to welcome and accept anyone who visits. Perhaps it might be seen as childish and naive
to do so, but these stories were initially conceived of as fairy tales after all, and
fairytales were designed to help teach future generations the morals and beliefs that it
takes to become better than their predecessors, so perhaps it is from these stories that we
can make places like Moomin Valley more plentiful in our real world.
Finn Family Moomintroll comes as another highly
recommended read and went on to sell more than the previous two, but it did little to
address some of the financial instability that Jansson was undergoing. However, This success was greatly assisted
in 1950 when Penguin Books helped to publish translated copies of the story in England. It is here that Jansson’s stories were reaching
a wider audience outside of Finland, and the Moomin series began to take on a different
shape.
It’s the early 1950s, and the world is a
very uncertain place for Tove Jansson. A struggling artist, Jamsson was barely able
to make ends meet by working on different artistic commissions and her small series
of children's books about the Moomintrolls. While her more recent work had been much better
received and was beginning to see a wider release of her stories outside of Finland,
this did little to dissuade her uncertainty. In addition to this, despite
her tenuous engagement to Atos Wirtanen being still active, and Finnish law making same gender relationships illegal,
Tove was also having an affair with her good friend and theater collaborator, which caused
some tension between her and her family, especially her very traditional father. More than ever, the world of the Moomins seemed
to present Tove a promise of escapism, to the world of acceptance and peace that was
Moominvalley.
And whether she knew this or not, Moominvalley
was about to become a larger presence in her world. Once the Moomins were starting to gain popularity, there was some amount of derision and criticism. Many parents were shocked by the harsh language
and immoral behavior that Moomins displayed in their stories, as they are often seen drinking
wine, smoking and growing tobacco, and using sarcastic language around one another.
This criticism was harshly contrasted with
demand for other moomin products. It was almost too much for Jansson to handle,
but the Moomins had come to be a source of comfort outside of her work as a painter and
illustrator. Thus, she made quick work on her next novel. The Exploits of Moominpappa, is one of the
more strange entries into the Moomin series. This is mostly attributed
to the various translations of this story. Right now, there are three distinct versions
of this story on the market right now, all three of which include certain sections cut
out or revised depending on the continuity established. While readers will be able to see the same
overarching tale within these versions, the most commonly recommended version is a translation
published in 1968 under the title Moominpappa’s Memoirs. The entire story revolves around Moominpappa
recounting the stories of his youth, starting from his humble beginnings as an orphan, to
his nautical journey aboard the Ocean Orchestra, a remarkable amphibious boat that he man's
alongside his friends Hodgkin, the Muddler, and the Joxter.
Much of these memoirs, to Moominpapa’s admission,
“have stressed some of the events a little, [though] only to make them more convincing.” It is through the unreliable narration of
this story that we can see a stark portrait form around Moominpappa, and likewise around
Tove Jannson’s perception of her own father. When reading this story, we can see the admiration
that moomintroll and Tove display towards their respective fathers, though we are also
constantly made aware of the times where would later abandon Moominmamma in the event of
The Great Flood, reminding how such adventurous and independent individuals aren’t always
the most responsible and deserving of emulation.
Incidentally, the subject of fathers is a
recurring element in this story, as it is later revealed that the Muddler and Joxter
are the fathers to Sniff and Snufkin respectively. Like Sniff, the Muddler is concerned with
gathering different possessions into a large coffee can that he lives in. He would later become a slightly prominent
side character in future moomin stories, including theatrical and televised adaptations, as well
as appearances in the comic strips. This is contrasted with the Joxter, who acts as a basic replica to
Snufkin’s anti authoritarian, free spirited characterization. For those who are unfamiliar with the source
material, you may have been under the impression that Joxter is a prominent character within
the series, based off of the many pieces of fan art and stories that have arisen from
this character. This might be partially attributed to Joxter’s
ambiguous characterization, and subsequent absence from all future stories. Because Joxter acts as a basic blank slate,
coupled with the fandom’s adoration for Snufkin, he has left many
to create many headcanons and expansions on Joxter.
So just as a forewarning to any fans who might
seek out these books, any of your Joxter related needs are most likely going
to be served elsewhere. On their adventures, Moominpappa and co. eventually meet the Mymbles, a large family
that consists of the Mymble Mother and her 37 children. Amongst these children includes Snufkin, who
turns out to be the son of Mymblemama and Joxter before being abandoned some time ago. Though of all the characters to appear in
this story, there are few that would have such an impact on the series
as two of Mymblemama’s daughters, Mymble and Little My. The two sisters would later settle down in
moominvalley, where Mymble served as a patient and caretaker for My, who has gone on to be
one of the most popular characters in the series. Similar to Snufkin, Little My operates at
a level of chaos and disregard for authority, where she will often speak her mind while
also doing what she can to support her friends and family, according to Jansson, “She is
very practical and helpful, you see.
I needed something to put against the Moomin
family’s helpless sensitivity. If you removed her there would just be endless
whining.” The arrival of little my marked a transition
within the moomin stories. Where these first four stories would often
suffer from a lack of agency and motivation on the part of the Moomins, future stories
would often have the Moomins becoming more active players as a response to the antics
that are often caused by Little My. By the time Jansson had published Moominpapa’s
Memoirs, translations of her previous two novels became popular in England.
This led to Tove coming into contact with
Charles Sutton, the syndication director for Associated Newspaper, now known as DMG Media. Sutton needed a new comic strip for The Evening
News, one of the more popular evening newspapers in the world. After seeing the book sell so well, Sutton
became greatly intrigued by the Moomins and drew up a seven year contract for Tove to
write and draw a comic strip depicting the Moomin characters. The promised financial security was enough
for Tove to happily accept and Jannson would make quick work to produce six comic strips
a week.
If you are someone who is trying to get into
the moomin series, these comics may actually be some of the most accessible starting points
in the series. For one, these comic strips have been published
in many trades and collections that can be easily bought or borrowed from a library. But alongside that, its nature as a comic
strip allowed Jansson to incorporate elements that appeal to both children and adults. As a result, so many of these storylines depicted
in these comics greatly encapsulate some of the more appealing elements of the series;
the Moomin’s welcoming nature, the strange situations they find themselves in, and the
ways it is unafraid to criticize elements of everyday life. Some of the best story arcs like Moomin on
the Riviera and The Conscientious Moomins retain some of the biting satire that could
be found in Tove’s previous writing for places like Garm; where the Moomin family
will be forced to leave moominvalley in order to interact with “Civilized” society,
only to see how pointless and stifling such structures and traditions can end up being.
Though similar to some of Jannsson’s previous
work, the tight schedules that Jansson was working under resulted in some stories having
somewhat hasty endings, so don’t be surprised if after reading through a suspenseful situation,
a helicopter might suddenly emerge to save everyone. Once the Evening News began to license out
the Moomin strip to other papers, Jansson’s character became the talk of all Europe, with
the strip being published into over forty languages and having an estimated twenty million
readers at height of the strip’s popularity. From such popularity, there became a great
influx of Moomin Merchandise including chocolates, handmade dolls, a board game that is still
in production, and a department store’s worth of everyday items, all depicting Jannson’s
artwork and requiring her approval. At one point, She even had to reject offers
made by Walt Disney himself to buy the rights to the word “Moomin ''. While Jansson greatly
appreciated the popularity of the comic strip, the constant demand for new comics and merchandise
took a toll on her creative drive as an artist. By 1960, Tove’s brother Lars would take
over production on the comic strip, which he would continue on for another fifteen years.
Even though this did help Jansson’s mental
state, there was still an uneasiness to her newfound success that would go on to influence
much of Tove’s artwork, and likewise her future Moomin stories. If you want to have some insight into how Jansson evolved as an artist with her newfound
success, one has to simply compare her next two stories, 1954’s Moominsummer Madness
and 1957’s Moominland Midwinter. The First of these books was written before
Moomin began achieving its drastic levels of popularity.
During this time, Jansson had been collaborating
with Vivica Bandler on new theatrical productions of the Moomin Stories. The world of the theater utterly fascinated
Jansson, which is primarily why the theater has such a large presence in this story. Moominsummer Madness features many similar
elements seen in previous moomin stories; there is a large cataclysmic flood that is
similar to the Comet in Comet in Moominland, the Moomins focus on small everyday concerns,
even as the family is separated in the flood, and we see each of these characters remain
consistent with the characterizations established in previous stories. Probably the two most famous elements of this
story first involve the Moominfamily putting on a play while they take shelter in a floating
theater, which they hope will be enough to reunite the family. The second is one of the most famous scenes
involving Snufkin, who travels with Little My to vandalize a park that is filled with
many signs that dictate the rules, something that snufkin vehemently rejects. Of all of the different moments that can be
seen in these stories, there are few that greatly epitomize the motivations and philosophies
of Snufkin.
Moominsummer Madness was greatly received
by most readers. Next to Comet in Moominland, this story went
on to receive a large number of adaptations, many of which were appropriately in the theater. The two most notable of these were Trolls
in the Wings, which was staged in 1958 by Vivica Bandler, and would go on tour throughout
Europe for the next two years. The second being an opera that was produced
in 1974 under the direction of Heikki Värtsi and with music by Ilkka Kuusisto. The opera would turn out to be one of the
more enduring adaptations of these stories, as it still is revived and put on tour throughout
Europe after over 40 years. Though in between this story and Moominland
Midwinter, a lot happened to Jansson to change the way she saw the world. For one, she was financially stable for the
first time in her life, yet felt quite depressed and anxious from the newfound demands that
arose out of creating and maintaining the Moomins, which made that a very lonely time
in her life.
In 1955, Tove asked a young Finnish woman
named Tuulikki Pietila to dance with her. And though Tuulikki declined the offer out
of propriety, Jansson would later receive a card with a drawing of a cat stating that
she was welcome to visit her studio. From there, the two would visit each other
often and eventually fall in love, and from there everything began to change for the Moomins.
At that point in time, Jansson had come to
see Moominvalley as a sort of prison, where she was forced to ignore her passions in order
to fuel a growing enterprise. Though Tuulikki helped to ease that fatigue,
as she helped Tove craft future stories about the Moomins and their world. Moominland Midwinter marks a great departure
from the precedent established in the previous stories and comics. Instead of writing about cosmic catastrophes
or sleepy slices of life, the book takes on a more contemplative tone from previous works. The story begins as Moomin mysteriously wakes
up from hibernation, only to find Moominvalley completely different during the winter. From here, Moomin is forced to learn how to
be alone, and we are treated to many introspective passages reflecting both Moomin and Jansson’s
internal struggles. With this new loneliness, everything and everyone
in Moominvalley begins to look different, and we the readers are asked to reconsider
how we see the world with this new isolation. Even the Groke goes from being a monster to
be feared to being a lonely creature that deserves pity and empathy, showing how even
the most frigid and frightening monsters might appear different from a new perspective.
Though to help Moomin on this journey, he
comes across the enigmatic Too-Ticky, a character that greatly drew upon Tove’s relationship
to Tuulikki. Like her real-world counterpart, Too-Ticky
serves as a comforting presence in this story, as she remains as a pragmatic yet comforting
system of support as both Moomin and Tove try to navigate the uncertainty of a changing
world. According to Too Ticky “Everything is very
uncertain, and that is what makes me calm.” For no matter how much change we undergo,
it is important that it doesn’t make us lose sight of what's most important for us
and the world around us. Despite seeing fewer adaptations compared
to other stories, the reflective nature of this work makes it extremely easy to recommend.
This contemplative tone would become a continual
element to these stories for the rest of the series, especially as Tove became a lot older. Her next story would be a short picture book
called Who Will Comfort Toffle? which tells the story of a frightened boy
named Toffle finding love with the timid Miffle, causing him to gain confidence in himself
after being overlooked for so long. Originally Toffle was going to be a young
girl, though had to be changed to a boy due to censorship on explicitly queer characters. Though even with the flipped genders, it’s
not hard to see how Tuulikki’s presence in Tove’s life caused her to have a newfound
sense of confidence and creative drive. Though this would be undercut in 1958, when
Tove’s father passed away. Despite the tension that was a constant presence
in Tove’s life because of him, there was a melancholy that became more prominent in
her stories after his death.
All which would grow as time marched on. Once Tove had exited her contract with The Evening News, she spent more of her time with
her paintings and creating exhibitions with Tuulikki. Even though she had displayed some burnout,
Jansson was more than willing to return to the Moomins, but with the intention of creating
more adult oriented stories that drew more upon her exploring emotions and psychology
rather than standard adventures. The first of these was published in 1962,
Tales from Moominvalley, which was a compilation of various short stories depicting everyday
life in moominvalley. The results from this compilation are some
of the best stories in the series. Some of these stories range from Moominpappa
observing the Hattifatners to Moomin and Snufkin caring for a baby dragon. Though the two best stories draw from this
emotional exploration, resulting in stories that feel extremely mature and ahead of their
time. One story observes ‘the Fillyjonk Who Believed
in Disasters”, which depicts the anxious creature who lives in constant fear of natural
disasters, which many have cited as an extremely accurate depiction of a character with depression
and struggles they undergo; describing it as “What one can’t ask, can’t reason
with, can’t understand and can never question.
What arrives behind a black pane of glass,
far away on the road, fare out at sea and grows and grows and is never visible until
it’s too late” Though the most famous story is The Invisible Child, which tells
the story of Ninny, a little girl who turned invisible after being verbally and emotionally
abused by her caretaker. In one of the more powerful allegories of
abuse, this story illustrates how one’s sense of self can disappear if there isn’t
an element of love and emotional expression in their development.
In order for Ninny to become visible again,
she has to be shown how to be secure in who she is as a person, as well as properly express
her emotions. As Ninny spends more time around the Moomin
Family, more parts of herself become more visible as each member shows her different
ways of expressing herself: Littly my shows her the value in displaying emotions like
anger can lead to more positive emotional expression, and Too Ticky and Moominmama act
as supportive parental figures who do whatever it takes to make Ninny feel safe. When this story was being written, Tove Jansson
discussed how her own struggles with her emotions heavily inspired Ninny.
This isn’t just seen in how Jansson’s
own Mother and Life Partner were clear analogs for Moominmama and Too Ticky, but in also
how she learned to accept her anger, Once declaring “Like the Invisible Child, I must
learn to be angry, and show it. I will probably show it too much at first,
and so for that reason too I need a margin of isolation.
Hopefully my face will gradually grow on me.” While it’s impossible to fully judge an
author’s state of mind when examining their work, reading these final books in the series
gives the impression of someone trying to grapple with a life in transition. The constant reflection, the unsureness, the
determination in the face of it all; all of this can be seen as the Moomins drift further
away from Tove’s grasp, like someone standing at the edge of the receding tide. 1966’s Moominpappa at Sea is a story where
the Moomins depart the valley to live in a lighthouse on the ocean. Much of this is decided because Moominpappa
wants to reclaim a sense of unfettered masculinity by pursuing the adventures he once embarked
on during his younger days. When reading this story while knowing what
Jansson was going through, it is easy to see how the death of her father had a great influence
on the narrative.
Like Moominapappa, her father has a clear
passion for the unexpected and disastrous, which was in turn passed down to her. So much of this story displayed the chaos
of nature, as we see the many ways the sea becomes a character unto itself, as we see
how fluid and adaptable it becomes. Just like the sea, the moomins find themselves
reacting to their new environment as they begin to change elements of themselves. Moomin goes on to live by himself in a cabin
of his creation, Moominpappa comes to terms with his shortcomings as he tries and fails
to repair the lighthouse, and Moominmama displays her independence through a love of painting
that grows out of her homesickness.
Just as the moomins begin to change, the world
also becomes less carefree while becoming more fulfilling, almost as if the Moomins
were growing up alongside their author. Even the Groke, this creature of fear and
isolation, find themselves different by the end of this story. No more is moomin frightened of what she brings
and begins to seek her out, daring to confront the loneliness and isolation she represents.
Though with their new wisdom, the Groke is
no longer something to be feared or hated, but rather a being who deserves the same level
of empathy as everybody else. As Moominmama puts it, “She’s like the
rain or the darkness, or a rock that one needs to walk around in order to maintain progress.” And it is from this understanding that the
moomins begin to feel at peace with their brand new world and can move forward with
their lives. These adult themes would be further explored
in some of the original writing that Jannsson engaged in following the release of Moominpappa
at Sea. These include books like The Sculptor’s
Daughter, the Listener, and The True Deceiver, all of which we won’t be able to get into
today but are extremely recommended if you enjoy the writing style of the Moomin stories. Though while the contemplative tone was a
welcome addition to the moomin stories, there is a sense of finality that hangs over Moomin
valley like a winter’s overcast. All of which became more apparent in 1970,
when Signe Jansson passed away at the age of 90. Tove had always been extremely close with
her mother, though seeing her pass away gave Tove the desire to move on from the Moomins
to pursue different stories, and thus, it was time to say goodbye.
Moominvalley in November presents a very somber
yet comforting end to the series. Released the same year as her mother’s death,
Jansson depicts Moominvalley as something inexorably different with the absence of the
Moomins, being very reflective of the experience one undergoes during the process of mourning. The story centers around many different characters
visiting the Moomin’s home, only to find the family absent. Some of these characters have been seen in
previous stories; including Mymble, a Hemulen, a Fillyjonk, and of course Snufkin, though
the two newcomers to this story are a child named Toft and an old man that does not know
his name and decides to go by Grandpa-Grumble. Each one of them comes to the Moomin’s home
searching for different things; The Old Hemulen arrives wishing to escape the monotony of
his everyday life, The Fillyjonk wishes to interrupt her loneliness, Snufkin seeks to
finish a song he was working on, Mymble wishes to befriend everyone at the house, Grandpa-Grumble
seeks to establish independence in his old age, and Toft most importantly wishes to be
a part of a family like the Moomins. Regardless of their individual goals, they
all stay in the hopes of recapturing some past happiness that they once had found in
Moominhouse.
As the six of them stay together, they soon
learn how to properly interact with one another and begin to realize how they mustn’t rely
on the Moomins in order to be happy. By the end of the story, each one of these
guests come to realize their goals: the Hemulen makes peace with a life without adventures,
Fillyjonk becomes comfortable with isolation by learning to love herself, Snufkin finishes
the song realizing it was made more beautiful with the help of others, Mymble returns home
content with her new friends, Grandpa-Grumble is much more accepting of
other people's assistance, and Toft, most importantly, realizes that so much of his thoughts and feelings about
the Moomins were projections of his hopes for a family, and becomes more than content
to welcome them and their flaws by the end of the story; once he sees the Moomins returning
to the valley once more.
As a finale to the series, Moominvalley in
November offers a somber goodbye to these beloved characters. It’s no wonder that many have compared the
emotional development that occurs in this story to those seen in varying stages of mourning. While some fans might be saddened by the absence
of the Moomins in this story, the writing manages to take advantage of that sadness
in order to invite its readers to become more independent people, to not be reliant on idealized
perceptions of people and memories, and to view the world with a bit more complexity. While this book would mark Jansson’s farewell
to the series, the moomins would not be abandoned completely. Not only would Jansson return to the series
through picture books, artistic exhibitions, and even a photograph based story titled an
Unwanted Guest, Jansson would see her new fans flock to her stories even after she stopped
writing them, which was greatly assisted by the many adaptations which would arise over
the years.
By 1959, there was little that could have
predicted the success Tove Jansson would find with the Moomins. After so many years barely making ends meet,
Jansson was now a best selling author, the cartoonist for one of Europe’s most popular
daily comic strips, and the overseer of a growing merchandising juggernaut. It seemed like everyone wanted a piece of
the Moomins, and it began to weigh on Jansson. Many fans of her original stories considered
the newer incarnations of these characters as going against the original spirit of the
stories, focusing more on daily hijinks instead of the cozy fairy tales where they were first
introduced. This, coupled with the increasing levels of
burnout towards making moomin stories would cause Jansson to ultimately end her tenure
as primary writer of the Moomin comics, passing the role onto her brother Lars.
While the Moomin stories would continue to
evolve well throughout the 1960s, the series would see its biggest spikes in popularity
through the newest media frontier, television. While the Moomins have experienced great growth in popularity through the comics, this first
spike would occur with a western German tv show produced by the Augsburg Puppet Theater
in 1959. Despite the lower budgets and lifeless animations that can be commonly seen
in most puppet productions at the time, the series does a remarkable job adapting Finn Family
Moomintroll and Moominsummer Madness in a way that nicely introduces newcomers
to the series. While the series would be later released in
a DVD box set in Germany, there isn’t much of a way to view this series on non PAL region
DVDs, save for clips of the show being distributed online. And just to give a fair warning, this is going
to be a common story when it comes to many of these adaptations.
Despite this, the series remained popular
amongst German households, causing Swedish Television to reach out to Jansson to help
make a multi-part series about them. Despite Jansson’s varying levels of burnout
with the Moomins, she was always interested in adapting these stories for a new audience. Even though the two moved onto different romantic
partners, Tove remained good friends with Vivica Bandler for the rest of her life, with
Vivica often being the first choice of people to bring the Moomins to the Stage.
This was the case for Swedish Television’s
1969 series simply titled Moomintrollet, or the Moomintroll. With Bandler as director, Tove and Lars Jansson
as writers, the show featured many of the same actors that were featured in their theatrical
adaptations. Something that differentiated this production
from other adaptations is the inclusion of an original story written by Lars and Tove. The show centers on the king finding the Moomins
and devoting himself to civilizing the family, only for him to become acclimated to their
lifestyle.
After filming the first episode, there were
some complaints being made over the practicality of the Moomin’s costume. So Bandler decided to carry over a gag she
had used in her productions of Trolls in the Wings. The results are somewhat horrifying [plays
scene from the show]. Like most other things produced in Sweden
and Finland, the show would receive a lot of attention from local fans, though there were few attempts to branch
out to the international market. All of this would be greatly contrasted that
same year when Jansson had received a letter from Tokyo Movie Shinsha, a Japanese animation
company that is today known for Akira, Lupin the 3rd, and their work on Batman: The Animated
Series.
Though in the early days of the studio, they
had wanted to make the Moomins amongst the first of their animated productions, and while
Jansson wasn’t too familiar with Japanese animation, she was more than interested, and
after the executive Yasmo Yamamoto suddenly showed up in Finland, the two were able to
make a deal. Though the result of this deal would not be
at all what Tove expected. [Moomin theme song plays briefly before fading
with voiceover.] On its face, the show is an enjoyable watch
as it adapts some of the original stories.
However, if you spend a certain amount of
time with the series, you might be shocked to see just how it moves away from the source
material. [Montage of Violence in the TV Show] According
to production staff, the show made some departures from the source material in order to appeal
to the typical shonen productions that were commonly shown at the time. This resulted in more fighting, a less friendly
atmosphere, and characters that greatly differ from their book counterparts. While there can be some argument made that
the show was looking to emulate the comics more so than the novels, these drastic differences
were enough to turn some people off of this adaptation, most notably Jansson, who disliked
the violent and materialistic atmosphere that the show had created.
Despite being staffed with many talented artists
who would go on to become legends in the anime industry like Rintaro, Yasou Ootsuka, Osamu
Dezaki, Marano Moribi, Shunichi Yukimuro, and Hayou Miyazaki; there wasn’t much that
could be done to change Jansson’s mind on the series. As a result, the Moomin series would be taken
over by Mushi Productions under a label that would later be called World Masterpiece Theatre,
a project devoted to adapt classic european literature to japanese audiences through anime. While the show began to more closely adhere
to Jansson’s writing, she would not allow the series to be internationally distributed,
which has resulted in the show remaining a strange curiosity for Moomin fans outside
of japan. And after some time the show’s license went
on to expire, causing all 52 of these episodes to be available to view online through various
video sharing sites. Despite the condemnation leveled against this
series, the introduction of the anime made Moomin become extremely popular in japan,
and the series would later be remade in 1972 under the name Shin Moomin, which adhered
more closely to the books and is likewise a much more enjoyable watch, if you’re ok
with watching it without translations, that is.
Despite being disappointed with the anime,
that didn’t stop Jansson from pursuing televised adaptations. The first would be a live action costumed
series called Mumindalen, which translates to Moomin Valley. This series took great advantages with rising
technology like blue screen in order to achieve effects once only seen in animation. It also saw a lot more creative input from
the Janssons, as Tove became a lot more protective of her characters. While this series does a decent job of adapting
some of Jansson’s writing, the mimed performances and expressionless costumes makes it difficult
to enjoy the show without any subtitles and translations. Though soon enough, the Moomin’s popularity
in both europe and japan led to a demand for a new TV show, leading to the Polish animation studio Se-ma-for to create
a stop motion adaptation of the series, building upon the proud traditions
of Polish stop motion puppetry to create one of the most well known incarnations of the
series.
1977’s The Moomins, colloquially referred
to as the Fuzzy Felt Moomins due to their appearance, closely follows the plots to most
of Jansson’s original stories. While some might be turned off by jerky animation
style commonly seen in eastern european stop motion, not to mention some of the extremely
dark and intense moments of the show, the show really does the original stories justice,
and is one of the most accessible ways to get into the series outside of the books. Jansson would later recount how the series
stuck the most closely to her original stories, not only being able to capture the lighthearted fantasy in moominvalley,
but also the introspective contemplation that other adaptations elect
to ignore. Unlike most of these adaptations, the Fuzzy
Felt Moomins would go on to be distributed all throughout europe, notably including the
first of these adaptations to be translated into english when it aired on CITV in 1983.
To this day, it remains one of the most beloved
versions of the series, as it would be later remastered, compiled, and redistributed many
different times over the years. While there are many ways that this series
can be enjoyed, the first 18 episodes of the original british series and the compilation
movie Moomin and the Comet Chase can be seen for free on Amazon Prime as of this writing,
making this one of the few legal ways to watch a Moomin adaptation in the United States. By the late 1980s, Tove Jansson was content
in her relationship with the moomins. While she had no desire to write any more
Moomin stories, she still was an integral part in publishing translations, and creating
beautiful models of the various scenes from the stories with Tuulikki. So you could imagine the hesitance that befell
her when she and Tuulikki were approached by a Finnish Producer named Dennis Livson,
asking for the rights to create another animated adaptation of Moomin. Livson was primarily known for producing various
collaborations between european and japanese animation studios, his previously most famous
example including Alfred J. Kwak. While they were extremely hesitant at first,
Once the Janssons had seen their work, both Tove and Lars signed off on the production,
with the added caveat that the two would act as creative consultants and revisionist towards
any screenplays.
Like Liveson’s previous work, the show would be a co-production between
the Finnish-Dutch-Japanese studio Telescreen, and the Japanese animation
studio Visual 80. The result was Tanoshii Mūmin Ikka, or Delightful
Moomin Family, which has gone on to being one of the most recognizable incarnations
of the characters. Chances are, if you are an American who is
just now getting into the series, this is the version of the characters that you are
most acquainted with. Similar to the 1977 series, much of the series
spends its time adapting many of the original moomin stories, and even some of the storylines
seen in the comic strips. And while these resulted in some faithful
adaptations, there are some notable differences between this and the original stories.
The first being the incorporation of Little
My into earlier stories, an increased presence for Snorkmaiden and Sniff, some minor differences
in the retelling of Finn Family Moomintroll and Moominpappa’s Memoirs, and the inclusion
of the original characters like Alicia and her Grandmother, a Witch. One final change that’s relevant to the
series’s present popularity is some minor changes to Snufkin’s character. Unlike some appearances in the original stories,
Snufkin often acts friendly to most people he meets, which is contrasted by the isolated
attitude seen in the books. Likewise, this friendlier attitude results
in his character, and likewise his ideologies, to be a lot more palatable and approachable
to general audiences. Is it any wonder then why one of the most
popular scenes from this entire series is [let’s go commit crime clip], it advocates
a contempt for authority and hierarchical structures in a manner that demonstrates the
good intentions of the characters, demonstrating an ideology that some would consider too radical
had it been presented in a less friendly manner. Alongside these changes from the source material,
this series is well regarded for its lively character designs, beautifully
painted backgrounds, and well constructed scenes; all of which are enhanced by Sumio Shiratori’s enchanting
soundtrack.
Overall, the series was much more well received
by audiences and the Janssons, and would be distributed to many countries outside of japan,
including most of northern and western europe, england, and most notably hawaii. While moomin had never grown in much popularity
on print or on screen in the United States, Hawaii’s large population of Japanese immigrants
created a demand for english dubs of the show to be broadcasted on local television in the
state. While the series tended to grow more popular
with every subsequent adaptation, to say that this occurred upon the show’s release is
an understatement.
With the release of this new anime, there
was a sudden demand for new translations of the Moomin stories and new types of Moomin
Merchandise. Alongside the dolls and playsets that were
created, the Moomins saw their faces on everything from sushi, cars, department stores, video
games, and mugs. The Moomin mugs especially would soon become
highly sought after collectors items, as they released new designs of mugs after each year,
which continues to this day. This phenomenon, later called “The Moomin
Boom,” would soon see an influx of Moomin fans spending massive amounts of money on
these characters, resulting in the series being worth an estimated 700 Million Euros
in yearly revenue. With this success, Dennis Livson would use
some of these profits to construct a theme park on a small island near Naantali called
Moomin World, which boasts many themed attractions lifted directly from the stories, most notably
a complete recreation of the Moomin’s home that guests still visit today. While the Janssons were able to enjoy much
of this success, there were some fans of the franchise that looked to the anime and its
following success as a watered down version of these characters, with some remarking how it commercialized and
invalidated the philosophical elements of the original stories.
And when comparing the original books to this
series, it cannot be denied that the show does take a less hard stance on certain topics
and characterization, one notable example that comes to mind being the more lighthearted
tone that was implemented in their adaptation of Moominland Midwinter, swapping out some
of the story’s melancholy for lighthearted fun. Even though there is less of a cerebral edge
to this series, I still feel that it was decently ahead of its time compared to other programs
airing at that moment. While certain shows like Batman the Animated
Series and Xmen attempted to broach more serious and mature topics, Moomin was able to draw
from the source material in order to discuss ideas like abuse, depression, and emotional
maturity; something that wouldn’t be commonly seen in many children’s shows until more
recently.
Out of all of the versions of Moomin that
can be found right now, this show is probably the most accessible, from its lighthearted
tone, it's a good balance of drama and humor, and the many enjoyable performances that can
be seen with these characters. To this day, this show has been regarded as
a classic for many children who grew up on it, resulting in Tove Jansson becoming one
of the most beloved fantasy writers in most of Europe and japan. Though this success became bittersweet as
it meant that Jansson became extremely busy in her old age, leading her to move away from
her secluded life in order to oversee the Moomin Boom. Eventually, after many years of smoking, Tove
Jansson was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Despite some of the trials and difficulties
that she faced throughout her life, she was very content with the work she was able to
do and the people she was able to meet, as she would eventually pass away on 27 June
2001, at the age of 86.
Despite the large shoes left behind, the Moomins
were still able to remain in the family, as the series became more popular than ever. Alongside Moomin world, there were many different
locations that were opened up following Jansson’s death. These included various museum exhibits in
Tampere Art Museum, a temporary exhibit in New York City, a children’s park in Hannō,
Japan, and many different moomin shops and cafes opened all around the world. With the success of the series moving into
the new millennium, there was talk of being able to expand the presence of the series
into new territories. This primarily consisted
of new english translations of the novels and comics published by Square Fish and Drawn and Quarterly Respectively,
as well as a 2014 adaptation of the comic storyline Moomins on the Riviera to correlate
with Tove Jansson’s 100th birthday.
And while these were well received by many
fans of the series, many speculated that the series wouldn’t pick up in popularity if
they were to begin marketing the series to American audiences in an age where large franchises
are king. As cited in this 2009 Reuters article, “the
consolidating industry is tending to focus on established characters to minimize risk
rather than introduce new ones… while [this does] not rul[e] out that Moomins could catch
on, there was little evidence to show a niche product [like Moomin] can
thrive in the profit-driven U.S.
Market…’ Which leads us to the present day developments that have occurred since the original publishing
of these videos. As of me writing this in May of 2023, a lot
of the fervor that could be seen with Moomin has become more subdued. But this hasn’t stopped a lot of interesting
changes from occurring. Probably the most notable has been the release
of the latest television adaptation of Jansson’s stories, Moominvalley and the prestige biopic
Tove. Starting with the 2019 series, this animated
show was originally brought to life through a successful Indiegogo campaign organized
by the Moomin company in 2017. After managing to raise over $250,000, the
creators at Gutsy Animation sought to recreate the aesthetics of Tove Jansson’s illustrations
with the modern conventions of contemporary CGI animated productions, eventually growing
to become the most expensive Finnish television production to date, as additional investment
lead to the show gaining a €20 Million budget for it’s first season.
This is perhaps best embodied by the title
sequence for the show, which recreates the plot of The Moomin and the Great Flood in
the style of Jansson’s original watercolor illustrations over an orchestral rendition
of “I’m Far Away”, an original song composed by the Danish pop star Mø. On one hand, it is clear that a lot of talent
and budget went into the creation of this show, but the fact that it does so by paying
tribute to Jansson’s very first work with the Moomins shows that the ways it is trying
to modernize this story while staying true to the original stories.
Before I share my wider thoughts on the series,
I would like to take this moment to plug friend of the channel Drawpinion Dump, who has done
a number of videos on individual episodes of the series that come highly recommended. If you have at all enjoyed the writing I have
done with this video, you should do yourself a favor and watch her stuff after this, I’ll
have the links in the description. But with that said, compared with the previous
adaptations of the stories, something I found very interesting about Moominvalley is the
ways that Jansson’s original writing finds itself adhering to and
clashing with the expectations and conventions of modern animation marketed to children. On one hand, despite being initially conceived
through crowdfunding, that massive budget can be seen on display throughout the series. From the lush backgrounds exhibiting a painterly
style, the star studded cast including the likes of Taron Edgerton, Rosamund Pike, and
Matt Berry, to the lavishly produced soundtrack in collaboration with Sony Music and various
Finnish and Swedish pop acts.
All of this indicates how much passion the
different artists behind the show had for Jansson’s writing. Though at the same time, it also left the
impression that the creators were focused on making something that could appeal to as
wide an audience as possible. This has caused Moominvalley to compromise
on some of the more contemplative elements of the original novels in
favor of more lighthearted storytelling common to children’s animation today, which can primarily be seen in this
adaptation's depiction of Moomintroll. Unlike previous adaptations that tend to portray
Moomin as a childlike audience surrogate, the defining quality of this version Moomintroll
is a desire to be seen as an adult, similar to the characterization found in Moominpappa
at Sea and Moominvalley in November.
This causes a number of these episodes to
center on Moomin learning some specific lesson so he can better transition into the adult
world, with that lesson more often than not being conveyed in a somewhat unsubtle manner. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it
has resulted in this version of Moomintroll having a greater degree of personality compared
to each version seen before. One interesting example of this could be seen
in the episode 5 of Season 1, “The Golden Tale”.
Following an episode that heavily summarized
the theater storyline from Moominsummer Madness, this episode see’s the Moominfamily putting
on a play adapting Moominpappa’s life as depicted in Moominpappa’s Memoirs. During this production, Moomin finds himself
struggling to depict his father, resulting in his tail going bald from all of the stress. Though after taking one of Moominmamma’s
potions, they are shocked to find his tail turning into a brilliant gold. This premise of Moomin’s golden tail is
one directly lifted from one of Tove Jansson’s later comic storylines for The Evening News.
Though the original 1958 comic served as unsubtle
commentary for Tove Jansson’s feelings towards gaining sudden fame as Moomin tries to evade
the growing crowds of fans trying to commodify his golden tail without any regard for his
well being. The 2019 series takes a different approach,
as the core conflict emerges as Moomintroll begins to act more self absorbed from his
Golden Tail as opening night approaches, resulting in Little My taking him down a peg during the performance in a series
of slapstick sequences. This leads Moomintroll to finally push back
against Moominpappa’s attempts to make Moomin more like him, with the episode ending with
Moomin acting as the director while his parents reenact their own story. Like the rest of the series, this is a fine
enough episode with a lot of good writing, beautiful animation, and
well delivered performances, but something that sticks out to me is how it took the premise of Jansson’s original
work and used it to tell a story that some might consider quite conventional by the standards
of children’s animation.
For as much passion for Jansson’s original
work that is on display within this adaptation, at first, it was admittedly disappointing
to see that satirical edge removed from these stories in order to better sell this series
to a wider audience. But as the show progressed into its next two
seasons, a lot of the heart in the series becomes much more prominent as we get to see
the ways that the new interpretations of these characters develop and grow. Case in point, this series’s adaptation
of The Invisible Child is probably my favorite version of this story put to stage or screen. Where other versions emphasize the need for
children like Ninny to become more assertive and expressive, this series adds an extra
layer to this dynamic by demonstrating the importance of listening to victims of abuse. In the case of Ninny, all of the different
characters demonstrate a clear desire to help make her visible again, but often doing so
without considering how she might feel or what she might want. Once Moomintroll realizes how self absorbed
he had become in his attempts to help her, it is only then that Ninny is able to become
visible again.
Something that I especially appreciate about
this adaptation is that it was able to take Jansson’s views on difficult topics like
abuse and recovery, but add an extra level of nuance that perhaps wouldn’t have been
as prevalent during her lifetime. The overall result is a series that almost
seeks to present the moomins to an international audience in a way that puts their best foot
forward, which is ironic considering it has yet to see any international distribution
deals outside of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Japan, and England.
Though considering some of the ways that Moomin
has become inextricably tied to the national identity of Finland, it might be a sign of
the Jansson family wishing to remain protective of Tove’s legacy; a sentiment that could
be greatly seen in the 2020 Biopic Tove. Nowadays, historical biopics tend to have
a mixed reputations with certain audiences, as some manage to present the lives of their
subjects in ways that recontextualize our perceptions of them, where other fall into
what Elliot Roberts calls ‘The Wikipedia Problem’, as such films seek to present
a heavily summarized and often sanitized depiction of a person’s complete life without presenting
any greater insight outside of a the same vague insight one would get from reading someone’s
wikipedia article.
In the case of this film, where does its depiction
fall in? Under the direction of Zaida Bergrot and a
screenplay by , Tove makes the wise decision of focusing on a single decade within Jansson’s
life from the around the publication of Moomin and the Great Flood up to the late 1950s following
her relationship with Tuulikki Pietilä. This acts in the film's favor somewhat, partially
helping to prevent the wikipedia problem, but allowing the filmmakers to place more
of a focus on Jansson’s life and relationships instead of solely focusing on the Moomins,
who act as more of a background element than anything else in the story. Instead, the core conflict of the film centers
on Tove’s relationship with Vivica Bandler in the midst of Moomin’s rise to success.
While most historical accounts of Tove’s
life don’t go into as much detail about their relationship, the film depicts it as
a tumultuous affair that makes Bandler appear manipulative and uncaring, while Tove finds
herself in anguish as she contends with this new aspect to her identity. In terms of directions to take this movie,
I am glad that Moomin plays as small of a role as it does, considering how Jansson’s
consistent desires to not be defined by those characters. After researching the life and works of Jansson
for as long as I have, it was a bit of a treat to be able to recognize the small details
and references from Jansson’s life story that could only come from such research. From Atos Wirtanen’s plans to create an
artists’ commune in Morocco with Tove, the stories Viktor Jansson adopting a Monkey,
to the inclusion of specific stage directions provided during the production of Vivica Bandler’s
plays.
But at the same time, I felt that I was only
able to understand the plot of this film because I already had that prior knowledge of Jansson's
life, as certain people like Atos Wirtanen, Sam Vanni, Tuulikki Pietila, and Vivica Bandler
being introduced without much context to who they were as people. And that is the unfortunate criticism I have
for this film: While it is amazing to see a historical biopic place so much of its focus
on the queer experience in a way that isn’t defined by suffering and bigotry, it didn’t
leave me much any larger insight into who Tove Jansson was as a person. Which is a shame because I feel that Jansson’s
life story is part of the reason so many people, particularly younger queer people, gained
such an interest in Moomin over the past few years.
Today, Moomin is more widely available than
it has ever been. The recent success of Moominvalley and the
emergence of the online fandom have caused outlets like Barnes and Noble to officially
distribute Jansson’s Novels and other Moomin related works in the United States for the
first time. The Moomin team has worked to make their online
presence larger, uploading full episodes of the 1990s anime and Moominvalley to their
YouTube channel alongside an official podcast called ‘The Moomin Phenomenon.’ And in 2021, the Norwegian game company Hyper
Games announced the development of a new video game centered on Snufkin titled Snufkin: Melody
of Moominvalley, which is set to release sometime in 2023. Some may point to this as the Moomin company
cynically exploiting this intellectual property, which I can somewhat agree with. However, as tempting as it might be to paint
the growth of the Moomin renaissance as a betrayal of Jansson’s legacy, the fact that
I have met so many Moomin fans from around the world who have been ecstatic to now be
able to share these characters and stories with a whole new audience, which I think it
is more a testament to the timeless quality of these characters and Jansson’s writing.
At the beginning of this video, I ask what
might have changed about the Moomins to attract a wider audience. Though if this retrospective is any indication,
there hasn’t been much to fundamentally alter the nature of these stories and these
characters. Even as the stories become more philosophical
and adult, none of the characters really changed who they were. The core personalities remained intact, but
their perspective on the world and how they view others changed and evolved as Tove Jansson
began to experience the world in new and different ways. As a general rule, I have tried my best to
keep a safe distance from auteur theory, though it’s clear to see just how personal a work
the Moomins are to Jansson, and I believe that it is with her experiences we are able
to see a core to this current renaissance.
Unlike some authors from the early 20th century,
most of the struggles that Jansson discussed in her work is still widely applicable in
our modern world, especially to marginalized audiences who haven’t been widely addressed
until more recently. All her life, Jansson had to struggle with
the uncertainty of being a artist on the margins of society, not only dealing with the difficulties
of being a queer woman, but also coping with financial issues, mental illness, and an unstable
political climate that wracked her with a great deal of fear and uncertainty towards
the world. Through the moomins, she could attempt to
address her various struggles in a way that was comforting and peaceful by creating a
world filled with characters that could help her better understand her relationship with
herself and others.
And it is from that struggle and desire to
understand that many fans of moomin, both new and old, have been able to find a place
of serenity within the peaks of moomin valley, as well as offering some ways to address those
struggles. As it turns out, the Moomins haven’t become
popular because they have changed, its because many American, particularly in the younger
generations, have begun to better appreciate the ideas put forth by the moomins: their
acceptance of all identities, their disregard for class and materialism, and a rejection
of unjust authority have all come to embody the values of modern audiences. According to Jansson, “Only Passion – Hope
and Joy can be honest. Nothing I’ve been forced to do has ever
brought joy to me or those around me.” So while your mileage might vary with certain
stories, I think that there is a lot that can be learned from Tove Jansson’s work,
and perhaps through this appreciation, we can take the values of these stories to heart in order to make the world a better place.
Thank you for watching, Best Wishes. ♫ Even when you stubbornly act so tough ♫ ♫ It is only pretending ♫ ♫ For i know that there are times ♫ ♫ When your cries are never ending ♫ ♫ At such times, you should know that it's ok ♫ ♫ To cry as hard as you can ♫ ♫ For you should know such hopeless things ♫ ♫ Will disappear once you just take my hand ♫ ♫ Come, Come with me, to the
world of peaceful dreams! ♫ ♫ Where your troubles won't be ignored ♫ ♫ And your true self will be seen ♫ ♫ I'll take you to this dream world ♫ ♫ Where love bursts at the seams ♫ ♫ So long as you keep an open heart ♫ ♫ You'll love our valley! ♫ Also, let's make like Snufkin and
fill this place with CRIME COME ON.
