#new moomin

[diavalkitty]

this is how I see their height difference in the 1972 adaptation))

[happyheidi]

𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘔𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯, 1972

[skruttet]

"He takes a walk sometimes!!" yo trueeee!!!!!!

[alwaysmanages]

I really like this au...

Some scattered vignettes of sharpshooter My's story that I thought up on a whim and have yet to be really solidified!

Top left My is gifted her first revolver, at the cost of losing a loved one to the roads.

Top right: shooting lessons with a not-so mysterious teacher (I'm sure you can guess it)

Bottom left: Shin Little My is a darling hiding behind people, and she radiates younger sister energy. I think she did a lot of hiding behind her elders when she couldn't finish fights she may or may not have started (this she soon grew out of when she remembered she had teeth)

Bottom right: Mymble Jr performing at the saloon she works at. While her sister earns the name of local sharpshooter, Mymble is the pretty cactus blossom who gifts her customers with song and dance between serving beverages.

[loneguitars]

The dedicated 70’s Snufkin shrine that has me in a grip.

(The print is by effiesketch on etsy)

[poetictorment]

Snufkin got a flower crown and a feather, finally ... Since I have extra flowers from my willow tree diorama/lamp that I'm working on.

[random-gnat]

70s Snufkin is stronger than me you’d have to drag me kicking and screaming if you wanted me to step foot in 1969/72 moominvalley, they all had it out for him and one winter later they were chill

[times-arrow]

[carrtoonfreak]

Serenade

[writers-in-moominvalley]

Congratulations to Shin Mūmin for creating its own analog horror moment before fans had the chance to edit it into one, and nobody could ever top it because good Groke the music sounds so creepy.

[Video ID: A 46 second clip from episode 33 of the 1972 New Moomin series, Pappa All Alone.

It starts with a shot of Moominpappa sitting on a rocking chair outside. Then a face shot of Moominpappa with his eyes closed, a very distorted instrumental version of the show's intro song begins playing and Moominpappa looks up towards the moon.

There's a shot of the moon and we cut back to Moominpappa's face, it then fades into a slideshow of watercolor illustrations depicting Moominpappa and Moominmamma building Moominhouse and raising Moomintroll.

The first illustration is a wide back shot of Moominpappa in overalls building the wooden frame of Moominhouse.

The second illustration is a close front shot of Moominpappa using a hammer on the wood frame in the foreground and Moominmamma moving a long log in the background. Moominmamma is wearing a full body apron instead of her usually half apron in all of these illustrations.

The third illustration is of Moominmamma sawing a wood log, she seems to be struggling doing so.

The fourth illustration is of Moominmamma holding a newborn Moomintroll, who is swaddled in cloth, at the front doorway of the now-finished Moominhouse, she is presenting Moomintroll to Moominpappa who is sitting in a rocking chair and looking up from his book. Both of them are smiling.

The fifth illustration is of Moominpappa holding baby Moomintroll. Both of them are smiling.

The sixth illustration is of the whole family inside Moominhouse, Moomintroll is throwing down a tower of blocks and his parents are watching over him. All of them look happy.

The seventh illustration is of a face shot of Moominmamma looking admiringly at (presumably) Moomintroll.

The eighth illustration is of Moomintroll playing in a flower field with two butterflies, the camera then shifts to the right to show his parents sitting aside and smiling at him.

The ninth illustration is of Moomintroll with his legs up in the air and reaching out at a large orange butterfly.

The tenth illustration is of the whole family together, Moomintroll is reaching up to a pair of butterflies, Moominpappa is sitting on the ground smiling, and Moominmamma appears to be in the middle of getting up from the ground.

We then fade back to a shot of the moon, there's a strange laughing sound replacing the distorted music, and then we fade to a face shot of Moominpappa staring at the moon, the laughing suddenly stops.

End ID.]

[flowerbloom-arts]

"Moomin and its casual relationship with religion/Christianity is something that's truly understated by the fandom or forgotten about entirely and I think it's one of the more fascinating aspects to dive into. I dunno, I could ramble about for quite a bit."

Please do! I would love to hear it. If thou wished so. That is.

Okay SO.

I'm gonna elaborate in that I don't know what Tove's relationship to religion/Christianity is? I know she had a Jewish friend who had to flee the country in WW2 and she probably celebrated Easter and Christmas but otherwise I haven't read anything on her views of religion or what flavor of Christian she is, so I'm just going to base this entire post on what we see within the franchise and try not to speculate on what the Janssons believed.

But like, anyway, the subject of religion in Moomin is pretty subtle in that uhhhh

... maybe it's not too subtle... but I blame it on people not reading the books or comics and watching the 90s and 2019 series as it is almost clean of religious dialog or plot points except for, like, the existence of Christmas I guess.

And the existence of Christmas instead of, like, some unchristian equivalent to it in Moominland is telling in itself. What alot of people don't realize that despite all the magic and shenaniganery that happens in Moominvalley, Moominland is still a sort of.... slightly tweaked, absurdist portrait of the real world. In the books there are references to Mexico, America, Finland itself; Moomintroll mentions venetian curtains which implies the existence of Venice, Tarzan as a pop culture icon is referenced. In the comics the Moomins time travel to Wild West era southern USA, ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, they wanted to travel to 18th century France but they forgot to switch the location, there are references to Soviet Russia and Australia gets mentioned and the Moomins travel to a Mediterranean beach town which is basically a fusion of 2 real life Spanish towns down to the combined naming (Although Majorca also still exists??), brands like Old Smuggler's and Lyle's Gold Syrup and Maxwell House and Lipton get shown directly on the pages... so many other things... point is, Moomin isn't a fantasy world separated from the real one and with all of this you can't argue about alternate origins of the Christmas holiday, it just is there as it is celebrated in the real world.

In Comet in Moominland, Sniff name-drops the Moses of the Bible in reference to Snufkin being found in a basket like him and the kids have a conversation about how dangerous it was to send a baby down a river:

‘Haven’t you got a mother?’ asked Moomintroll looking very sorry for him.

‘I don’t know.’ said Snufkin. ‘They tell me I was found in a basket.’

‘Like Moses,’ said Sniff.

‘I like the story about Moses,’ said the Snork. ‘But I think his mother could have found a better way of saving him don’t you? The crocodiles might have eaten him up.’

‘They nearly ate us up,’ said Sniff.

‘Moses’ mother could have hidden him in a box with air-holes,’ said the Snork maiden.

‘That would have kept the crocodiles out.’

Mr. Hemulen begs the heavens to protect and preserve him:

‘Heaven protect me!’ gasped the Hemulen,

(...)

‘Oh, heaven preserve me!’ exclaimed the Hemulen,

In Finn Family Moomintroll, Muskrat makes more tangible references to Heaven:

(...) the Muskrat gloomily sucking his moustache. 'The earth can crack and fire come down from heaven for all I care (...)

(...)

'(...) Well, I hope the Muskrat heaven is a peaceful place, because I shan't be here much longer.'

In Moominpappa's Memoirs, the Ghost name-drops Hell:

"By all the Hounds of Hell," began the ghost,

In Moominsummer Madness Mymble Jr believes they're going to die and euphemistically mentions Heaven while Little My whines about having to go:

‘That’s the very least,’ replied the Mymble’s daughter. ‘Try to be good now if you can find the time, because in a little while we’re all going to heaven.’

‘Heaven?’ asked Little My. ‘Do we have to? And how does one get down again?’

Emma the Stage Rat says rest in peace for her late husband:

‘Really, thank goodness,’ she cried, ‘thank goodness that my beloved husband, Stage Manager Fillyjonk (mayherestinpeace) can’t see you all! You don’t know a thing about the theatre, that’s clear, less than nothing, not even the shadow of a thing!’

In Tales From Moominvalley, Mymble says My wouldn't go to heaven if she keeps swearing:

‘If you say things like that you’ll never go to heaven,’ the Mymble started instantly,

Snufkin euphemistically uses Heaven while telling the story about his mother's aunt;

Her wonderful belongings gave her no comfort. On the contrary, they only made her think of the day when she’d go to heaven and leave them all behind her

And Sniff echoes this twice;

[Snufkin said] '(...) feeling rather like a balloon, a happy balloon ready to fly away…’

‘To heaven,’ Sniff observed drily. ‘Now, listen…’

(...)

‘I know, I know,’ Sniff said crossly. ‘You’re exactly like Moomintroll. I know how it turned out. Then one evening she gave away her bed too and then she went off to heaven and was so happy, and the right thing for me to do is to give away not only Cedric but everything I have and then hand in my spade and bucket on top of it all!’

And of course, Tales From Moominvalley has the entire short story about Christmas.

Of course, I could be missing or forgetting alot from the books but it paints a very clear picture, I think. And then in the comics...

The use of words like sin and damned and religious exclamations are used alot throughout the comic, and I can't even show all the examples I have collected because of the picture limit, but it's there.

The Black Prophet in Moomin Begins a New Life uses religious language and quite literally lives in a place called Puritan Street, he claims that any form of enjoyment or self-satisfaction is sin, such as looking attractive or eating food you like, and that one must live life in according to one's duty and the betterment of society as opposed to the hedonist view of the White Prophet to abandon all law and order and do only what one pleases.

The plot of the Lars comic Sniff Goes Good founds itself in the event of Sniff having an implied nightmare about going to hell and takes it as a sign that he should morally correct himself.

Moominpappa kept using the word damn (and damned and the blazes) throughout Moomin and the Sea.

The strange thing about the comics is that it uses alot of religious exclamations but replaces God/Lord or Jesus with Edward the Booble which is a really fascinating implication about Boobles in this world but that's beside the point, Groke is also used for more negative exclamations. Just about the only time I remember a character using God/Lord in the comics is that panel of Moominmamma saying Oh Lordy as shown above, otherwise references to God or Jesus themselves are very much missing, I don't know if it's something to do with newspaper censors or what (I could swear there was maybe a cross or a reference to the Devil somewhere in the Lars comics but I can't remember where).

None of the characters seem explicitly religious, atleast with their language, there's no church in Moominvalley or crosses thrown about, which...

Makes the 1969 Moomin series and its reboot, New Moomin, absurdly funny.

DO DO-DO-DO DO DO DOOOOO...

DUN-DUN!

DUN DUN!

DU-DUUUUNNNNN...!!

(yes that is a real church, part of a whole episode's plot, it has the cross and everything on top, I just couldn't get a better shot of it than this)

As someone who has watched the subtitled episodes available for each series I can say that it is... hilarious whenever it pops up. The usage of Christianity in such a heavy-handed way throughout the shows is very amusing but also fascinating.

It's important to consider that these are a japanese production, and these days, Japan only 1% of the population is self-proclaimed Christian despite the celebration of Christmas and the Christian-style weddings they perform. I couldn't get exact data on Japanese religion in the 20th century but it's doubtful that Mushi Productions, the studio that made these shows and is based in Tokyo, was particularly influenced by the religious colonialism of western Japan (please correct me if I'm wrong, I know I'm not a historian but this stuff fascinates me).

The absurd presentation of these elements feel like it comes from a fascination with the religion than any tangible experience on how mundane, rural European Christians act or believe? Like it's kind of parodying it to get across the fact that this is supposed to be taking place in Europe? The praying, the constant references to Heaven (unrelated to death), Hell, God or the Devil, Snufkin and Moomintroll compelling the Hobgoblin with the Power of Christ, the church that was never in the source material, it's all a bit tacky and I love it??

This element is less present in New Moomin probably due to criticism but it's still very much there. It's probably one of the stranger bits of the series besides the violence of Moomin 1969, but like the rest of the adaptation it feels like it's done in earnest despite its lack of adherence to the source material.

...

All this to say, there's probably a Moomin Jesus who died for their Moomin sins in canon and that is still absurdly funny to think about in an abstract sense after all this time.

[moominphobic]

[theinternetisaweboflies]

[skruttet]

[alwaysmanages]

There she is, the fanciest Mymble in Moominvalley.

To follow the western theme I have going for Little My, I designed Mymble Jr with a saloon girl theme. She reminds me of a cactus flower, so I had to run with it :')

[loneguitars]

you don’t understand how much I adore them in 1970s moomin. 🖐️😔