The Moomins

Ahhh, The Moomins. They are a part of all of our history. Like the Munama Song from The Muppets, most people will have heard of The Moomins.

I can remember watching the series when I was younger and finding it all a little scary. Some of the characters looked and sounded very intimidating. The thought that they could inhabit my world was very disquieting.

The Moomins themselves are strange white creatures, with large round snouts that make them look a bit like hippopotamuses. There are 3 main Moomin characters: The Moominpappa, Moominmamma and Moomintroll (their child). The Moomins was originally conceived as books and a comic strip by their creator - the author Tove Jansson. The Moomins lived in the forests of Finland (where Tove was from) where they loved sunshine and fun but hibernated in the deep winter The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland, though in the past their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a Theatre. They have many adventures along with their various friends.

In all, nine books were released in the series, with five picture books and a comic strip being released between 1945 and 1993. The series was first shown in 1983 and was part of the Children’s ITV.

Indeed, the The Moomins have had quite an illustrious career in the arts – being the basis for a lot of different television series in various countries, films and even a theme park called Moomin World in Naantali, Finland!

There are of course other things that live in Moomin Valley – characters like Hemulen, Sniff, The Snork maiden, Snufkin and Little My. Perhaps because the stories themselves are quite sparce and the landscape quite bleak, the moomins have been the subject of quite a lot of psychological analysis – theories abound about some Moomin characters being inspired by real people (such as close family members of the Tove Jansson)

A lot of the characters are melancholic, I still remember though some of the messages of the series, and I think this is another reason why it stuck in my mind, and most people’s minds all this time – for example a caharacter might comment ”One can never be entirely free, if one admires someone else too much." Quite little zen thing to say – or another: "Possession means worries and luggage bags one has to drag along."

A great great series that is really worth having another look at – perhaps while listening to Sigur Ros, or some other Nordic melancholy music, getting all twilight.