The dark side of the Moomins

Tove Jansson’s beloved stories, which turn 80 this year, are not cute: they are angry tales of apocalypse and breakdown.

Yep. Whenever I recommend or introduce the Moomins to someone new, I always point out that these are not Disney characters. There are stories that are gloomy and scary and sad. There are characters that clearly have mental health issues. Even the cute cartoons will sometimes traumatise* you. Shit gets dark. My Swedish friends have jokingly told me that this is simply the nature of Finnish culture. It’s clear reading this excellent New Statesman piece though that a lot of it was informed by Tove Jansson’s experiences growing up during WW2, and later dealing with the unwanted fame and attention her characters had brought her. While I’m sorry that she came to resent her success so much, the melancholy (and anger and greed and naughtiness…) she infuses makes the characters so much more interesting and resonant for the readers.

* Once I was visiting my sister and looking after my young nieces and nephew, I decided to introduce them to the Moomin animated series, which you can find on YouTube. In the second episode, they find a magical hat that makes little clouds they fly around in. Fun, right? I forgot entirely that Moomintroll later climbs inside the hat, and it transforms him into an ugly monster that no one recognises. He ends up sobbing “Don’t you recognise me, Mamma?!!” and it’s really awful and scary, and the kids FREAKED OUT. My sister came home to crying children and me trying to explain “No really, his Mom eventually recognised him and he changes back and everything is okay!” I think it put them off Moomins for years.