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smile-files · 4 years

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interesting things i’ve noted about moominvalley: part 2

this is a second post about interesting stuff i’ve thought about having to do with moominvalley ‘19! the last one was particularly about snufkin, this one is about the presentation in the show in general.

i will mention something having to do with snufkin, but the point i’m mentioning isn’t about him himself.

1. i already talked about episode 2, the spring tune, in my last post. the important thing to note is how, if not for alternate points of view, it would be extremely hard to tell which interactions are actually happening and which aren’t.

take for example when we see snufkin ‘talking to moomin’. we’re presented the scene as if it’s actually happening - snufkin and moomin have a conversation about how snufkin isn’t quite ready to return to moominvalley, and moomin says he understands (admittedly, i’d imagine moomin would act a bit more melancholy than he does here, but that’s beside the point). then, from teety-woo’s perspective, we see how snufkin was actually sitting next to a lump of snow.

now, no matter if snufkin actually thought he was talking to moomin, if he was wondering about a hypothetical conversation, or if he was remembering a past one, the way it was originally presented to us makes this imagination seem as if it were real - at least, until we see what teety-woo does.

another thing, in the morning, we’re presented with snufkin looking for teety-woo, heading to moominvalley, and seeing moomin having forgotten him. at first, we just see this as a natural transition from what had happened before. we only know for certain that this is just a nightmare when snufkin falls off the ladder and wakes up.

2. now onto episode 8, monster fish. a primary topic about the episode is moominpappa fabricating a large tale about this monstrous fish they almost caught. he basically did this to make himself seem more heroic than he actually was, especially when the only shared aspect of the story and the reality being the crate of seeds - he made up some crazy explanation that posed him as a heroic figure in the obtainment of said seeds.

yes, the way it’s played out at the beginning is in the fashion of a story being told, but we, the viewers, had no reason to believe this wasn’t what actually happened. in fact, it’s moomin himself who tries to explain that the events moominpappa claims happened never actually occurred. at the time, of course, nobody believed him.

the seeds in the crate were planted, etc, moomin tries to tell moominpappa what actually happened, etc. after a heavy rain, the seeds grow into humongous vines that entangle the house. after some vague ‘motivational message’ from moominpappa (he really just told moomin that he wouldn’t help him), moomin decides to save the day.

the next scene we are presented has moomin doing a variety of tasks, such as going around with little my and saving snorkmaiden. then we realize that all this talk of moomin saving the day from the vines was really a story he was telling, and that they were all hiding in the attic from the vines.

(concept art!!)

from now we understand that what everyone’s talking about isn’t any real effort against the vines, it’s no adventure - it’s just a story. by now i was rather discombobulated, not sure what was actually happening. after some wholesome father-son storytelling time, they go onto the roof (do they really?) and the vines end up being eaten by the mameluke (i understand this to be the story).

and muskrat by the end of the episode is just about as confused as i was :’D one of the main themes of the episode was between what the reality was and what the story was - and that often it’s really hard to tell.

- moomin has always given a fantastical, whimsical vibe. you’d think it would, housing fascinating creatures and monsters and magic... so it isn’t so unsurprising for the show to often blur fantasy and reality in its stories.

and given moomin and snufkin’s personalities, i find this especially interesting. moomin has always been one to worry, and now snufkin as well (with new developments in moominvalley ‘19); so far said episodes blurring reality mainly have to do with each of them respectively - one can take this as both of them would be prone to imagining scenarios and what-ifs, maybe even to the point where it’s hard to tell what’s actually happening.

- i imagine this would be brought up again; an upcoming episode is ‘ghost story’ (i’ve watched up to episode 9 so far), so i’d imagine that would have to deal with people worrying about hypotheticals (yes i know that ghosts also actually do exist in moominvalley, tell me something i don’t know).

it’s really fun for me to predict future arcs that may be brought up in future episodes, especially given the complex characters here. i’ve already theorized about snufkin’s issues, and now about this blur of reality, but there are a couple other things i’m thinking about -

what about snorkmaiden being fed up with moomin spending a ton of time with snufkin instead of her? or about how moominpappa’s been a big jerk lately? or maybe what ends up happening with the groke? i don’t know, but whatever happens next, i’m excited :D

(ps: i’ll probably end up doing more posts of ‘interesting things i’ve noted about moominvalley’ when i come across more things to overanalyze and speculate about. until then, enjoy!)

#moominvalley #speculation #overanalyzing #i think about this stuff too much

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