ABSTRACT
How Nordic animation develops as a brand, one of the writer’s attempts in this book, is studied by the most acknowledgeable brands such as Moomins. The first marionette versions were made as early TV experiments in Germany and by actors in Sweden. However, the most popular Moomin animations come from Japanese studios and belong to anime. Polish felt-Moomins traveled back to the Finnish ownership in the 2000s, although new adaptations of the computer era have competed with those both in classical 2D and digital 3D format. The latest version—the Moominvalley series—is looking for new audiences in the West, with an open appeal to gender diversity. Many Moomin characters are seen as gender neutral or even genderfluid.
LEGO is the most known Nordic brand, even more significant than Moomins. Although known for Star Wars and Ninjago series, the famous bricks have partially structured the development of the Danish animation industry. The other influencer is Hans Christian Andersen, often titled the father of the fairytale. Newer Danish tendencies included ninjas and porn stars in studios such as A. Film and Copenhagen Bombay.
Norwegian input to developing Nordic industry beginners has the stop-motion genius Ivo Caprino, whose inheritors count his country fellow Anita Killi, and Finnish Katariina Lillqvist, who does not avoid telling politically incorrect stories with characters such as Vladimir Putin or the Marshall C.G. Mannerheim in her puppet animations.
