The Amateur's Guide to Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley

In this video, I return to the world of Moominvalley to analyze the hotly anticipated game Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley and its relationship with the original Moomin stories, Tove Jansson, and the philosophies it connects with.

Disclosure: My copy of the game was provided to me by Hyper Games and Raw Fury. While I think objectivity is overrated, the opinions in this video have not been influenced by the developers and are a reflection of my own thoughts on this game and the Moomins.

Special Thanks to Kiki from Transparency for looking at the script.

Work Cited

• Bletchly, Rachael. “How Moomin Author Built a Brand Worth £700m and Why Brits Still Love Them.” The Mirror, Reach PLC, 4 Jan. 2021, www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/how-moomin-creator-built-brand-23260983. Accessed 15 Mar. 2024.

• Dymel-Trzebiatowska, Hanna. “Moomins Take the Floor. Finnish Trolls in Contemporary Mass Social (Media) Events.” Children’s Literature in Education, Aug. 2022, pp. 1–16. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-022-09497-6 Link

• Ellis, Rowan. “Why Is Cottagecore so Gay?” Rowan Ellis, YouTube, 30 July 2020, youtu.be/5odKiL7jRW0.

• Kramer, Ash. “Philosophical Materialism: Vital Materialism.” Philosophical Materialism: A Study of Early Modern Literature and Contemporary Theory, The Alliance for Networking Visual Culture, scalar.usc.edu/works/material_philosophy/vital-materialism#:~:text=Frequently%20gendered%20female%2C%20vital%20materialism. Accessed 15 Mar. 2024.

• Meereboer, Arwen Dagmar. "Moomins and Complicity with Matter: Tove Jansson’s Moominpappa at Sea as an Intervention in Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things by Jane Bennett." SATS 23.1 (2022): 17-32. Link

• O’Connell, Joe. “The Melancholy Promise of Heidi, Girl of the Alps.” Beyond Ghibli, YouTube, 20 Sept. 2018, youtu.be/_DFPoZN-FoI. Accessed 15 Mar. 2024.

• O’Luanaigh, Robin. “Co-Opting Cottagecore: Pastoral Aesthetics in Reactionary and Extremist Movements.” Global Network on Extremism and Technology, The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, 19 May 2023, gnet-research.org/2023/05/19/co-opting-cottagecore-pastoral-aesthetics-in-reactionary-and-extremist-movements/.

• Peter Marten. “Moomin Characters Ltd Keeps a National Treasure in the Family.” This Is Finland, the Finland Promotion Board , Apr. 2010, finland.fi/business-innovation/moomin-characters-ltd-keeps-a-national-treasure-in-the-family/. Accessed 15 Mar. 2024.

• Samson, Anna. “How the Moomins Became an Anti-Fascist Symbol.” Huck Magazine, TCO London, 22 Sept. 2021, www.huckmag.com/article/how-the-moomins-became-an-anti-fascist-symbol.