That Pippi dub is weird
I've bought Göran Everdahl's new book Kom nu'rå!, about children's TV shows. It's not as good as his book on soaps - mostly, he just mentions various shows that used to air on TV, describes what they're about, and move on to the next one. But it does have its funny points, such as "Sigrid, where are you now? Eat fibres" and the description of Astrid Lindgren as a cult:
"Sometimes a performer, film, or TV show is called 'cult', and usually that just means that the phenomenon in question has a small crowd of devoted fans. Astrid Lindgren and her imaginary universes, on the other hand, are a proper cult, according to the dictionary's definition of 'collective worship of a certain god or other holy phenomenon, exercised through established holy acts.'
The singing of 'Ida's Summer Song', which often replaces 'Den blomstertid nu kommer' at the end of the school year, the obligatory family visits to Junibacken and Astrid Lindgren's World, the pilgrimages to Villa Villekulla on Gotland - and of course the inevitable reruns upon reruns of reruns of Seacrow Island, Pippi Longstocking and Madicken: they're all 'established holy acts' in our actual state religion, the Astrid-ism. Sweden may be one of the world's most dechristianized countries, but out belief in Astrid remains burning.
Possibly, I am exaggerating, but not much. Our entire image of what a happy childhood and a fortunate summer looks like streams from Astrid Lindgren's life work. Initially, the vision comes from her books, but nowadays to an almost higher degree from the TV shows with their blue skies, coves as bright as a mirror, and singing children. The beneficial seasoning with irony and sober knowledge of humanity prevents a too-sweet flavour."
Okay, yeah, we knew that, but the description is still ace. :-)
And I didn't know that the poorly dubbed (then again, even the original was poorly dubbed, what with the German actors!) American version of Pippi Longstocking had made an appearance in Gilmore Girls. As soon as I'd finished Everdahl's book, I hurried to YouTube, and there it is:
That discovery alone is worth the price. :-D
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/545422.html and has
comments there.
"Sometimes a performer, film, or TV show is called 'cult', and usually that just means that the phenomenon in question has a small crowd of devoted fans. Astrid Lindgren and her imaginary universes, on the other hand, are a proper cult, according to the dictionary's definition of 'collective worship of a certain god or other holy phenomenon, exercised through established holy acts.'
The singing of 'Ida's Summer Song', which often replaces 'Den blomstertid nu kommer' at the end of the school year, the obligatory family visits to Junibacken and Astrid Lindgren's World, the pilgrimages to Villa Villekulla on Gotland - and of course the inevitable reruns upon reruns of reruns of Seacrow Island, Pippi Longstocking and Madicken: they're all 'established holy acts' in our actual state religion, the Astrid-ism. Sweden may be one of the world's most dechristianized countries, but out belief in Astrid remains burning.
Possibly, I am exaggerating, but not much. Our entire image of what a happy childhood and a fortunate summer looks like streams from Astrid Lindgren's life work. Initially, the vision comes from her books, but nowadays to an almost higher degree from the TV shows with their blue skies, coves as bright as a mirror, and singing children. The beneficial seasoning with irony and sober knowledge of humanity prevents a too-sweet flavour."
Okay, yeah, we knew that, but the description is still ace. :-)
And I didn't know that the poorly dubbed (then again, even the original was poorly dubbed, what with the German actors!) American version of Pippi Longstocking had made an appearance in Gilmore Girls. As soon as I'd finished Everdahl's book, I hurried to YouTube, and there it is:
Click to viewThat discovery alone is worth the price. :-D
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/545422.html and has
comments there.