Every year Swedish Television (SVT) makes a christmas calendar (julkalender) for TV which tells a story of some children celebrating christmas. They broadcast one episode à day between the 1st and 24th of December (when Swedes celebrate christmas) which are about 15 minutes long. The exception to this was Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter from 1977, which had 28 episodes, starting the first Sunday in Advent and Jul i Kapernaum from 1995, which had a running time of 30 minutes per episode. This year's calendar, Selmas saga (Selma's fairy tale) looks promising, but I will wait with a more thorough review until it is finished.
I have already talked about my issues with the one from last year (2015), 1000 år till julafton (1000 years until christmas) here and one of my favourites Tomtemaskinen from 1993 here, but thought I would present the other three I have every Sunday in December up until Christmas. I have a hard time choosing an order to my four favourites, so the posts will be published chronologically. (Except for Tomtemaskinen, which I have already talked about.)
First out is Sunes Jul (Sune's christmas) from 1991 which was released at about the same time as the book with the same title. The plot is extremely simple: Sune and his family celebrate Christmas. We get to follow them as they prepare for the holidays. The calendar was followed up by a film, Sunes sommar (Sune's summer) in 1993. This film was a success and has become somewhat of a Swedish classic. The three films about Sune that were made in recent years (with the entire cast exchanged) have not been as well recieved.
Nej, jag vill inte sy sömmar på symaskin. Och inte spela skådespel på någon scen. Och inte sätta rovor på is, som skridskoprinsessa. Inte sula slitna skor i skomakeri. Och jag vill inte bli nå'n snabb och smidig servitris. Och faktiskt inte heller, nå'n skolpolis. Utan S som i sångerska...(No, I do not want to sew seams on a sewing machine. And not perform on any scene. And not fall on ice like an ice princess. Not become a shoemaker. And i do not want to be some fast and flexible waitress. And not even a school police. But S like in singer.)
~ Eva, S som i sångerska, Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter
Eva with Magnus (left) and Brasse (right)
Eva (Remaeus) belongs to the group of heroines that I have had the longest. She was the only female host in the famous Swedish child programme Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter (5 ants are more than 4 elephants). The show was made as a Swedish version of Sesame Street back in 1973, but it manages to actually be better. (For one thing they have a female main host!) It was remade into a "julkalender" in 1977, the only one to ever startstarting before 1 December and therefore had more than 24 episodes. This so it could contain all the 28 letters in the Swedish alphabet (W was not considered a separate letter in Swedish until 2006. It is treated as a variation of V and is mainly used in names and loanwords.). The show is made up of fun sketches, songs and jingles meant to educate children.
Today all three of the hosts have died and when the last one of them (Magnus Härenstam) past away last year, there were lots of discussions about the show. It was generally praised, but considered to portray old-fashioned gender roles with Eva being a "prima donna". This, however, was not something I could remember, so I decided to rewatch the julkalender version on SVT:sÖppet arkiv. I think the show holds up pretty well from a gender perspective actually. Especially in comparison with gender roles in many children's shows of today. Yes, she is a prima donna from time to time. She is motherly, mainly towards Brasse (Brännström) who is supposed to be the child of the show that the young audience will learn together with, but also towards Magnus. And she is certainly the object of both boy's affection. However, she is actually much more than that! She is very active in every sketch she participates in and she is never over-shadowed by the boys. (It is more like Magnus and Brasse are trying to overshadow each other from time to time as part of their characters.) Considering the activities she is allowed to engage in, I will not call it anti-feministic either. She is an astronaut, a doctor (while Brasse is a nurse!!!) and a scientist and she gets to win sports they engage in. In a couple of sketches she also repairs a bike and in one of those Magnus is also scrubbing the floor at the same time. In none of this cases, her gender does not limit her ability. This is something extremely good and should be brought into the light more in the analysis of the show and not just her role as the show's prima donna.
Unfortunately, Eva Remaeus got a brain tumor and died at the age of 42 back in 1993, so she did not get to experience the show becoming a true Swedish children's classic. Maybe her early death also contributes to her not being mentioned in some of the interviews Brasse and Magnus made about the show in later years. (Brasse died in 2014 and Magnus in 2015.)
To finish on a more positive note though, I am going to let Eva teach you how to count to 20 in Swedish. And remember; five ants will always be more than four elephants!
Video from Youtube, The rights are SVT:s thought. Picture from here.
