Mysteriet på Greveholm (The Mystery at Greveholm) from 1996 is probably the most beloved of SVT's julkalendrar. It is also the only one who has got a sequel (Grevens återkomst from 2012). In my personal opinion, that one is as bad as the original one was good, so this entry will only be about that.
"Är det redan vinter? Det var ju sommar nyss! Vart har hösten tagit vägen? Tänk, snart är det vår!" ("Is it winter already? It was summer just the other day! Where have the autumn gone? Soon it is spring!")
~ Leif
I have come to realise that describe the plots to my favourite julkalendrar might make them seem pretty strange. Sunes Jul seems probably pretty uncomplicated with Sune and his family celebrating christmas, but the rest. Tomtemaskinen tells the story about an old man building a mechanical Santa Claus to his cat and Jul i Kapernaum is about a star trapped by a king underneath a town and two children going down to free it.
Mysteriet på Greveholm is no exception to this. It is about the Olsson family with a father who is a scientist and who has managed to move a satellite so no one can watch TV. They move into a castle called Greveholm to celebrate christmas. In the castle live the two ghosts Jean and Staffan. An evil skeleton of Greven von Dy (the earl von Dy - usually called Greven) has captured a princess from outer space called Dioda in the tower and the children (Lillan, Ivar and Melitta) has to save her. Dioda also has a robot called Sprak who Lillan plays with. There is also two thieves who want to steal the treasures of the castle, a news paper delivery boy called Måns who Melitta falls in love with and Santa Claus and his elves.
I love this julkalender very much, but I still cannot help thinking it to be somewhat overrated. There are rather lot of plot holes and the acting is not always very good. In fact the acting (mostly by the children) is better in both Sunes Jul and Jul i Kapernaum than in Mysteriet på Greveholm. What is redeeming is the interesting world it creates and the loveable characters that you can relate to. This is actually what makes this julkalender work and not its sequel.
Jul i Kapernaum (Christmas in Kapernaum) was SVT:s julkalender 1995 and twice as long as the rest of them. The second half of it is devoted to puppet sketches. We get to visit Magister Munter at the school (who teaches the children that the English sentence I buy pink sheets is funny to a Swede), see short films at the cinema at Bio Rio and hear about when Fru Dito time travelled in her shower. (I might get back to those in later entries to this blog, but for this one, I want to focus on the main plot.)
Legend has it that a star came to rest on the place where the town Kapernaum later was built. Many thousands of years later, the evil king Sirius in his hunt for treasure, found it and trapped it underground. He killed everone, but a young man managed to flee and tell everyone. Sirius was locked up and the man left Kapernaum, only to return when it was time to release the star.
När tiden är inne, When time has come, för lugn i sinne. For peace in mind När staden skälver When the town is shaking och jorden gnäller. And the ground whines För julefrid, For christmas peace, öppna porten i tid. Open the gate in time. Den som ingen sakna, The one no one misses, hämta stjärna som vakna Collects the wakening star
~ Jul i Kapernaum
1000 years later, the 10 years old orphan girl Amanda lives in an abandoned circus wagon in the middle of Tittutgränd in Kapernaum. She is sometimes lonely, but often plays around with the mayor Klopstock and Krampus. Besides them, Krampus has an aunt named Innocentia and there is also a lady who owns the café called Rosa. In Kapernaum also lives Assar Skoog who owns a pawnshop.
Skoog in many aspects resembles Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dicken's book A Christmas Carol. His brother died and Assar drove away his wife and newborn baby. Assar is extremely greedy and loves to make people pawn their most valuable things. He also mutters "Humbug!" from time to time.
Viktor, is the heir of the young man who fled king Sirius and he suddenly shows up in Kapernaum, scaring the life out of Skoog (like the three ghosts of christmas do to Scrooge). Amanda finds the gate to the underground and Viktor sets after her. They free the star and ride off for new adventures at the end. The battle against king Sirius and his troll guard is a little forced and lame, but the actors (even the children) are all good and the characters loveable.
Jul i Kapernaum belongs in the fantasy genre, but it is also a musical of sort. I have always been pretty sad that they never released the music on a cd because there were some pretty good ones in this. It felt even stranger when SVT chose to release the soundtrack of Mysteriet på Greveholm the following year even though it only contained instrumental music. (Snälla SVT, kan ni inte åtminstone lägga upp sångerna på Spotify nu?!) I remember having to rewind the VHS over and over because I wanted to listen to the music.To this day, I still remember Amanda's song (and no, it is not mainly due to her and I sharing first name!)
This calendar is sadly forgotten, but the Swedes voted for it to be part of the julkalender classics that SVT puts on their Öppet Arkiv site every christmas. Rewatching this now, made me think that it is actually even more relevant today. The awakening star creates havoc with the climate, making the town hot and everyone wonder what has happened to the weather. It is also worth mentioning Klopstock's line from the last episode: "Igår var Kapernaum nära sin undergång. Minnet av det som skett den här julen får aldrig blekna. Om historien hålls vid liv finns det möjlighet att inte upprepa misstagen (Yesterday, Kapernaum was close to its destruction. The memory of what has occured this christmas must never fade. If history is kept alive, there is a possibility to not recreate the misstakes.)" Definitely something to think about...
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.
Covers of Pannkakstårtan, Rävjakten, Stackars Pettson, Pettson får julbesök and Kackel i Grönsakslandet.
Facebook reminded me that I met Swedish children's author Sven Nordqvist at the Göteborg Book Fair this day in 2009. Therefore I thought I would write about his books about Pettson and Findus. I absolutely love those books! Yes, I still love them as an adult. There is nothing wrong with enjoying good children's books as adult and the books about Pettson and Findus belong to the best.
"Du ska inte vara rädd för hönsen Pettson. De är inte så farliga som de ser ut."(Pettson, you don't have to be scared of the hens. They aren't as dangerous as they look.)
~ Gumman Andersson, Pettson tältar
The books (generally picture books, but there are some exceptions) tell shorter tales about Pettson. He lives alone with his cat Findus and a couple of hens. There are also some mucklor that live underneath the floor and only Findus can see, but they steal things from Pettson.
Covers of Tomtemaskinen, Pettson tältar, Tuppens minut, När Findus var liten och försvann and Findus flyttar ut.
The books are beautifully illustrated and there are so much details in every picture that you can look at them all the time and still find new things you have never seen before. The first book Pannkakstårtan (Translated as Birthday Cake in English apparently.) was published in 1984 and the latest picture book, Findus flyttar ut (Findus moves out) in 2012. There have been some other picture books for younger children published later: Känner du Pettson och Findus? (Do you know Pettson and Findus?) from 2014 and Var är Pettson? (Where is Pettson?) from 2015. In later years, there has also been some cartoons made of the stories. This might be a little because I do not belong to the intended audience (being an adult when they were made), but I do not think they are as good. Not least since the drawings are not as detailed as the ones in the books. The only screen adaptation of any of the books I do like is the Christmas calender, Tomtemaskinen (The mechanical Santa) from 1993 made by SVT.
"Pettson, du säger så konstiga saker. Har du inte fått i dig något kaffe idag?"(Pettson, you say such weird things. Haven't you drank any coffee today?)
~ Findus, Tomtemaskinen
Ingvar Hirdwall played Pettson and Ika Nord played Findus. I thought I should save talking about my favourite Christmas calenders until December, but I might as well tell you about it now. I think it is one of the more underrated and forgotten about SVT:s christmas calenders I think. Mostly since Mysteriet på Greveholm was shown only a couple of years later (1996). That calender is generally the one people remember from "the era", but there were some other great ones made during the 1990's.
Tomtemaskinen tells the story of how Pettson promises Findus that Santa Claus will come to them this year, so he starts building a mechanical Santa in secret.
The book was published at about the same time as the christmas calender was shown on TV and is the only multi-chapter books in the series. There is no real action in it, but it is still very funny and imaginative and both Hirdwall and Nord are doing a really good job. I still think it holds up, over twenty years later.
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.
A union of the Nordic countries called the Kalmar union, was established by Queen Margareta in 1397 and in 1997 there was therefore a big jubliee in the Swedish town Kalmar (which gave its name to the union. Swedish Television (SVT) has usually a special show for children in the mornings during the summer holidays. In 1997 the plot of that show told the story about Nils Svensson who has a great interest in knights and travels to Kalmar in 1997 to take part of the jubilee and through his mobile phone ends up in Kalmar 1397. There he befriends Erik of Pomerania who was crowned king in the last episode and the rather clumsy knight Riddare Rosenstråle. His best friend, however, is Katarina Örnfot (Anna Rydgren).
Katarina is the daughter of the knight Bengt Örnfot and most of her other family died from the plague. She has had a brother named Karl too. He was a squire. Bengt was injured in the war against the, so called, mecklenburgarna* and cannot fulfil his duties as a knight. Because of this Karl is given the task of representing him so the family can keep their position in the nobility. The big problem is that Karl died in battle with mecklenburgarna. This is kept a secret between Katarina and her father to not jeopardise their social position. Also because of this, Katarina takes on the role as squire and becomes the best rider in all of Kalmar. The reason why it has to be kept a secret is because women were not allowed to become knights, something they also clearify many times in the show. However Katarina's story might not have been so fictive as you might have thought.
The general picture of the woman in the Middle Ages have changed a lot in recent years and Katarina seems to reflect this. The portrayal of the woman in the Middle Ages was actually one of the main problems I had with SVT:s julkalender (christmas calender) Tusen år till julafton (1000 years to christmas eve) last year (2015).
Tusen år till julafton depicted the medieval woman as precluded from society, trapped in some castle all the time and boring in general. A picture that has been questioned a lot by researcher of the last decades. Katarina is a strong contrast to this picture. She is actually quite the opposite: colourful and independent. She takes an active role in her society and she is never overshadowed by her male companions in the show.
I like the plotpoint of her being a squire and later dubbed as a knight in her own name. I can also oversee with the anachronism of this because they explained that women were not allowed to become knights so much. It is a perfect example of how you, inside the frame of a fictive historical narrative can problematize an issue from the time period in which the story takes place. It legitimize the liberties taken by the people behind the story. This is one of the biggest issues (besides showing an outdated picture of the medieval woman) that I have with Tusen år till julafton as well. In the episode that portrayed the noble classes of the Middle Ages, they had both a woman being a knight and also a girl training to become one and they never revealed anything about the fact that women could not become knights! (In fact they were often rather hard on real historic girls in that calender, but that is a topic for another entry.)
In recent years a lot of research has shown that Katarina might not have been alone. There are quite a lot of female warriors and not least female defenders throughout the Middle Ages (There is actually a Swedish website called Kvinnliga krigareabout them.). In fact Erik of Pomerania was surrounded by them. Margareta's way to all the Nordic thrones did not come easy and Erik's wife Philippa/Filippa (daughter of Henry IV of England) is known to have defended Copenhagen during an attack from the Hanseatic league in 1428. The medieval, European society seems to have required a man even during times when they were not present. A fact that Katarina depicts beautifully. Unlike, for example, the character Brienne in Game of Thrones, Katarina is not reduced to being "just one other tomboyish female who gets to play knight" either. She also has a side to her that would probably be seen as traditionally female. She is caring and from time to time also quite motherly towards the boys in the show. She is allowed to show a much better and varied picture of a female character and I love characters like that! They are not reduced to stereotypes, which I think makes them seem more real. I also love how much research really seems to have gone into the show. Nils meets people that did really live in Kalmar during the late 14th century! They also seemed to have a plan on what they wanted to tell and how. It was more than just entertainment. Like with Horrible Histories, they wanted to educate children and managed to do so very well. It is a shame that there was not so much follow up to the interest the show got from the audience.
The theme of the show was the 14th century ballad Douce Dame Jolie by Guillaume de Machaut.
The autograph I got from the actress Anna Rydgren who
played Katarina.
I know I kind of bashed Tusen år till julafton a lot in this entry, but I was kind of disappointed even though they managed pretty good we a lot of things (e.g. with explaining the estates of the realm during the 17th century). My measurements for good educational shows about history are Salve and Horrible Histories and Katarina and the medieval women Horrible Histories portrays (for example Jeanne d'Arc and Black Agnes) are really so much better representations of what a woman of that time period was like. This is really why I have so much problem with the calendar's portrayal of them which I felt was prejudiced and also somewhat condescending.
*Mecklenburgare is the term used for the supporter of Albrekt of Mechlenburg who ruled over Sweden before Margareta seized also the Swedish throne. They are depicted as the antagonists of the show.
