How it hapend ? (Re: Moby Duck, Mad Madam Mim and others)

Lars Jensen lpj at forfatter.dk
Wed Jul 2 19:36:23 CEST 2003


KUR/Maciek wrote:

> In storys wich was publish in Poland "Mad Madam Mim" is a good wich
> from Duckburg ho olweys help other people,  enemy of the Beagle Boys.
> But as I read in the Internet and hear in other storys (theat wasent
> publishet in Poland, jest) she is a evil wich, a villant, she helps
> Magica De Spell, Beagle Boys, Hazel The Wich or some times Phantom
> Blot.
>
> I never cud understud How it hapend theat are two versions of Mim :
> Evil and good.

To which Stefan Persson answered:

> Well, the original version (i.e. as in the movie) is *only* evil.

Here's the deal:

In the feature "The Sword in the Stone", Madam Mim was a strongly
characterized opponent to good-guy Merlin -- and was clearly proud of
her evil witchiness. Her appearance being one of the high points of the
movie, it was decided to spin her into comics.

In comics, her personality became less focused. In American books, she
was shown to be either somewhat less evil (imprisoning Tinker Bell and
collaborating with the Phantom Blot, but not actively trying to kill
anybody as in the movie) or merely highly egotistical (magically forcing
unwilling guests to appear at her birthday party). In the Studio
production, meant for non-American use, she lived with Magica in a
run-down castle and once in awhile made plans for how to get Scrooge's
Dime from him -- and that was the extent of her "evilness" there.

As American production with Mim stopped, other countries took over. In
many stories, Madam Mim over the 80s and 90s gradually changed into a
nice old woman who, using a magic wand, would help children against
bullies. Not quite knowing how to handle her wand (which would
frequently break), she wouldn't be that effectice -- but at least she
would try to be helpful.

I find that boring. Having Mim turn into a copy of Hanna-Barbera's
Winsome Witch was in my opinion a bad development. A few years ago,
though, Mim sort-of returned to her roots. I haven't seen enough of
anybody else's material to form an opinion, but in my stories, at least,
Mimsy is extremely self-confident and egotistical with no qualms about
using her limitless (natural) magic for her own purposes. No, she's not
evil -- it's hard to make five-year-olds identify with somebody who
wants to kill Jiminy Cricket -- but she certainly isn't a goodie-goodie.

Lars




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