#ellingboe

ELLINGBOES VS KRUMS 💢 My annual Klaus fanart!

Just saw Klaus and… yeah.

Because I am nothing if not predictable. 

Mogens has a shockingly good memory and is surprisingly adept at making deductions about people, to the point he can give you an accurate description of every postman he’s ever shipped to Smeerensburg. 

After moving to Smeerensburg to teach, Alva sunk all of her savings into keeping up the school and trying to convince the people to send their kids to learn. It took her a solid year and a half to finally break down and accept the reality of Smeerensburg.  

Margu has a very big sweet tooth, but isn’t allowed to eat chocolate due to getting incredibly rowdy and then, incredibly sick. She absolutely took  advantage of Klaus and Jesper not knowing. 

Jesper and Klaus became like a second set of parents to Margu, and she often made the mistake of referring to them as such.  

Jesper’s kids didn’t realize that Margu wasn’t their biological sister until it was explained to them. 

Before coming to peace with each other, the Ellingbows and Krums would refuse to buy or sell each other's goods, and “neutral” parties like Mogen and Alva would often get flack for conversing with the enemy (though Mogens had an easier time with it). 

Klaus and his wife did try to adopt children, but Smeerensburg has a surprisingly low count of orphans. This is because any child that was orphaned or unwanted by the parents would be adopted by a different member of the clan, lest the other clan get their hands on them. 

They also tried to adopt outside of Smeerensburg, but were rejected several times due to insufficient funds, living outside the city limits, and old age. 

Mogens has been married twice. Don’t ask about the second one. 

While neither clan keeps a record of it, there has been several occasions where they have joined forces. 

Jesper eventually grows a fear of dogs due to the dogs of Smeerensburg all being attack dogs. 

Jesper’s kids bring home and adopt a Scottish Deerhound. He loves Jesper very much. 

Ellingboes and Krums sometimes leave the island for 2-to-3 years to get married and bring back a bride or husband, or adopt children from neighboring islands. 

Mogen is a literal bastard. 

Alva was raised in a nunnery.

Jesper is an only child, and his father often spoiled him as a boy to make up for an absent mother and lack of siblings. He only realized his mistake when Jesper was in his early twenties and still living off of his family’s fortune. 

While they don’t know his family history, Alva always assumed Klaus was a Ellingbow that went sane, while Jesper figured that he had either disowned his family or had been orphaned. Margu thinks he’s half giant.

- When Jesper’s father puts his foot down to send Jesper to Smeerensburg and the absolute god-like level of intimidation he does when he corners Jesper to explain what exactly would happen if he were to fail. Oof.

- When Jesper first meets Mogens. Those two... So snarky. The sarcastic chemistry is too powerful to contain between them and that GRIN and chuckle Mogens gives after he realizes there will be a new postman that’s almost as sassy as he is to torment gives me life.

- Watching the Ellingboes and Krums start to get along.

- Passive-aggressive berry shenanigans turn into love story. More at 11.

- The scene where the Krum father tore down the gate to let the Ellingboe children play on the new playground he made? That made me tear up, ngl.

- How did they design the children literally so freaking cute aadlfgkajdlfdfkkd???

- Alva slowly learning to love teaching again.

- Any scene with Margu in it.

- The scene where Jesper is about to go back home and Mogens actually stops teasing him because he was concerned about how miserable he looked.

- Mogens subtly hinting to Jesper’s father to talk to him through his trademark sarcasm.

- The look that Jesper’s father gives him at the ferry. He didn’t even say a word but that look said it all. “Talk to me”. Beautiful scene.

- Olaf (Mrs. Krum’s son) saving “Pumpkin” (Magdalone) from falling and their subsequent marriage.

- Watching Jesper and Klaus growing old and staying such good friends.

- Jesper tucking his children in using postage lingo.

- “What I do know… is that once a year… I get to see my friend.”

Les musées et la mémoire des conflits : les collections privées des clans Krum et Ellingboe sur l’île de Smeerensburg

As always, this review of the Netflix film Klaus contains spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet and want to be surprised, please stop reading now.

In short, Klaus is the Christmas movie kids need right now. It is an origin story for Santa Claus and it is done beautifully with a lot of heart, the animation was spectacular and the humour was just right. And it is not just a story about Christmas, but also a story about learning to find joy in kindness and making the most out of a difficult situation. It is told through the eyes of the main character Jesper who is a spoiled rich kid trapped in an adult's body, so his father sends him away to a town where two different clans don't get along to this day to challenge him into becoming a responsible adult.

The town Smeerensburg embodies the biggest problem in our society right right now which is our inability to get along. Worse yet, we try to justify spiting, resenting and being cold to each other by holding onto old grudges that are trivial and old feuds in the past that have nothing to do with us presently. The town is not just unfriendly and violent, it is miserable and stagnant because of all the hate. It is both a metaphorical and realistic picture of how hate leaves a society. However, all of that changes when Jesper gets a letter from a child in the form of an innocent drawing and with the help of Klaus, they give the child a new toy. This sparks a movement of which the rest of the children want toys too reinforcing that the kids don't want to fight. They want to be kids. Of course, the children are told that they only get toys if they are good, so they now have a reason to stop copying the hateful habits of their parents. However, you also get the impression that these children kind of wanted to be good to begin with and their acts of good deeds sparks a domino effect among the adults. This is very fitting of a Christmas story because it not only gives hope, but also it also educates the young children watching the movie that being kind can make you happy, it can get you friends and that kindness is a very needed thing in the world.

Then we have Klaus who is the most unique Santa type character I have ever seen, but he truly captured my heart. Klaus comes across as the stereotypical bitter and cold shouldered giant who doesn't like people, but as you get to know him, you learn that he is nothing of the sort. Klaus is not a man who hates people. He is a man who hates the raw deal life gave him. He once had a wife and they planned to have a family together, but she was lost to illness and even in his heavy state of mourning which lasted for years, there was still love in his heart for even the simplest of things like nature, his wood crafting art and most importantly children as he never stopped wanting a family. Sure, unlike most portrayals of Santa, he wasn't this big jolly chubby guy. He was a serious, strong man, but not like those serious strong men. Klaus was a very grounded character with realistic issues and was not consumed by them deep down. He just needed someone to bring him out of his depression which took a while because no one in Smeerensburg ever reached out to him. There are many people like Klaus in the world who are good and struggling with pain, but we are so caught up in our own small problems that we don't notice them. To summarise, Klaus is the version of Santa Claus who reminds us that those willing to give are worthy or receiving.

Lastly, there is Jesper himself who started off a deplorable guy because he had everything: he was rich but allowed that to spoil him, he had a good job as a high ranking mailman but he had no motivation to work, and he had all the tools he needed to be a man but  would rather just live off his father for the rest of his days like a kid. Yet, by the end of the story, you really grow to respect him and like the man he becomes thanks to his character development. Sure, Jesper's real reason for being at Smeerensburg was because his dad sent him there with the high hopes that being extremely challenged would make him grow up and for a while, his only motivation for taking his work seriously was because he wanted to buy his way out, but as the town blossomed into a pleasant likeable thing, so did he. He began to really about the town, his friendship with Klaus was genuine and while he had no riches or large mansion in the town, he finally found joy in work and responsibility. And his transformation was something he did to himself which says a lot. Perhaps just as deep down it is in our nature to be kind, it is also in our nature to have a purpose and once we discover it, we can't just back away. However, people need to be motivated and sometimes through tough love like Jesper was. You can never expect a person to do anything with their life if you don't allow them to experience it.