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The famous Hungarian Folk Tales, with its 100 episodes is the second most episodic series in the history of Hungarian animation. The Hungarian Folk Tales series is sought after all over the world, reports Magyar Nemzet.
The film idea for the Hungarian Folk Tales series came from studio director Ferenc Mikulás, in the late 1970s. The nine seasons of Hungarian Folk Tales were first produced in the studio of Pannónia Film Studio in Kecskemét (central Hungary) and later by Kecskemétfilm.
The first episodes were broadcast on television in 1980, while the last series was shown in 2012.
The popularity of the series has not waned in recent years, as shown by the fact that Hungarians from all over the world still look for and enjoy watching the old episodes.
On the occasion of the Day of Hungarian Culture, Magyar Nemzet contacted Mikulás, the head of Kecskemétfilm, who said that he is very happy that the Hungarian Folk Tales series has brought the experience of Hungarian mother tongue culture to millions of people in the past decades.
He recalled that at the end of the 1970s, the series started with the help of storyteller Ágnes Kovács, in order to capture the passing Hungarian fairy-tale treasures in cartoons.
Their commitment to the Hungarian language and culture remained intact throughout the later seasons.
The creators wanted to portray the passing peasant society in its entirety on the screen, in the language of fairy tales.
The fact that the main theme song of the production, with its characteristic imagery, has become part of Hungarian popular culture, is a faithful testimony to how well they have succeeded in capturing the essence of the story. For millions of people today it means the same thing: childhood, family, and belonging to the nation, to national culture.
The popularity of the Hungarian Folk Tales series has not stopped at home, even when it was first published. At first, the video cassettes had to be smuggled over the border, but today the situation is quite different. The stories are available free of charge online. According to Kecskemétfilm, the Hungarian Folk Tales series has been viewed by almost 180 million people on YouTube.
Fairy tales play an important role in the development of the mother tongue, which is why they are an important identity-building series for Hungarian youth living beyond the borders and in the diaspora.
Based on last month’s figures, the series has been watched in 172 countries around the world, from Canada to Tonga. Besides, according to Kecskemétfilm,
34.2 percent of English-language fairy tales are viewed from the United States.
Few people know that the series is also dubbed in Chinese – and although YouTube is not available in China, Chinese people living in other parts of the world can also listen to the tales in their mother tongue.
Like fairy tales, cartoons contribute to emotional and intellectual enrichment, learning, and personal development. They are also important cultural mediators.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured image via Wikipedia
