Explain me Pooh

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My inlaws keep giving my kid Pooh stuff. Somehow I have entirely missed out on the Pooh canon. I asked my husband what it was about and he said, "oh, there's a bunch of animals in a meadow or something and they learn lessons," but really that could describe aesop's fables or watership down or anything. And you can't get away from Pooh when you're looking at baby stuff, I don't think there is any other character that has such dominance. It annoys the shit out of me because all those marketing characters (esp disney ones) annoy me--although I know pooh is not a disney creation, I know they were books but I don't remember reading them, but that's about all I know.

So I know a lot of people love the pooh stories but tell me what is so lovely about them, where should I start? Is the disneyfication really as bad as I suspect it is? Why is this so popular for babies (who are really much more concerned with poo)? Do you have favorite pooh memories?

― teeny (teeny), Friday, 5 May 2006 12:51 (nineteen years ago)

Disneyfication was awful awful awful.

I have some lovely 50s and 60s penguin editions, a lovely hardback deluxe edition and some tapes of willie rushton reading the books (he does the best eeyore voice). Disney sucked the whistful beauty out of pooh.

― Ed (dali), Friday, 5 May 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

The Disneyification is *awful*. You really need to go back to the original stories, with the original illustrations.

(xpost)

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 5 May 2006 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

pooh sticks!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1595000/images/_1597185_winniepooh300.jpg

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Friday, 5 May 2006 12:57 (nineteen years ago)

Pooh was the only "Disney character" (ahem) from whom I didn't run away when I used to visit Disney World with the family, so classic for that alone. And the A.A. Milne books are pretty great too.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 May 2006 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

The horror of the Disneyfication of Pooh came up just last night at the bar.

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Friday, 5 May 2006 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

ALSO DON'T FORGET: while you're dabbling in Milne you should look at the two books of children's poetry, called When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. As classic as classic can be. I'm much fonder of them than of the Pooh stories, although those are still "C", obv.

In conclusion, leave the gross-ass character-themed merchandise in the malls but RUN DON'T WALK to bookstore for the originals.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

yeah the books are good, the original illustrations lovely (the whole thing is owned by disney now though; I think that most kid stuff uses the "classic pooh" designs, based on the original illustrations). i agree that it's over-exposed in kid's stuff, but, kid's don't really care, I don't think.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

Words of wisdom from ILG:

I HATE WINNIE THE POOH
MAN HE SHITS HERE HE SHITS THERE

― melton mowbray's APOCALYPTO! (adr), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

I think the disney cartoons are probably fine

I like the gopher one who says "I'm not in the book!"

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

the books are wonderwife and wise and funny. read them teeny, you'll understand.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

I don't mind the Disney Winnie stuff per se but I've barely encountered it beyond the theme song.

"There's Rabbit, there's Piglet, and there's Owl..."

The originals indeed rule, and I'm kinda surprised you never encountered them before, Teeny! My parents had an edition of all four books (counting the two aforementioned poetry collections) and I used to read those like crazy when I was growing up.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

http://courses.wccnet.edu/computer/mod/w23ca_f1.gif

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

Dorothy Parker on being compared to A.A. Milne

When We Were Very Sore

Dotty had
Great Big
Visions of
Quietude.
Dotty saw an
Ad, and it
Left her
Flat.
Dotty had a
Great Big
Snifter of
Cyanide.
And that (said Dotty)
Is that.

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

Explain me Pooh

Childhood has to come to an end sometime.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

I see Marcello has found the alternate interpretation of the thread title.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:12 (nineteen years ago)

Haha, Roxy. And you know I can receite the poem that's sending up, and on the basis of that poem, have been known to use the word "mackintosh" in casual conversation. Also learned of originally from Milne: India rubber, rice pudding, "changing" the guard.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

if any incident in your life ever strongly resembled a winnie the pooh story, please relate that incident here

― -+-+-+++- (ooo), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:15 (nineteen years ago)

no-one metion kenny loggins

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

Interesting, if that link's any indication I've highly mellowed to Disney's Pooh over time!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:23 (nineteen years ago)

I was at Disneyland some years ago and saw a child, no more than three, buried in a big hug with Pooh Bear. The hug went on for ages and ages, and after a bit a little crowd had gathered, sort of timing the hug. After what seemed like an age, the child briefly surfaced with a HUGE smile on his face, then had more hug.

I may or may not have teared up slightly.

That said, the books rule all. ALL!

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

Loggins, Schmoggins. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has the ruling version of that song, complete with nasty wah-wah guitar all over it.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Friday, 5 May 2006 13:34 (nineteen years ago)

accentmonkey, that KILLED ME

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Friday, 5 May 2006 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

I don't mind the disneyfication of Pooh, the original film is very sweet and cute. The subsequent TIGGER'S BIG DAY, MORE ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH, HOLY SHIT IT'S ROO etc direct-to-video films that have been made since Disney realized they were sitting on a goldmine, that really is a bit of a terrible thing.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Friday, 5 May 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

Does anyone else remember that batshit-crazy Disney channel live-action thing called, I think, "House At Pooh Corner"?

― RoxyMuzak© (roxymuzak), Friday, 5 May 2006 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah! I watched that (with my kids) all the time! They loved it.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 5 May 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

Also, theme song perfect for 3-year-old giggles: Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh (something something something) all stuffed with fluff, he's (repeat ad infinitum).

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 5 May 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I saw that a couple times!! Kind of terrifying actually. Kids like all manner of scary, scary stuff.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Friday, 5 May 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

Why did everyone call him Pooh and not Winnie? And why wasn't he called Winnie the Bear?

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 5 May 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

i read he was named after a swan. what the heck?

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 5 May 2006 14:49 (nineteen years ago)

I still think Mr. Rogers' puppets were some of the scariest things ever. But, also beloved by my kids when little.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 5 May 2006 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

sedulous cuteness.

― p@reene (Pareene), Friday, 5 May 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

Swans on...the Milne estate grounds, maybe? Or a nearby pond? were named "Pooh" because then if you called them and they ignored you (as swans are wont to do) you could always pretend you never meant to call them anyway so as not to lose face. Somehow famliy joke got applied to bear character in stories.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 May 2006 15:12 (nineteen years ago)

I don't mind the Disney Pooh all that much. Thanks to the strength of the source material, the whimsy feels genuine, instead of sticking to your craw.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 5 May 2006 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

The E.H. Shephard characters in the original text are probably some of the most beautiful pen-and-ink illustrations in any book, ever. When Disney aquired the Pooh property there was some discussion of adapting the Shephard style for animation. Ultimately, so goes the story, they were so revered that it was felt translating (and bastardizing) the designs would be less respectful of the original art than creating wholecloth-new-representations.

― remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 5 May 2006 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

e.g. http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/content/images/2004_0991.JPG

― remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 5 May 2006 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

i read he was named after a swan. what the heck?

No, he's named after an orphaned Canadian bear who ended up in London Zoo. He was found by a Canadian soldier who named him Winnie after his home town of Winnipeg. Both soldier and (quite oddly) bear were shipped to Europe for WW1.

The Pooh bit is another story. One I can't remember.

― mason storm (mason storm), Friday, 5 May 2006 16:24 (nineteen years ago)

oh canada, you and your heritage minutes from which we LEARN

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Friday, 5 May 2006 16:41 (nineteen years ago)

I was a big When We Are Six fan. I think I repeated the poem every day when I actually was six. WE ARE EVER SO CLEVER.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Friday, 5 May 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

the swans named Pooh story is great and, I really hope, true.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Friday, 5 May 2006 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

pooh is perhaps an odder name for a swan than a bear. although swans do poo like troopers.

― mason storm (mason storm), Friday, 5 May 2006 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

dorothy parker's other pooh put-down, reviewing "house at pooh corner": "tonstant weader fwowed up." (her review column was called constant reader.)

i love the pooh books, but i can totally see why dorothy didn't. they are precious, for sure, and they also arise from a privileged british class that i'm guessing she had little use for. but they're still great children's books. the disney pooh i've seen is ok on its own merits, as long as you don't compare it to the books. the tigger song is cute. pooh's voice always bothered me in those things, though. i don't know what kind of voice i had imagined for him, but it definitely wasn't that kind of doddery fussbudget.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 5 May 2006 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

(it's interesting if you think about how so much of what we call "classic" children's literature comes from a privileged british class. and even the oz books, which are distinctly american, frank baum was from a wealthy family, grew up on an estate. is this because only the leisure classes had time to think about writing or reading for children? i guess that would make sense. whereas like children's songs and nursery rhymes and so forth, the oral traditions, tend to have more working-class origins.)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 5 May 2006 17:03 (nineteen years ago)

I'm stuck on HOLY SHIT IT'S ROO. I can imagine Disney-Tigger saying this accidentally mid-scene and then catching himself.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Friday, 5 May 2006 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

the books are wonderwife and wise and funny. read them teeny, you'll understand.
-- jed_ (colin_o_har...) (webmail), Today 10:07 AM

jed OTM is all

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 5 May 2006 17:39 (nineteen years ago)

Milne - classic
Disney version - The Decline of Western Civilization, part 0

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 5 May 2006 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

i think the original disney pooh movie is pretty faithful to the books! obv the books are better but it's not like disney set out to disgrace them, at first. the cartoons got bad when you realized they were taking place in AMERICA (given away by c. robin's accent) instead of some half-imaginary forest in early 20th century britain.

something i realized the other day (no, i don't know why i was thinking about this): pooh in the original disney movie sounds kinda like wc fields!

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

-- Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyza...), May 5th, 2006.

OTM, the old Disney Winnie the Pooh cartoon was perfectly fine children's entertainment.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

oh, and speaking of cuddly stuffed bears:

"Something is dreadfully wrong with this bear."

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Friday, 5 May 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

The older Disney cartoon scared the 'holy shit it's roo' out of me as a young, scarable girl. They get lost in the woods and can't find their way back and holy fuck they'll all have to eat one another's stuffing to live and then Rabbit has that halucinatory dream sequence even scarier than Disney's 'pink elephants on parade' bit and then OMG they are still even more lost. Pooh getting stuck in a hole kind of freaked me out, too. I don't think I knew how to handle suspense.

The books are ace, though. i love that officious bastard Owl the best. HAPAPPY BRTHYDRPFDGRY

― Abbott (Abbott), Friday, 5 May 2006 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

The "I'm a little raincloud" song is pretty good.

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 May 2006 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

The Disney cartoons basically boiled all the characters down to DSM-IV archetypes: depression, mania, neurosis, etc. That said, it makes it easy to tell someone they're being a sadsack by pretending to be Eeyore. "Tail's just gonna fall off anyway. *sigh*"

― Abbott (Abbott), Friday, 5 May 2006 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

For the swan bit, an "interview" with Edward the Bear:
"Edward: Well, on another day trip, we went to Amering. We visited a pond where there were swans. Mr Milne turned to Christopher Robin and said, ‘Lets call one over.’ However, they were unsure as to whether the Swan would come. So, to cover themselves and ensure that they didn’t look silly, they shouted ‘Pooh’. If the Swan had refused to budge, it would just have looked like they were saying ‘Oh! Pooh!’ Christopher obviously found this amusing, and from then on I was known as Winnie-the-Pooh."
(from http://www.kent2do.com/webmag/pooh2.htm)

Introduction from AAM his very own self:
http://machaon.ru/pooh/begin.html

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 5 May 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

I love the books, but I hate the last story in The House at Pooh Corner. Really, the whole treatment of childhood as a fantastic wonderland and the loss of innocence as plain outright tragedy is just too much and totally unnecessary.

I don't know the movie, but there are also Disney Pooh storybooks. My daughter was given a collection of these as a gift and they are fairly horrible. I hate self-help oriented children's books designed to convince them that it's not so bad going to the doctor or to school or being left with a babysitter. Christopher Robin is turned into this self-help crap-spouting, goody goody seven-year-old or whatever in these books. Not only that, but they made Rabbit and Eeyore and Owl LESS objectionable and more lovable characters because gee, you wouldn't want kids to have to experience anything that wasn't all nice and tacky and fluffy all the time.

I have considered doing a take-off on The Tao of Pooh about this collection entitled The Oppression of Pooh.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 5 May 2006 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

My first boyfriend's name was (and is, I suppose) Christopher Robin Ford. From Chapel Hill.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Friday, 5 May 2006 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

the last story in The House at Pooh Corner

remind me?

as a young boy, i was an AA milne obsessive. i remember being dreadfully upset on the eve of my seventh birthday because i thought i wouldn't be able to read/enjoy "now we are six" any more.

the disneyfied versions annoy me now, although ISTR liking them when i was a bit younger.

"holy shit it's roo" nearly made me drop my laptop laughing.

― grimly fiendish (grimlord), Saturday, 6 May 2006 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

we have a pooh sleeping onesie (or whatever you call it). very cute.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Saturday, 6 May 2006 15:12 (nineteen years ago)

that "something something something" in the House on Pooh Corner theme song is "silly willy nilly" I think.

I grew up on HoPC & Disney Pooh, so I've missed out on what you guys are talking about. :(

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 6 May 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

My brother's name is Christopher, mine is Robyn, and my other brother's name is Theo - called Teddy/Theodore-bear when young. I'm still not sure to what extent this was done on purpose...
xpost

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Saturday, 6 May 2006 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

Disney Pooh's okay as a separate entity with not much to do with the books. But Disney Pooh as an illustration is crap compared to Shepard Pooh.

― Doktor Faustus (noodle vague), Saturday, 6 May 2006 15:52 (nineteen years ago)

I always post too late on these threads (sigh).

Just wanted to share some yummy old skool winnie-the-pooh illustrations of eeyore made into postcards. Sorry the piccies are so huge.

some people write some people postcards...
this writing business...

― Melinda Mess-injure (Melinda Mess-injure), Sunday, 7 May 2006 07:17 (nineteen years ago)

About that second jpg -- Eeyore, what an ass!

― Melinda Mess-injure (Melinda Mess-injure), Sunday, 7 May 2006 07:20 (nineteen years ago)

"oh, there's a bunch of animals in a meadow or something and they learn lessons,"

They so don't learn lessons! They are all stupid and incapable of learning from their mistakes. I think this is the whole point of the books. They are also all incredibly pompous and self-important (apart from Piglet), but this adds up with their stupidity to somehow make them endearing.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 7 May 2006 13:22 (nineteen years ago)

old skool pooh totally rocks, even the early cartoons.

i agree that teeny should start with the books

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Sunday, 7 May 2006 13:50 (nineteen years ago)

Has that been your tactic too, DV? ;)

― Markelby (Mark C), Sunday, 7 May 2006 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

The real life Christopher Robin was a pretty miserable man. He resented his father for putting him in the story and was basically bitter about being "Christopher Robin" for his whole life.

― Stuh-du-du-du-du-du-du-denka (jingleberries), Sunday, 7 May 2006 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

"They are also all incredibly pompous and self-important (apart from Piglet)"

Pooh certainly isn't pompous and neither is Kanga. Tigger is more like a boastful child.

x-posts: The last story in The House at Pooh Corner is the tragic one where Christopher Robin must leave behind the childhood world forever.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Sunday, 7 May 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

it's all fine except for that infuriating voice disney gives pooh... ugh. how do the other animals manage not to beat him senseless?

― Kim (Kim), Sunday, 7 May 2006 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

The real life Christopher Robin was a pretty miserable man. He resented his father for putting him in the story and was basically bitter about being "Christopher Robin" for his whole life.

I hope David Tibet righted this wrong with that Current 93 song about Christopher Robin. He's right up there with Jesus and Noddy now.

― Abbott (Abbott), Sunday, 7 May 2006 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

x-posts: The last story in The House at Pooh Corner is the tragic one where Christopher Robin must leave behind the childhood world forever.

this is the last chapter of all good children's books.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 7 May 2006 21:05 (nineteen years ago)

When I was four and five I didn't think I fit in with anyone or anything (in that grand mal 4-6 year old way) and the only thing I kinda related to was old-school Eeyore.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Sunday, 7 May 2006 23:43 (nineteen years ago)

Also, theme song perfect for 3-year-old giggles: Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh (something something something) all stuffed with fluff, he's (repeat ad infinitum).

I've seen enough of these to know this song.

Winnie The Pooh, Winnie the Pooh,
Tubby little cunny all stuffed with fluff
It's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh,
Willy nilly silly old bear.

Pooh's Grand Adventure is classic for Tigger's line as Pooh saves him:
Would ya look at the biceps on that bear! I aint fit to dangle from the same precipice!

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Sunday, 7 May 2006 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

cunny

wtf

cubby!

omg worst typo ever

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Sunday, 7 May 2006 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

I can't stop laughing at that. Wrong in so many ways.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Sunday, 7 May 2006 23:52 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXP3h-I2ji0&search=satan

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 3 June 2006 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

I think the disney cartoons are probably fine

As has been said, the ones from the 60's are fun. I loved 'em when I was wee. No, they're not as good as the book.

Disney Pooh : A.A. Milne :: Disney Alice : Lewis Carroll

― sinful caesar sipped his snifter (kenan), Saturday, 3 June 2006 21:54 (nineteen years ago)

:: Disney anything : source material

I guess. The older the Disney pic, though, the safer the bet, IMO. With only a couple exceptions, like "The Little Mermaid," which is mega-classic.

― sinful caesar sipped his snifter (kenan), Saturday, 3 June 2006 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

"pooh canon"

― Hotman Paris Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 3 June 2006 22:04 (nineteen years ago)

http://static.flickr.com/45/152131168_1644ee79e5_m.jpg

― teeny (teeny), Saturday, 3 June 2006 22:18 (nineteen years ago)

Get on the scene
Like a pooh machine

― sinful caesar sipped his snifter (kenan), Saturday, 3 June 2006 22:20 (nineteen years ago)

I love Pooh branded clothing. Then I can go up to people and say, "hey, you have Pooh on your shirt".

― This cunted circus never ends... (papa november), Saturday, 3 June 2006 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

OH no no no! But the Disney "Alice" was put together by Mary Blair!! Look at the crazy use of color to affect feeling, menace, not-right-ness, etc! Cf also: Peter Pan um Cinderella...lots of stuff! Lemme find links.

― Laurel (Laurel), Saturday, 3 June 2006 22:37 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.bobstaake.com/artists/maryblair/images/maryblair1.gif

― Laurel (Laurel), Saturday, 3 June 2006 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

Aw shit I feel guilty hot-linking and I can't DL all these now -- this isn't my computer. But I promise MB is the HOTNESS.

http://www.bobstaake.com/artists/maryblair/animationdesign.html

― Laurel (Laurel), Saturday, 3 June 2006 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

I believe you. And I'm suddenly ashamed of myself for not being familiar with her name already.

Many of the stills you posted look like "Rocky and Bullwinkle," and that's a huge compliment.

― sinful caesar sipped his snifter (kenan), Sunday, 4 June 2006 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

i loved the disney version of "wind in the willows" when i was a kid (not the stop-motion one, the old cartoon one that inspired "mr toad's wild ride") and found the book kinda depressing and boring. i might feel differently about the latter now, tho.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 4 June 2006 07:13 (nineteen years ago)

Hah! Ophelia also LOVES to touch her feet.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Sunday, 4 June 2006 07:15 (nineteen years ago)

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