Whinny-the-Pooh has always been an adorable fun companion for Christopher Robin and all kids who watched (or, on the occasional nostalgic binge, still watch) his show. That being said, for him to be juxtaposed with Edgar Allan Poe is pretty funny. Especially considering the character he has trapped beneath his floorboards is Eeyore who is quite the Poe-ish character.
Eeyore is such a mopey character that he literally has a personal rain cloud that follows him around. He sort of reminds me of Poe and characters Poe created (anyone else imagine Usher moping around that G-d forsaken house with a rain cloud hovering a few feet above his head?). Retroactively I can see myself watching the show and imagine Eeyore going home and writing depressing or creepy poetry. Eeyore, to me, is the image I associate with depression. Well Eeyore and now a Raven.
Eeyore is the character in the show that reminds us just how pleasant everything else is. Without him the whole show would be sunshine daisies and honey and we wouldn't realize that it was pleasant because the atmosphere would be taken for granted. It takes a depressing donkey for us to realize that the other characters are happy (most of them anyway). He may not have written with this intention but with his stories and poems Poe achieves this same idea. By showing us how creepy the fictional world can be Poe reminds his readers how pleasant the actual world can be.
Pooh who is cute, fun and child friendly, can not be further from Edgar Allan Poe.
Happens to be that they do have one commonality: Whinny-the-Pooh is not only characterized as a "hunny" loving, polite, kind bear, but also as a poet. Throughout the show Pooh writes cute and sometimes motivational poems and recites or even sings them to his animal friends and Christopher Robin. He even convinces Piglet to get him and Owl out of a bind by bribing him with an original Pooh poem (in an episode when Owl's house caves in and Piglet is the only one small enough to get out). However this makes the comparison to Edgar Allan Poe even funnier. Edgar Allan Poe's poems are incredible, but they can not be further from cute. Poe's temperance stories and poems certainly sparked some sort of reaction but they are not motivational in the adorable good-natured way the Pooh's are.
All in all it's hard to see this comic and laugh at least a little. Poe's influence on American culture has expanded so far it has even reached Whinny-the-Pooh. That would be funny even if characters he was being imposed (pun very much intended) on were not ironic.
Nice find. Poe is indeed one of those poets who pervades American culture. Only Walt Whitman receives more pop culture references than E. A. Poe. "Winnie the Pooh" is funny. Is there a whole series? Can you link us to the source for this cartoon panel? I would love to see more.
ReplyDeleteI meant to say "Winnie the Poe," as in this cartoon.
DeleteI truly loved this comic, and it reminded me of the many other references to Poe that are popular throughout pop culture. I have a vivid memory from quite a number of years ago, watching some TV show, perhaps it was The Simpsons, with my cousins, and there being a spoof of The Raven. Of course I did not understand it at the time, until one of my brothers decided to enlighten me (due to the fun of scaring me in the process). But it is incredible to see how the stories of Poe did truly make it into popular culture, and as we see in this comic, into childrens' culture as well
ReplyDeleteThat was a good analysis on two very disparate things. When I first saw the cartoon, I thought that the play on words in title was punny, but that the choice of characters seemed to be a stretch. Poe’s work tends to be too intense to be portrayed through the whimsical lens of Winnie the Pooh, and any contrast between the two is vast enough as to lose all irony: A. A. Milne depicts the quirks of human nature, and pokes gentle fun and the inherent character flaws in everyone. Poe remarks on aberrance in humanity; if his stories are trying to “poke fun” at inherent evil, then he’s poking with a sledgehammer.
ReplyDeleteYour breakdown of the ironic contrasts and unexpected parallels was very insightful, and I agree that the comic shows how Poe references have entered popular culture. However, I’m still having trouble reconciling the lack of similarities between the two authors’ works, irony or not.
Based on what we read though, Poe would have probably relished Pooh’s sudden reversal of character.
Interesting comic and analysis.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lizzie that any sort of literal equation of Poe and Pooh is a bit of a stretch. Poe does not remind me of Pooh, or vice versa. However, I think that part of what makes this comic interesting is the contrast between opposing worldviews represented by the very disparate mediums.
Poe strips down people, even ostensibly good people like the Black Cat’s protagonist at the start of the story, or Rodereich Usher, to the inherent, base evil that ultimately determines their actions. To Poe, the world is far, far scarier than it first appears. Conversely, Pooh takes a bear, a fundamentally wild and fear-inducing creature, and dresses it up with the threads of optimism. Imposing Poe on Pooh’s reality would imply a shocking degree of cynicism on the author’s part.
However, it could also be read as a critique of Poe’s cynicism. If one took Poe’s ideas that evil and irrationality are at the root of everything without mitigation; nobody’s safe, not even your favorite cartoon characters. The irreconcilability of Poe’s message with reality transforms it from something terrifying to something amusing.
Wow, ST I love the comic! I think your comment about Eeyore and how he reminds us how perfect the rest of Winnie-the-Pooh’s world is, is fantastic! I don’t think I will ever be able to think about Winnie-the-Pooh in the same way, as I will now automatically think about Edgar Allan Poe.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting to see how you interpret the comic, as when I saw it (without reading your comments) my first thought was ‘this is actually pretty funny’—Pooh has Eeyore buried alive under his floor, just as Usher buried his sister alive. In fact, it struck me as quite ironic how the roles were reversed. If anything, one would expect Eeyore, the depressed and creepy character, to have buried Pooh, the happy friendly bear.
I like the way you chose to view Poe by saying that “by showing us how creepy the fictional world can be Poe reminds his readers how pleasant the actual world can be.” Before reading your observations my thoughts were more along the lines of, Poe is saying that despite the fact that the world appears to be happy and carefree—like Winnie-the-Pooh—nothing is as it seems. In reality, the most cheerful character (Pooh) is in fact a dangerous individual who locks the depressed and morbid Eeyore under his floor. Eeyore is actually the innocent one while Pooh is the dangerous one. To me, this is a great comic mimicking a classic Poe move. He somehow manages to make everything seem creepy and depressing. Perhaps this comic is making fun of Poe a bit, by saying Poe would be able to make even a simple happy children’s tale into some sort of dark and scary story.
As I think about this comic more, it occurs to me that there is also a deeper comparison. We find it strange that this children's tale we love is being juxtaposed with the creepiness of Poe, wondering why these 2 genres are being thrown together. However, if we remember that Poe was one of the most popular writers of his time, we can realize that this comic is not so off-base, we are taking what we see as popular and connecting it to a different generation's favorite type of writing.
ReplyDeleteI found it hard to believe that a children's story could be touched by something so creepy as Poe, but then I remembered that just like in Poe's time, children do love those creepy stories. We have ghost stories, and I'm sure, that many uncreative adults, when telling ghost stories, just make use of Poe's tales. Can you not imagine hearing The Tell-Tale Heart around a camp fire? There is an aspect here of the darker side of children's stories, but that aspect still exists
ReplyDeleteHey Esti,
I loved the cartoon! It was very funny and quite the discussion-starter, for it certainly is a new twist on the expected ‘cast list’ of who’d play whom if Poe’s “Tell Tale Heart” were reincarnated on cartoon television. The irony of Eeyore as the victim of the story is especially poignant when you think about Eeyore as an exact copy of Poe. Had Poe been a caricature, Eeyore would definitely make a good representation (that being said, if Eeyore had been Poe, there would be nothing for Poe to brood and write about). Below is a link to another comic I found that illustrates your point as well. It’s quite comical that the substitution of ‘Lenore’ with ‘Eeyore’ produces almost no change in the solemnity of the poem. Good job!
http://arnoldzwicky.s3.amazonaws.com/RhymesPooh.jpg
I found your analysis of the juxtaposition of Edgar Allen Poe and "Winnie-The-Pooh" fascinating. You brought up many creative and discerning comparisons between the two. However, as much as Eeyore's character could be compared to the depressing aspect of Edgar Allen Poe, I think Poe was more extreme than just depressing. Poe was morbid, and due to his bothersome background of losing all the women in his life combined with his alcoholism, gambling addiction, and debt, I'm not too sure he ever did genuinely feel that there was pleasantry in the world. After all Poe often wrote about perverseness, the ability to do self-destructive things simply because one was given the opportunity to do so.
ReplyDeleteTamar points out that this cartoon reminds her of Usher burying his sister alive. It actually reminds me of "The Tell-Tale Heart" (mentioned by Yael) but then again in "The Black Cat" the narrator also buries the victim behind a wall so I guess this cartoon is all encompassing or should I say some of Poe's works have a slightly predictable pattern. The "Thumpa, Thumpa, Thumpa" jogs the memory of the heart that the narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" hears through the floor boards. The fear and guilt on Pooh's face aroused by the "Thumpa" heard through the floor board is the same expression of guilt that led to the revelation of the narrator's sinful deed to the visiting officers. The fact that Eeyore's tail is nailed to the wall can be compared to the old man's belongings that the narrator showed the officers to prove the old man's treasures were untouched, rather than hiding all evidence that the old man was still residing there.
This cartoon certainly brings humor to an otherwise disturbing tale. Thank you for sharing!
Great post. I love this reference to my childhood and the recollection of watching this show with my siblings. The more I think about watching cartoons when I was younger, the more I wonder if the "messages" or values that were being imparted onto the viewers went over my head. I wonder if I kept up with anything except the plot line. Anyway.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, at first I didn't see the comparison between Poe and Pooh as overtly as you may have, however, Shulie pointed out that Poe and Pooh are both popular and somewhat iconic figures, so the comparison isn't too far "off-base" as she puts it.
You also point out Eeyore's character playing a crucial role in highlighting the "good-natured Pooh" and the "pleasant atmosphere" of the show.
To me, the similarity between Poe and Pooh is that in both cases, the tone of the texts are extreme and polarized: Poe's works are extremely creepy, sad, morbid, and Winnie the Pooh is extremely happy, cheery and optimistic. Yet each text will acknowledge an opposite of itself, almost begrudgingly, in a way that makes the reader/viewer sense that it's out of place and wishes it weren't there.
I think we can all agree that the best part of the above cartoon is Pooh's mustache, am I right?