Winnie-the-Pooh is a childhood staple.
This article in the UK Telegraph talks about the return of the bear along with a new character and a whole lot of publicity.
A A Milne’s classic bear-of-very-little-brain was left behind by Christopher Robin in the Hundred Acre Wood at the end of House at Pooh Corner, and since this was written in 1928, I have a feeling that readers were content to leave it there.
The Original Pooh Bear
The Pooh Properties Trust has finally managed to create a sequel, which was released internationally on October 5. Return to Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus isn’t another example of the tacky Disney recreation of the bear, but rather goes back to basics and attempts to recapture the look, feel and elegance of the original books.
If the book is to remain the same, despite a century of change that has happened since the twenties, what is the point of having a sequel at all? I could probably understand this more readily if the audience of the books was intended to be the children of the children that read them in their first incarnation, but surely the babes of 1928 are long gone by now. If the old books worked well enough for the past few generations, what’s the point in bringing in something new now?
It does, to me, seem to be laziness, rather than innovation. Winnie-the-Pooh might be growing up, but what kind of demographic is going to appreciate it?
The character of the honey-loving bear is iconic, but is he important enough to be brought into the 21st Century? And, if he is, why is the book pretending that it’s still 1928?
I guess, overall, I just wonder why people can’t let go of the past. You’re supposed to learn from the past, not just repeat it.
