Berenstain Bears went fundie on us

[lilah]

As a child of the 80's, I have fond memories of my parents reading Berenstain Bears to me. I must have had a collection of maybe 20 or more books when I was a kid. (it also broke my heart to find out later that my parents thought the Berenstain Bears were insipid, formulaic and preachy). Anyway I hadn't thought about the series in years until I started to work as a librarian and I found some Berenstain Bears in my library. I wanted to see whether there were any recent titles in print. The books used to be preachy and didactic,but now they have a specific religious bent, judging by the titles: The Berenstsain Bears: God Loves You! The Berenstain Bears: Faithful Friends The Berenstain Bears Show God's Love The Berenstain Bears Go to Sunday School

[Guest Anonymous]

As a child of the 80's, I have fond memories of my parents reading Berenstain Bears to me. I must have had a collection of maybe 20 or more books when I was a kid. (it also broke my heart to find out later that my parents thought the Berenstain Bears were insipid, formulaic and preachy). Anyway I hadn't thought about the series in years until I started to work as a librarian and I found some Berenstain Bears in my library. I wanted to see whether there were any recent titles in print. The books used to be preachy and didactic,but now they have a specific religious bent, judging by the titles: The Berenstsain Bears: God Loves You! The Berenstain Bears: Faithful Friends The Berenstain Bears Show God's Love The Berenstain Bears Go to Sunday School

Phooey, another delight of early youth bites the dust!

[Deleted02]

I grew up with the Berenstain Bears too. I even watched their TV show. It made me sad to see them fundized.

[bbfreethinker]

Yea, but if they were ultra-fundie they'd go to a family integrated church, not Sunday School. ;)

[Maggie Mae]

I have less than fond memories of a fundy family telling me the Bears were evil and a bad influence. This was on a momy forum. Apparently they don't like the portrayal of Papa Bear. :(

[Deleted02]

I have less than fond memories of a fundy family telling me the Bears were evil and a bad influence. This was on a momy forum. Apparently they don't like the portrayal of Papa Bear. :(

Why?

[Rosa]

His wife tells me what to do.

Did this come up on the old forum? Because, I swear we did some research on this. I know I read an article about the Berenstain's - they were a mixed faith couple (Jewish & Christian), definitely not fundie.

But their son, who writes the new books now, converted and is writing them overtly Christian and is putting them out through a Christian publisher.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/beren ... ies-51146/

[ladypuglover]

Awww that's too bad. Those were one of the first books I read on my own out loud when I was in first grade. I don't remember them being preachy as back then they were part of the Dr. Seuss collection.

[Deleted02]

Another piece of my childhood gone :cry:

[CynicMom]

I don't know.... I'm kinda crunchy granola and I have problems with Papa Bear too. He is consistently described as a bumbling idiot who never ever has any good ideas nor makes any worthwhile contribution to the family. He is always always shown to be wrong in every story.

For a kid growing up in an authoritarian/patriarchal household this might be liberating. However it plays too much into the modern "boys are STUPID" stereotype for me to be comfortable reading them to my son.

[OddLittleBird]

I kind of hate them, too. :P I'm a feminist, and egalitarian...I have a tough time reading a series to my kids that makes the dad look like such a complete moron. Come to think of it, the kids are seldom involved in the problem solving, either. I won't switch patriarchy for matriarchy. :|

Then, I have been known to take myself a little too seriously. :shifty:

[xDreamerx]

Damn it. It's Michael Landon all over again.

Did anyone ever see the BB cartoon?

[CanadianHippie]

His wife tells me what to do.

Did this come up on the old forum? Because, I swear we did some research on this. I know I read an article about the Berenstain's - they were a mixed faith couple (Jewish & Christian), definitely not fundie.

But their son, who writes the new books now, converted and is writing them overtly Christian and is putting them out through a Christian publisher.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/beren ... ies-51146/

That just makes me so sad. I really hope it doesn't turn parents off the older books.

[CanadianHippie]

Damn it. It's Michael Landon all over again.

Did anyone ever see the BB cartoon?

I used to watch it when I was in high school (I think, that or late elementary).

[Deleted02]

Damn it. It's Michael Landon all over again.

Did anyone ever see the BB cartoon?

I did. I was in elementary school I think.

[lilah]

His wife tells me what to do.

Did this come up on the old forum? Because, I swear we did some research on this. I know I read an article about the Berenstain's - they were a mixed faith couple (Jewish & Christian), definitely not fundie.

But their son, who writes the new books now, converted and is writing them overtly Christian and is putting them out through a Christian publisher.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/beren ... ies-51146/

Yeah Papa Bear and Mama bear have a sort of Homer Simpson/Marge type dynamic where she's often parenting him along with her two kids.

[slh12280]

Ah I loved those books.

[Trynn]

I wish the series had been allowed to die an honorable death rather than continue on the way it has been. Seriously just let it die already. SO glad I still own the classics!

And what's up with Honey? We have names like, "papa" "mama" "sister" "brother" and then....Honey. The extra character is totally unneccessary.

I haven't seen any outright Christian Bear books, but I have seen them rehash the same themes over and over again, it's the same story, told another way.

When I was a kid, I didn't even think about Papa Bear's stereotype. Now as an adult I'm thinking he's not always wrong, and I wish he wasn't portrayed as such. Sometimes though he provides intelligent conversation, so he's not always portrayed as too stupid. Just as a man with a lot of weaknesses.

[Jencendiary]

At least we still have Little Bear. I always liked that particular ursine family better than the Berenstains.

[CanadianHippie]

I wish the series had been allowed to die an honorable death rather than continue on the way it has been. Seriously just let it die already. SO glad I still own the classics!

And what's up with Honey? We have names like, "papa" "mama" "sister" "brother" and then....Honey. The extra character is totally unneccessary.

I haven't seen any outright Christian Bear books, but I have seen them rehash the same themes over and over again, it's the same story, told another way.

When I was a kid, I didn't even think about Papa Bear's stereotype. Now as an adult I'm thinking he's not always wrong, and I wish he wasn't portrayed as such. Sometimes though he provides intelligent conversation, so he's not always portrayed as too stupid. Just as a man with a lot of weaknesses.

http://www.amazon.com/Berenstain-Bears- ... d_sim_b_15

http://www.amazon.com/Berenstain-Bears- ... 6&sr=8-131

http://www.amazon.com/Berenstain-Discov ... 6&sr=8-136

The new books do a wonderful job turning a lot of people who loved the books growing up away.

[demgirl]

So freaking depressing. The Berenstain Bears were my absolute favorites growing up and I still love them to this day. I read them to my goddaughter and my sister and sometimes when I visit my parents I still pull out one of my favorites to read. I could cry.

[PennySycamore]

I love Little Bear, too. Maurice Sendak's illustrations are so charming.

I was willing to read pretty much any children's lit to my girls, but I could not abide the Berenstain Bears. I thought they were horribly written.

[PBrooke]

Ha! Anyone who thinks the original Stan and Jan Berenstain were fundie has apparently never read their book, "How to Teach Your Children About God (Without Actually Scaring Them Out of Their Wits)." It's been years since I read it (I was little and read it because it had "pictures," though it was not aimed at children), but I remember some hilarious bits, including the parents pulling Junior out of both Sunday School AND synagogue, a funeral and talk about death over a goldfish, and the dad biting the head off a chocolate Easter bunny.

No idea about the kid, though. Maybe Stan and Jan didn't do as great a job with Junior as they thought.

[jenny_islander]

We watched some of the BB cartoon with the kids. I got the impression that Papa Bear was a lot less of a bumbler in the cartoon. There was one episode where he was clearly trying to do something important in the shop--fix some furniture, I think--and the kids were slowly driving him nuts. He was extraordinarily patient. He and Mama Bear had discussions about important things instead of Mama Bear managing him all the time.

[slickcat79]

I LOVED those books when I was little and so did my sister. She wrote S&J Berenstain a letter once and they (or their publishers) sent back a handwritten thank you note. We had all of their little-kid books and we read a lot of their chapter books too. They were certainly formulaic, but they were meant to teach specific lessons to little kids. You kind of have to expect that. When I think about Papa Bear, it's actually his anger over a lot of situations that stands out more than his bumbling.

I'm sorry to see them go fundie...I don't think that's very true to the original vision. There's a huge difference between The Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute and The Berenstain Bears Discover God's Creation. The latter wouldn't have flown as the basis for a network TV series either :(