Winnie-The-Pooh Blood and Honey: The Liberating Hidden Message
Just to make it clear, I am not going to watch the movie, but I still appreciate its hidden message, which is not only intelligent, but it is a wake-up call.
I absolutely adore Winnie the Pooh and even as a little girl, one of my favourite cartoons was The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which was made during the time Disney actually still held its work to a high standard. Even the other absolutely adorable live action show Pooh Corner holds up as being sweet, cute and great for kids. To say Disney really did wonders for Winnie the Pooh is an understatement, but the operative word here is “did”. Now, the more modern Winnie the Pooh works do not feel like something out of a child’s imagination anymore which is depressing as that was the whole premise of Winnie the Pooh: he, his friends and the entire world was made up by a boy named Christopher Robin. Speaking of which, I find it disrespectful that the character Christopher Robin was dropped for a long time from the series and was only brought back later in a way that I feel did not honour him at all. At times, I felt like they were making fun of the guy and childhood in general which is sad. It is not just Winnie the Pooh who has fallen from grace either. A lot of modern Disney works lack any love behind them, and it shows because Disney is making new movies and shows way too often. Plus, they are made to please modern audiences instead of the intended audiences. Just look at how Disney+ has a new show or film almost every week. The only pocket that takes its time and it shows because it actually produces amazing work 90% of the time is the Star Wars franchise. Yes, it has flops, but you can count them on your fingers on one hand and even then, their flops tend to try harder than all of Disney’s other pieces as of late which includes the Marvel Universe.
But in the midst of all this, someone decided to come up with this;
No one would think of making a Winnie the Pooh horror movie, but in its defense, has anyone thought of doing anything with Winnie the Pooh at all instead of waiting for Disney to do something new with it? There is a deep, dark yet liberating message behind this daring film and it is not about the bear;
Disney does not own Winnie the Pooh. Nor does it own Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, The Fox and the Hound, Hercules, Aladdin, Mulan, Robin Hood or any of the princesses from classic literature. All of these pieces are public property meaning anyone is free to adapt them as they wish. The problem is that everyone has been too afraid to try because in the back of our minds, it will never compare to what Disney did.
This fear of touching something that always was free for us to use is crippling us and it is depriving future generations of a chance at seeing a classic tale be reimagined in a way that truly is amazing rather than as another empty cash grab. In other words, the true message behind Winnie-the-Pooh Blood and Honey is: take back our public property.
And believe it or not, when artists did, they made amazing things. The thing is not all of them are in the form of films (though some are). I could even recommend a list. And while they may not be giants like the Disney adaptations, they are worth your time and dare I say, better in some cases. Here are some of the non-Disney adaptations of classic tales I recommend.
Ever After: which is a reimagining of Cinderella that replaces all magic with feminist elements and get this; Leonardo Da Vinci is part of the main cast.
Gepetto: a webcomic adaptation of Pinocchio with a science fiction twist along with all kinds of other twists.
Megan Kearny’s Beauty & the Beast: a webcomic adaptation of the classic tale which takes on a more gothic tone and also explores the trauma behind the Beast’s life story.
Snow White and the Huntsman: a film where Snow White is on equal heroic footing with her “prince” and is a great watch if you love Lord or the Rings or Game of Thrones.
Beauty and the Beast (TV Series): a reimagined version of the classic where “Beauty” is a badass detective and “Beast” is a super-cyborg soldier making the setting more superhero like in all the fun ways.
Red Shoes & the Seven Dwarfs: a deconstructed version of Snow White where the dwarfs are the ones who actually need saving and it is the first ever version of Snow White to be plus sized.
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (1982 anime film): this film follows the original tale almost to the letter with a few differences.
Splash: a reimagining of The Little Mermaid that takes place in the 1980s which also happens to be one Tom Hanks’ best classic movies.
Ponyo: another reimagining of The Little Mermaid except the two main characters are children and it was made by Chibli Studios, so you know it will be high quality.
Penelope: the most unique reimaging of Beauty and the Beast there is because in this case, the titular character is both the Beauty and Beast.
Let us make the list even longer, friends. Let us take back our public property. Let us stop comparing our work to Disney before we have even written it.
EDIT: Demon’s Mirror: I forgot about this one. This is a reimagining of The Snow Queen which is no Frozen. I would classify it as a horror-adventure that does not shy away from body horror, trauma and fates worse than death.
