Little Bear: A Childhood Reflection

Little Bear is a children’s television show filled with sunshine and green grassy fields. The main character of the show is a bear cub named Little Bear. Little Bear lives in a forest with loving parents and is surrounded by great friends. Everyday Little Bear goes on an adventure and he learns something new all the time. Things like imagination, good friendship, obstacles, gentleness and caring attributes were expressed throughout various episodes of Little Bear. The hearts and minds of little children are captivated by the happiness and cheerfulness found in the episodes of Little Bear.
In the eyes of a young child, there is nothing more amazing than a group of talking animals that go on day to day adventures and share a great friendship. I remember watching Little Bear and feeling as if I were actually on the adventure with Little Bear and his friends. His friends Hen, Duck, Cat, Owl and Emily instantly became my friends as well. At my age the show not only sparked my imagination but it also brought about a sense of reality. The color and scenery portrayed in the show were well blended and were from the natural and earthy color tone. These colors expressed a sense of realness; bright, less standard colors would have screamed pure imagination to me. It is easy for the younger children to think the world in Little Bear is intertwined and similar to the actual world they live in.
I actually still love Little Bear because it’s a great show for children, but now that I’m older my view of the show has also matured. I know that it is very unrealistic for animals to talk. If animals could talk it would be in a language that was not understandable to humans, in the show Little Bear had a friend named Emily that was a human and they verbally communicated all the time. Emily was the only character that was given a humanistic name while the other animals were named based upon the animal that was symbolized. Why was the human friend named Emily instead of Girl? Even though Little Bear’s parents were characters in the show, the idea of learning from your parents and following your parents’ rules were unaddressed. Little Bear was able to play in the woods all day and wander far from home. His parents basically had no role accept for being the faces that Little Bear saw when he returned home. A strong family relationship was not really communicated throughout the show. Imagination overpowered the episodes of Little Bear lacking actuality.