Not that I'm obsessed with children's entertainment or anything, but I was doing a gig in Canterbury last night, and couldn't help noticing the Rupert the Bear Museum.
Two points about the Rupert the Bear Museum that occurred to me:
1. It barely (bearly?) qualified as a museum, as it appeared to be the size of a small terraced house.
2. What on earth could you put in such a museum? After you'd framed a couple of comic strips and maybe mocked up some amusing yellow tartan trousers, there's really not much left, is there? This, I suppose, goes some way to explaining why it's very small.
Why bother? Well, according to the Rupert the Bear cartoon that I remember watching on CITV in my youth:
Rupert you're a wonderful bear;
We want you to know that we really care.
From the start you're in everyone's heart
For the things you say and do. Sing a song of you.
Clearly Rupert is a very insecure young bear. He needs to know that we "really care". He wants everyone to like him. He's probably a bit of a slut. Evidently he has issues. But is it right to pander (panda? Oh, come on, that's a good pun.) to his egocentric, deluded self-image by opening a museum in his honour?
My memory of the cartoon was that Rupert never actually got up to much. Wasted a bit of time in the woods every so often and got into not-very-exciting scrapes such as nearly - but not quite - losing his scarf. This is NOT museum worthy.
Having said that, it looked a damned sight more interesting than the Chaucer Museum "The Canterbury Tales". Synopsis of "The Canterbury Tales": Here are some short stories. Most of them are rubbish and some of them involve farting. Aren't I hilarious and medieval? No Chaucer, you're not. You're just stupid and rude. Now sod off back to Canterbury. No-one likes you.
Or you, Rupert. You're a rubbish bear. I want you to know that I really don't care. I prefer Paddington. And Sooty. I even like the Care Bears more than you. Get off my TV. And don't forget your ugly scarf.
6 comments:
Tres mardy today, aren't we? :op
Would you like to speak to someone instead of taking your anger out on long dead authors and fictional bears?
Tell me about your relationship with your mother.
Before you read this, yes, some of us do have too much time on their hands at the mo!
Rupert's not as boring as you think!
The Rupert Bear Controversy:
The strips used (in an magazine) were parts of a Rupert Bear cartoon which had been superimposed on a strip by the American underground artist Robert Crumb. Rupert Bear had appeared in the pages of the Daily Express for years (he emerged in late November 1920 as a result of circulation battles between the major dailies) and offered an innocent, nostalgic and quintessentially ‘middle-English’ version of childhood. Crumb was one of the most prolific and notoriously ‘explicit’ of the underground artists (incidentally, established cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, often up to no good, had frequently appeared in the work of underground cartoonists) and the Crumb strip that Berger. Basically, Berger’s montage presents a sexually excited Rupert Bear violating the virginity of an (unconscious) female. Although the basic drawings and speech-bubbles are Crumb’s, Rupert’s head and scarf had been carefully superimposed on the original character, and the frame titles (there are six frames) and the characteristic narrative in rhyming couplets beneath had been retained from the Rupert strip.
So there you go. Maybe he does deserve a museum. Or maybe I should get another job!
'Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote/The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,...'
As for the unwarrented attack on our Geoff - he's an all-round good guy- international man of mystery and intrigue, survivor of scheming kings and international shennanigins; he also wrote good stuff in a struggling, fledgling language that was to become a world beater - mostly thanks to him popularizing it. It is used by most stand-ups even today -some of whom would shock the rather gentle fart-loving Chaucer by their Anglo- Saxon content! RSN
Y'know, I have a friend who lost his virginity in the Rupert the Bear Museum in Canterbury. Well, I say lost... He's got a pretty fair idea where it went. If you're going to do the Gobshite Guide to Canters, you really must mention the mighty Stour river, which flows with all the power and majesty of trickle of urine down a back alley wall, and in which I once saw a a snake and a condom at the same time; they were twirling about each other gracefully, as though engaged in some kind of water ballet. It was actually quite beautiful...
He may be stupid, but Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog (houseoffame.blogspot.com)
Rupert, you're a wonderful bear
We want you to know that we really care
From the start you won everyone's heart
For the things you say and do
Make us all love you
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