Winnie the Pooh mental disorders
November 29, 2010 4:08 AM   Subscribe

 
Maybe I'm being a mental disorder snob here, but the schizophrenia gif strikes me as autism spectrum disorder since "body rocking" (self-stimulation) is a classic sign with children.
posted by tybeet at 4:14 AM on November 29, 2010 [4 favorites]


OCD is an extremely rare disorder that occurs when the sufferer repeatedly offers pipe tobacco to his friend's bottom which is got up like a moose's head.
posted by fleetmouse at 4:22 AM on November 29, 2010 [3 favorites]


More fun from the same artist: Alice in Wonderland on Drugs (same website, so may load slow-ish, or ymmv).
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 4:25 AM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


the schizophrenia gif strikes me as autism spectrum disorder since "body rocking" (self-stimulation) is a classic sign with children.

I think the reference is to how the animal characters are actually all in Christopher Robin's imagination - really they're just stuffed animals on a shelf.
posted by dnash at 4:50 AM on November 29, 2010


Yea, there are some cool things on the site (like the White trailer) and while Alice in Wonderland has often been interpreted as some kind of opium trip, I guess I never saw how much the guys at Disney took that to heart so that was fun too.

My least favorite post there? The Pooh stuff - it just seemed really, er, obvious? Isn't the point of cartoons to exaggerate personality maladies? From Daffy to the Rugrats - neurosis is the fuel of this stuff.
posted by victors at 5:01 AM on November 29, 2010


My old school headmaster went to school with Christopher Robin, who vehemently wished that the animals were just inside his head and had not made it into the public consciousness.
posted by MuffinMan at 5:02 AM on November 29, 2010 [3 favorites]


I always thought of Tigger as more manic, rather than ADHD.
posted by MythMaker at 5:11 AM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


Eating disorder? The pooh has perfectly normal body for a cartoon bear.
posted by three blind mice at 5:18 AM on November 29, 2010 [5 favorites]


I think diagnosing the owl as "retarded" is glib bordering on insulting.
posted by Mister_A at 5:52 AM on November 29, 2010 [3 favorites]


How cute! I remember when I was 14 and too hip to admit to having an imagination, or a childhood too!
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 6:12 AM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


Before I was shot, I always thought that I was more half-there than all-there; I always suspected that I was watching TV instead of living life. Right when I was being shot and ever since, I knew that I was watching television.

The random quote (c/o Andy Warhol) that showed up for me in the right sidebar. Who Killed Bambi? is now bookmarked for repeated visits.
posted by philip-random at 7:43 AM on November 29, 2010


My old school headmaster went to school with Christopher Robin, who vehemently wished that the animals were just inside his head and had not made it into the public consciousness.

Yes, I've heard before how Christopher Robin Milne's schooldays were made miserable by his association with the Pooh books.
posted by orange swan at 7:55 AM on November 29, 2010


I think diagnosing the owl as "retarded" is glib bordering on insulting.

What? The ones I saw said "Narcissism."
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:00 AM on November 29, 2010


> I think the reference is to how the animal characters are actually all in Christopher Robin's
> imagination - really they're just stuffed animals on a shelf.

That's what the grown-ups said about Hobbes, too. Grown-ups.
posted by jfuller at 8:11 AM on November 29, 2010


All I saw was "Advertise Here".
posted by sneebler at 8:22 AM on November 29, 2010 [3 favorites]


See also: Winnie the Pooh Worships Satan.
posted by smammy at 9:00 AM on November 29, 2010


Alice in Wonderland has often been interpreted as some kind of opium trip

Man I always hated this trope. People aren't capable of whimsy or imagination without the influence of drugs, amirite?
posted by shakespeherian at 9:16 AM on November 29, 2010 [4 favorites]


The link's at the top, but if you like UNADULTERATED TUMBLR NOISE, go see the creator's site.
posted by boo_radley at 9:58 AM on November 29, 2010


schizophrenia is one of the scarriest disorders, one of my good friends suffers from it :(
posted by mel001 at 9:59 AM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


I just can't wait for the hilarious gifs of Dr. Seuss characters as various auto-immune disorders.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:09 AM on November 29, 2010


schizophrenia is one of the scarriest disorders, one of my good friends suffers from it :(

Yeah, I had the same sort of reaction. For one thing, I didn't get the "Christopher Robin=schizophrenic" joke, and then I also thought "why would anyone make a trite joke about schizophrenia"?
posted by KokuRyu at 10:15 AM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


Why would anyone make a trite joke about any of these? But yeah, it is fun to see these well known characters diagnosed with real-life conditions--conditions that aren't really a part of the 100 Acre Wood. It's just who they are.
posted by hpb2earnest at 10:28 AM on November 29, 2010


Alice in Wonderland has often been interpreted as some kind of opium trip

Man I always hated this trope. People aren't capable of whimsy or imagination without the influence of drugs, amirite?


Especially little Alice, who experiences hallucinations after eating mushrooms, and stuffs her face with entire cakes after smoking a hookah.

(Seriously, though, it's clearly about puberty.)
posted by Sys Rq at 10:31 AM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


I always felt bad for Eyore.

My 2 year old son would be mad about making fun of his "Weee Boo" (Winnie the Pooh) so I own't be sharing these with him.
posted by stormpooper at 10:37 AM on November 29, 2010


Especially little Alice, who experiences hallucinations after eating mushrooms, and stuffs her face with entire cakes after smoking a hookah.

You should read it. It's a good book.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:47 AM on November 29, 2010 [2 favorites]


Man I always hated this trope. People aren't capable of whimsy or imagination without the influence of drugs, amirite?

Yes, because the 1960s were the first time that people used mind-altering chemicals and incorporated the results into their art. Before then, everyone was straight.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:22 AM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


I have, several times, and it is, mostly. I was being rather facetious.

That said, the notion that imaginative interpretations of nonsense is somehow a sign of a lack of imagination, while implying that the "whimsy" of the text is never to jump out of the book to cross-pollinate with the real world (hullo! mirror allegory!), just seems ridiculously bass-ackwards and terribly depressing.

Jabberwocky is a penis. (So is Lennon's Walrus, incidentally.)
posted by Sys Rq at 11:23 AM on November 29, 2010


DO NOT LIKE
posted by mippy at 11:24 AM on November 29, 2010


So John Lennon said he was the penis thirty years before others decided he was probably a bit of a dick, too?
posted by mippy at 11:24 AM on November 29, 2010


Yes! And they are the bollocks.

As for that line about the semolina pilchard climbing up the Eiffel tower, I'm afraid I'm at a loss...
posted by Sys Rq at 11:32 AM on November 29, 2010


while implying that the "whimsy" of the text is never to jump out of the book to cross-pollinate with the real world (hullo! mirror allegory!), just seems ridiculously bass-ackwards and terribly depressing

Who implied that? I'm just tired of people going 'Oh it's weird and has nonsense in it that must mean he was on drugs lol.'
posted by shakespeherian at 12:00 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


I thought the link was going to be Pathology in the Hundred Acre Wood, which went around the 'web years ago.

What a sad life that donkey lives. We do not have sufficient history to diagnose this as an inherited, endogenous depression or to know whether some early trauma contributed to his chronic negativism, low energy and anhe(haw)donia. Eeyore would benefit greatly from an antidepressant, perhaps combined with individual therapy. Maybe with a little fluoxetine, Eeyore might see the humour in the whole tail-losing episode. Even if a patch of St. John's wort grew near his thistles, the forest could ring with a braying laugh.
posted by Gordafarin at 12:03 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


So John Lennon said he was the penis thirty years before others decided he was probably a bit of a dick, too?

Metafilter: Of course John Lennon is a dick, what's wrong with you?
posted by victors at 12:46 PM on November 29, 2010


I think diagnosing the owl as "retarded" is glib bordering on insulting.
posted by Mister_A at 1:52 PM on November 29


Definitely. He's retarded but with delusions of grandeur.
posted by Decani at 12:53 PM on November 29, 2010


I guess I never saw how much the guys at Disney took that to heart

I don't think they really did. The film didn't really gain that kind of attribution until around 20 years after its initial release, when the drug culture was in full swing. I guess it's possible that some of the people working on it had tried drugs, but they wouldn't have been doing LSD or MDMA, for instance.
posted by girih knot at 1:03 PM on November 29, 2010


My old school headmaster went to school with Christopher Robin, who vehemently wished that the animals were just inside his head and had not made it into the public consciousness.

C. Milne was teased mercilessly about 'Vespers'. Not good.
posted by ovvl at 4:17 PM on November 29, 2010


I always felt bad for Eyore.

Alternatively, he is a great example of how depression can turn you into a bit of a dick.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:51 PM on November 29, 2010


Why do they look like those motivational posters you see in offices?
posted by jeremy b at 11:15 PM on November 29, 2010


hpb2earnest: "But yeah, it is fun to see these well known characters diagnosed with real-life conditions"

No, actually it's stereotyping people with mental illnesses and is rather offensive.
posted by IndigoRain at 11:35 PM on November 29, 2010 [1 favorite]


IndigoRain: I hear what you're saying and to some extent I agree with it, but the fact is that the characters really work well as stereotypes. The message isn't "haha, mental illness is funny"; it's "look how well Disney's characters fit these stereotypes." The fact that the designer accomplishes this with just a few frames taken from the movie makes it a sort of tour de force.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:20 AM on November 30, 2010


But I already know that Pooh is a Taoist master and the DSM IV clearly states that the behavior is not a mental illness unless it creates distress or interferes with the activities of daily living.

So these characters are eccentric but not mentally ill.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 2:42 AM on November 30, 2010


stereotyping people with mental illnesses and is rather offensive

I'm not seeing that at all. I mean, at all. There's so much actual stereotyping out there that you dilute by throwing that charge around. I am being 100% serious and not rhetorical when I ask: Where exactly is the line between a dramatic characterization and a stereotype?
posted by victors at 11:00 AM on November 30, 2010


Alice in Wonderland has often been interpreted as some kind of opium trip

Man I always hated this trope. People aren't capable of whimsy or imagination without the influence of drugs, amirite?


And there's no possible way a Hollywood animator would allow the influence of drugs into their work. amirite???
posted by victors at 11:03 AM on November 30, 2010


Indeed.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:48 AM on November 30, 2010


And there's no possible way a Hollywood animator would allow the influence of drugs into their work.

Which Hollywood animator wrote Alice in Wonderland?
posted by shakespeherian at 11:56 AM on November 30, 2010


I am confused about why people were talking about Owl being labeled "retarded". I saw "narcissism" too. Did it change?
posted by mendel at 8:54 PM on November 30, 2010


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