Winnie-the-Pooh is an illustrated children’s series written by A.A. Milne in the 1920’s which chronicled the lighthearted adventures of Christopher Robin and his animal friends in Ashdown Forest. The dialogue in the beloved books is often philosophic and inspirational.
The books have been translated into many languages and spawned numerous theatre and film adaptations, becoming one of Disney’s most popular franchises, after acquiring it in 1961. Pooh’s legacy in popular culture is world-wide. He is so popular in Poland and Budapest that streets have been named after him.
I had reported back in a March edition of the Banned Books Awareness series that Charlotte’s Web was banned in a United Kingdom school, along with Winnie the Pooh and The Three Little Pigs, because the books might offend Muslim students and their parents. The Muslim Council of Britain formally requested an end to the “well-intentioned but misguided” policy, and for all titles to be returned to classroom shelves. They went on record as stating that it is a misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Koranic instruction or law that Muslims are not allowed to eat pork.
Unfortunately this wasn’t an isolated case.
Winnie-the-Pooh finds himself at number 22 on the American Library Association’s 100 most-banned classics list. Yes, you read that correctly- number 22. Aside from the case in England, the books, and related characters, have also been criticized in the United States, and most notably in Russia, and Turkey.
A State-controlled Turkish television station banned the films because of scenes that included Piglet. TV TRT made the decision on the aforementioned interpretation that the pig for Muslims is considered a “notorious character,” the Associated Foreign Press reported. First the station considered cutting all scenes with Piglet, but afterwards gave up the idea and pulled the show entirely. Private channels still broadcast the cartoon, though, and the videos are freely on sale.
A school district in Napa, California even went so far as to ban clothing of the characters in support of an overly-strict dress code. Redwood Middle School’s “Appropriate Attire Policy” sent a 14-year-old girl to an in-school suspension program called Students With Attitude Problems because of her Tigger-embroidered socks.
The same parent group in Kansas that objected to Charlotte’s Web in 2006 also cited the talking animals of Winnie-the-Pooh as being an insult to God in public arguments during their quest to ban the novel by E.B. White.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal in 2009, Russia’s Justice Ministry placed the book on a list of banned material and labeled it pro-Nazi because a depiction of Winnie-the-Pooh wearing a swastika was discovered among the personal possessions of a known political extremist. If one extremist was in possession, the local courts concluded, then it stood to reason that others may follow suit; so they sent a request to the State department to add the book to a 400+ itemized list of politically-subversive topics.
And to think I was merely making a sarcastic joke last week when I chimed in that the pant-less Winnie-the-Pooh might be next on censor’s cross-hairs after the sexually-motivated banning of Where’s Waldo.
To call a book immoral, one must be willing to see those same faults in themselves. The fact that there are still groups around the world who find fault in literature for the reasons listed is truly the real joke.
Sources: American Library Association, Yahoo News, ACLU, Wall Street Journal, Moscow Times, AFP
© 2011 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions
You’re wrong. Winnie the Pooh doesn’t even appear in the Top 50:
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics
It clearly says the book is banned in Russia so it wouldn’t be in the American Librarian Association’s list of challenged or banned books.
The list generated by the ALA does not limit itself to U.S.-only incidents. This column also clearly states that the ALA has catelogued many challenges and complaints about this book across the United States which is why they placed it at number 22 of the 100-most banned classics.
According to the ALA, the book is at #22 on the Radcliffe list, but was not banned. Please read http://www.ala.org/tools/ban-pooh
That was children’s novels!
No offence but to ban Winnie the Pooh because Muslims aren’t allowed to eat pork is a bit harsh. It was a wonderful book series and show and People need to stop being so sensitive I mean who cares, just because there is a pig in it doesn’t mean they are encouraging the eating of pork to Muslims. And I doubt that they would draw Winnie the Pooh wearing a swastika and just because 1 guy had it doesn’t mean Winnie the Pooh is pro nazi I mean seriously people lighten up a bit. And the characters from Winnie the Pooh are not insults to god for Pete sake. Whoever band Winnie the Pooh is a total idiot
You have to wonder about people sometimes, MeiLing. That’s a common thread I see so often when researching this column- that someone, somewhere has certain sensibilities and is arrogant enough to believe that everyone else MUST think as they do. Silly, indeed.
I agree to the fullest extent.
This is quite ridiculous. Banning Piglet from scenes just because Muslims consider pigs as bad is outrageous. Winnie the Pooh is a light-hearted cartoon for little kids to enjoy their happy-go-lucky times while they can. I don’t know why people would be so serious about this. People, lighten up. Seriously.
With the alleged “ban” in Russia, you are just as desperately starved for attention as the harebrained politician or two who had the rocks to become laughing stock of a very savvy and well-read Russian reading public. Don’t get your panties in a bunch: Winnie-the-Pooh has become as much a Russian folk character as any, and many generations have grown up with it. No one was ever going to pull the books off the shelf, and and an errant swastika can creep onto a page somewhere inadvertently. No one in the USSR ever banned Kipling for having swastikas printed on covers of his books or professing the benefits of the Raj.
On the other hand, the Disney monopoly on the characters has been preventing the English-speaking audience from seeing the adorable Russian animation of Milne’s characters for the past 45 years.
My husband introduced me to the delightful Russian “Vinnie Pooh”! There are a few episodes on YouTube, complete with English subtitles.
Let’s see … Muslims are against killing pigs to eat, and Winnie certainly never killed Piglet (to eat, or for any other reason). Likewise — Charlotte, like Muslims, OPPOSED turning a pig into food … So, if anything, Winnie AND Charlotte are PRO-Muslim characters.
😉