Public Image Essay Essay, Research Paper
It is bed time for all the children of Philadelphia, and within 15 minutes all of the kids will be asleep holding their favorite Care Bear snugly in their arms. The fictional characters, owned by the American Greetings CROP., are non-violent super heroes who fight their enemies off with love instead of violence. They first hit the airwaves of the television sets of millions in the early 1980s, and soon after they became the hottest item next to today s Pokemon cards. Books, home videos, audio tapes, dolls, and even clothes were all made due to the instant popularity of the sweet little bears. The Care Bears have a positive public image due to their appearance, habitat, and the lessons that they teach to those who watch them.
The first thing that shows the Care Bear’s good public image is their appearance. The Care Bear Dolls are all made with a soft material that makes them very huggable, and they all have smiles on their faces all the time, which shows the happiness. They also all have hearts for their noses, which is another reminder that they love almost everything. Besides each bear being a different color, each one has a distinguishing symbol on his stomach. This symbol (and the bears’ color) will normally have to do with each bear’s name. For Example, Good Luck Bear is green and has the symbol of a four leafed clover on his belly. Some of the other most common Care Bears are Share Bear (who has an ice-cream soda on his belly with 2 straws), Cheer Bear (who has a rainbow on her belly), Luv-A-Lot Bear (who has 2 hearts on her belly), and Secret Bear (whose tummy patch is a heart shaped lock).
In addition to their appearance, the Care Bears habitats also contribute to their public image. Throughout the movies, television shows, and books the Care Bears have had two main dwellings: The Kingdom of Caring and Care-A-Lot. The names of their far away lands all give off a warm comforting feeling such as a security blanket would to a young child. If one was to look around one of the 2 homes, he would find clouds everywhere. Clouds make up the land, the cars, and even some of the buildings. Showing a sense of softness and comfort throughout the land. The most Popular shapes seen in Care-A-Lot and The Kingdom of Caring are hearts and stars. The heart is for love, and the star symbolizes the enchantment of this fantasy land. Another thing that is important is that their world is located above earth and on top of the clouds further proving that their environment is like heaven.
The last reason that the Care Bears have such a positive image is because of the lessons that they teach to those who watch them. The first of those morals is that violence does not solve everything. Instead of physically fighting their enemies (as batman and spiderman did), the Care Bears defeat their foes by using what they call the Care Bear Stare. This takes all of their positive energy (the symbol on their bellies) and exerts it onto the negative forces. Another positive thing that the show does is try to build up its viewer ego by constantly reminding the characters that they are helping that they are all special and can do anything that they put their minds to. This was especially shown in the movie, Care Bears Movie II: a New Generation: At sleep-away camp twins Dawn and John always came in last place in all the sports; which made them victims to all of the other camper’s criticism. They felt like they were useless because they couldn’t run the fastest or swim the most laps, but the Care Bears showed them that there was a lot more things in life that they can be good at and that every one is special in their own way. The last moral that they portray to their viewers is that love, caring, and friendship can conquer anything. This is important because in a world full of violence it is nice to have something that shows that peace and love can over power all violence.
The Care Bears are an excellent break from the average television show. It isn t full of violence or gore, however it does show many examples of love and friendship; something our society should learn more about. The cuddly feel and warm features will leave all of the children hugging their Care Bears while they happily dream of one day going to one of the faraway lands of The Kingdom of Caring and Care-A-Lot.