I’ve always looked fondly upon teddy bears. On the day my parents picked me up at the airport, my mom and dad stopped to buy a toy to greet me with. They picked up a teddy bear “because it was made in Korea…just like you,” or so my mom says.
That bear is still around (and in quite good shape, I must add), and it’s always made me like its brothers, sisters, and cousins. And because of my affection for bears, I’ve always known the legend of how they came about: When Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt was on a bear hunt, they searched and searched for a bear. Eventually, they came about one (some accounts say an old bear, others a baby bear) and the hunting dogs grabbed into it and those with Roosevelt captured the bear and invited him to shoot. The president said he couldn’t shoot a captive, injured bear, and the incident then inspired a political cartoon with a sad, weak little bear in it. (Some accounts say the president did, however, order the bear be put down to end its painful injuries). So in 1902 when cute cuddly bears made in the US and Germany started sprouting up across America, they were of course called “teddy bears.”
Great story…and one that I wish I could’ve read at the museum. Alas, I couldn’t read much at the museum. Most of it was in hangul and sans translations. And I don’t know if I’d really call the museum a “museum” either. Sure, it did display some teddy bears throughout time — including American favorites like Care Bears, Teddy Ruxpin, and the Beanie Babies — but the majority of the floor was dedicated to bear displays, I guess they could be called. It was much more of a show than a museum. It was kind of like seeing what the world would look like if it had been teddy bears that had been at those historical moments or been those historical figures or been featured in famous pieces of art.
Here are just a few of my favorites:
bears on board the Titanic (note Jack and Rose in the “I’m the King of the World” pose)
bears battling it out on the beaches of Normandy
Elvis bear (who I bet doesn’t like Hound Dogs either)
one giant leap for bearkind on the moon
remember the Terra-Cotta Warriors I saw in China?
hmmm…
Mona Lisa bear
bear-y good art, eh?
