King of Cups

After a lifetime of saturation in the saccharine Disneyfied version of the Hundred Acre Wood, the alternate universe of Vinni Puh seems both alien and crazily familiar; the characters are practically unrecognizable, and the dialogue is unintelligible unless you speak Russian, so it's an interesting way to absorb the story minus your prejudices as a world-weary adult. Want to watch? Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

There are lots of ways to analyze the evolution of A. A. Milne's best-known creation over the decades, but for our purposes it's mainly just important to appreciate the Pooh character as a free-thinker and innovator, a character of surprising emotional depth who is ruled by his imagination. He's in touch with as his baser instincts (which manifest as cravings for pleasure and comfort) but he's also something of a philosopher, constantly experimenting with his own boundaries and those of the community. Obviously the leader of his tribe, he's a harmonizer, not a ruler.

It's hard to see all that through eyes that are shackled to well-worn iconography, but a fresh look at this world in a spanking-new (well, to us) context makes it all apparent again. How do we import that creative spirit into our own lives? How do we train ourselves to lay down our swords and walk into battle holding balloons, valuing experimentation and exploration over conquest? How do we rally others around our cause via inspiration instead of coercion? Perhaps we learned all this when we were very young, and have simply forgotten it. [Via]