kuttithevangu:neshamama:at a shop i noticed a display rack filled with a new ty beanie bear named ‘h
kuttithevangu:neshamama:at a shop i noticed a display rack filled with a new ty beanie bear named ‘hope’ manufactured in response to the covid-19 pandemic; ty would donate profits to fund research of the virus. at first i was sort of amused but then i found that this piece of crisis memorabilia reminded me of other commemorative comfort objects–primarily teddy bears–produced in response to deaths and disasters. i’d call these objects ‘tragedy bears.’ on one hand tragedy bears represent market capitalization on devastating events, which we see everywhere rn with corporate rebranding during the pandemic, and it’s unsurprising. but on the other hand there’s something else theoretically intriguing about the eschatological intersection of mourning culture, children, and comfort objects. whether, like with the diana bear, these products become obsessions of collectors subject to absurd bidding wars, they are still toys connected to ideas about childhood in the possession of children who relate to them and the subjects mourned in unique ways.the tragedy bear isnt a new market ploy by any means. in 1912, steiff manufactured a small number of teddy bears in response to the sinking of the titanic. these forlorn, goth bears are unlike anything steiff had made before–the plush (pictured here) was covered in black mohair and fitted with red eyes that evoked visual evidence of crying as well as the violent ends of the disaster’s victims. steiff thus created a bear that not only commemorated a tragedy, but that mourned it as well. similarly, ty’s covid bear made over a century later kneels in prayer with its sparkly bug-eyes looking upward as if this inanimate object also empathized with fears and loss related to the pandemic. now the ty toy could be interpreted as a cheap and frivolous product and in lots of ways, it is. but there’s some cultural, psychological, and spiritual dimensions to these children’s toys that go back even further than the turn of the 20th century. childhood experience and phenomena do play a role in culture, religion, and history. the refusal to recognize that role results from a failure to take children seriously as well as the ‘domestic’ sphere w/which they’re associated as it is highly gendered. dolls and sewn toys were generally made by girls and women. steiff’s woman founder, margarete steiff, intended her toys to comfort children and improve their lives. steiff’s own childhood was marked by disabling illness that would leave her unable to walk for the rest of her life. inspired by found animal-shaped pin cushion patterns, steiff would develop the first stuffed animals in her specially-designed studio that accommodated for her disabilities and would swiftly become the world’s fair-winning, reigning international empire of plush toys. so what’s the deal with the tragedy bear? how do comfort objects and children’s toys relate to the history of art and eschatology? im not entirely sure. but they’re out there, they’re ancient, and they got me thinking!! Oh, I know a book about this! It’s really good! I hope I’m not the five hundredth person to tell you this, but it’s this one: TOURISTS OF HISTORY: MEMORY, KITSCH, AND CONSUMERISM FROM OKLAHOMA CITY TO GROUND ZERO, by Marita Sturken It’s focused on the USA, because this (the bear memorial) is apparently a phenomenon that’s largely American in origin, although it’s spread to other places as well in part because of the Internet. This book not only will I think validate some of your thoughts here about “tragedy bears”, OP, but is generally a good piece of cultural criticism re: American responses to tragedy in the late 20th-early 21st century This is fascinating! But also: is “Trumpy Bear” a tragedy bear? -- source link