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How the Care Bears Prepped Us For A Post-Gender World

9/7/2016

9 Comments

 
Picture
Written and Illustrated by Koriander Bullard
Folks, it’s time I come clean on a secret I’ve been harboring my whole life.



I am and have always been……….. a Care Bears fan.



Born in 1986, my formative years included the Care Bears and the Care Bear Cousins between spots of WWF Superstars, Thundercats and G.I. Joe. While I was very fond of more “boy” related programs, I was just in tune enough with my gender that I could appreciate the cuddly, though sometimes heavy-handed teachings from Care-A-Lot.



But were the Care Bears secretly preparing us for a more transgender friendly world?


A little back story. Originally, ten Care Bears appeared in a line of paintings in a pitch to American Greetings and Kenner by illustrator Elena Kucharik. The characters were created by a group called Those Characters From Cleveland and were an instant hit with the marketing firms. Before you could say “Care Bear Stare” the original ten bears; Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Cheer Bear, Friend Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, Grumpy Bear, Love-a-lot Bear, Wish Bear and company mascot, Tenderheart Bear, graced greeting cards as far as the eye could see. Over the next six years, four different animation studios would go on to produce television specials, three silver screen movies and two different Saturday morning cartoon shows, featuring the original ten and a small gathering of new bears, not to mention the often overlooked cousins, who cared, but were not bear in origin. Then as the two TV shows went into perpetual reruns after their initial 22 and 49 episode lineups respectively, new books continued to be written and sold to children, as several characters started getting makeovers and a few new bears hit the lineup.



Between 1986 and 1991, a few very large changes to the bears started creeping in under the radar. These changes would become more pronounced when the characters were re-launched in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2012, 2015 and recently in 2016.


One of the first to change was Cheer Bear. While most of the Care Bears were drawn 100% alike with only color and symbol changes prior to 2007, Cheer Bear suddenly appeared on television with a slightly spiked ponytail. Alternating Nelvana episodes also featured her with budding bear breasts, though this was likely an animation error, as the 49-episode Care Bear Family series was rife with animation and sound blunders. She would be the second to wear clothes consitantly after Bedtime Bear, though several characters occasionally are seen wearing raincoats and galoshes.



But cosmetic changes wouldn’t stop at fashion.


Champ Bear, Secret Bear, Noble Heart Horse, Take Care Bear, Daydream Bear, Polite Panda, Environmental Cheer Bear, (who is, but is not Cheer Bear) True Heart Bear and Prize Bear have all changed fur colors since their respective debut points between 1985 and 2007, while a growing selection of other Care Bears have had symbol changes, most drastic belonging to Share Bear and Harmony Bear, who are both purple female bears.



But why stop at skin or fur color?


Over the course of the franchise’s existence, Funshine Bear, Secret Bear, Surprise Bear, Lotsa Heart Elephant, Swift Heart Rabbit and Prize Bear have all switched from being male to female, vice versa and back again without any explanation or acknowledgment from the rest of the cast. Lotsa Heart Elephant was the first to switch genders in 1984, with some gender swapping occurring mid-episode two years later in 1986, while Funshine was ambiguous about gender, unless another character directly calls Funshine “he” or “she”. This was the case until 2004, when Funshine was given a directly masculine voice. And Swift Heart Rabbit may be listed currently on Wikipedia as a female, but collectors know the character to be currently without a definitive gender, having only had one assigned sporadically in the 1980’s only to be changed as quick as Swift Heart’s speed.



Most drastic has been Proud Heart Cat. This feline has not only switched gender and fur color several times, Proud Heart also switched species! That’s right! For a brief period in 1991, Proud Heart turned from an orange and brown male cat, to a blue-teal female cat, to a snow-white male bear! Donning the American flag over his heart, his design would later influence America Cares Bear in 2003.



Proud Heart Bear would also star in a line-up of other “re-hash bears” who are but are not, but kind of are previously established bears. These bears, many of whom have also had cosmetic symbol and fur changes, include the aforementioned Environmental Cheer Bear, Environmental Bedtime Bear, Environmental Friend Bear, Environmental Love-A-Lot, Environmental Tenderheart and Environmental Share Bear, each one considered to be an alternate universe “cousin” to the pre-established bears of matching names, and much like the 1986 Cheer Bear, would occasionally sport new hairstyles.


The gender, color and species changes were never announced publicly, and always slipped into the usual television programs and toy bins without fanfare. Not once did Nelvana, DiC or any of the other animation studios ever produce a special “after school” program, directly addressing one of the bears’ sex changes on camera. In fact, most of the voices were kept gender-neutral, except for Brave Heart Lion, Noble Heart Horse, Grumpy Bear and Tenderheart Bear, who were distinctly more masculine when compared to the other either feminine or androgynous sounding characters. It wasn’t until the 2000’s when one at a time, more of the characters were given directly male or female voices.



Not once was there ever fan outcry, a petition or a rally led by a conservative, cartoon-hating parental group, lobbying to define or restore a Care Bear or Cousin’s original gender.


And why? How did we miss what a landmark franchise this has been for children?


One reason why we may have missed this, is because most regular-aged Care Bear and Cousin is treated exactly the same. Grams Bear, Noble Heart Horse and True Heart Bear are treated as parents while Hugs and Tugs are treated as toddlers. Brave Heart Lion and Tenderheart are treated as elder brothers, and Grumpy is treated as his namesake. But think about it, all other characters have similar personalities, similar voices, and nobody is treated as greater or lesser than the plush next to him. The make an equal number of mistakes in each episode and usually come to the same conclusions.



It may be the interchangeable nature of the characters prior to the 2000’s that led both fans and developers of the show to simply… not care. In a very ironic twist, not one single, solitary person behind this show has cared enough to notice such glaring changes in the characters’ genders and colors. Was this done to appeal to more boys or to more girls? Was this done to shake the foundation? It’s very likely that the people behind each re-hash of the loveable 1980’s plushies have never actually cared enough to memorize such important traits about cartoon bears.


Or maybe, this was done on purpose after all.


The Care Bears have been sold to babies, toddlers and to very, very young children since at least 1982 after the successful greeting card run for adults. Very small children often notice very big changes in their favorite characters, such as a gender swap or a palette change. Introducing these changes without acknowledgment tells a child one of two things, either the marketing team thinks you little ankle biters are too stupid to notice these details, or, on a brighter note, they have introduced these concepts to you in a way that normalizes the change, so that if you do encounter someone between genders, you will still treat them the same as anybody else and you won’t freak out over their chosen gender.


Think back to when Swift Heart Rabbit had a drastic pitch in her voice. She appeared with her new voice next to Brave Heart Lion in a random Nelvana episode.



Rather than ask embarrassing or uncomfortable questions as to why Swift Heart Rabbit is a girl this week when she was a boy in the last episode, what do we see?


We see Brave Heart Lion address her as a “she” and move onto the next subject.


That’s it. No discussion. No big PSA. Just she’s a girl now, let’s move on.


Of all the Care Bear characters to change genders, not one was ever asked about their faith, not one was threatened, and nobody threatened to run them over with a cloud car or push them off the Rainbow Bridge if they didn’t stick with their birth gender. And nobody asked if Take Care Bear used her Stare to initiate the operation, what led to the decision to change colors and genders, what other secrets Secret Bear was hiding, or if Surprise Bear needed a “coming out” party. Not one gender joke, snide remark or backhanded compliment uttered.


In an era of television where we had special episodes and PSA’s aimed at children as young as two about sexual abuse, strangers, drugs, drinking, smoking, makeup, AIDS, dieting and arson, from a decade where every major, adult problem had to be scaled down and talked up on Saturday mornings, here we had a gang of transgender teddy bears and stuffed animals, whose sole purpose was to make the world a less scary place. Each adventure was about making children emotionally stronger and the environment a little less messy while also tightening up their own community bonds, and prejudice was not allowed in the land of Care-A-Lot.


How did this happen? The LBGTQ community has been craving a series for their children, promoting transsexual characters in a positive light with sound morals, and not one person either straight, asexual or otherwise has ever realized we already had a perfect series.


While I can’t speak for newer incarnations, the original Care Bears cartoons normalized gender-neutrality before that became a popular thing, and if you’re looking for a gentle way to introduce the concepts of transgender to your children, select reruns of the show are now available on Hulu.

Koriander Bullard is an author, cartoonist and human rights advocate. Keep up with her on Facebook!

 
9 Comments
Harri
1/16/2018 11:53:59 pm

I have a few questions... (And statements)

what episode exactly did swift heart have a voice next to brave heart? And when was she ever a guy??

Cheer bear was not the only one in the nelvana series to wear clothes regularly...

What colour is noble heart now then??

Who is prize bear? And what colour is he/she?

It was never actually said anywhere that secret bear was a guy... Although now we know she is a girl

Since when was surprise bear a boy?

I'm pretty sure lotsa heart has been a guy all the way up until 2016... And gender swapping?... Mid episode... Really??

I dont think proud heart cat and proud heart bear are the same character... But anyway... The 'orange and brown' proud heart cat was not a boy by the way... So therefore proud heart has not changed gender, just fur colour...

Nelvana, DiC or any other animation company did not need to address to sex changes of the characters in the 80s because none of the sex changes occurred during that time... They were all after 2000...

Another swift heart question... Why would we need to ask "embarrassing or uncomfortable questions" about her gender when she was always a girl??

Use a fan based theory that take care bear is the doctor why dont ya!? That should stay in fanfiction...

Why would surprise bear need a "coming out" party?

How did care bears normalise gender neutrality when it was overly easy to see which care bears were which gender?? Say for example, in the land without feelings there was the 10 original care bears:
Tenderheart - male
Grumpy - male
Birthday bear - male
Bedtime - male
Good luck - male
Funshine - female
Love-a-lot - female
Cheer - female
Wish bear - female
Friend bear - female
There was five of each gender and thats the way it stayed until the 2000s... And for other bears it was simple, say for a couple examples:
Share - female
Harmony - female
Champ - male
The only bear thats gender was never shown was secret bear...

Reply
TSK
6/19/2018 05:13:11 am

To answer a few of your questions...

Prize Bear was a toy-exclusive 18-inch bear given out to 100 kids who participated in some sort of contest back in the 80s.

Noble Heart didn't exactly change colors, but the 80s toy version of both him and True Heart was tie-dye colored rather than having the "normal" colors that they had in the second Care Bears film.

I'm pretty sure that Secret Bear was referred to as male at least once (probably in one of the first two movies or just on packaging for the plush toy), but Secret was never referred to as female until the 2000s reboot.

Surprise Bear was a boy when he was a toy-exclusive bear released in the UK. I'm not sure what mentioned his gender, but I'm assuming that packaging or something like that did.

Lotsa Heart was referred to as male for the vast majority of the 80s series but was called female a couple times (possibly because the people writing some Care Bears episodes assumed Lotsa was female due to his color). I don't remember Lotsa being referred to as both male and female in any episode though.

I agree that Proud Heart Cat and Proud Heart Bear are obviously different characters, and Proud Heart always seemed to be female as far as I know. The only time (as far as I know) that Proud Heart was referred to as male was the second Care Bears movie which messed up the genders of like five or six of them anyway.

Reply
Harri
6/26/2018 02:19:51 am

nah secret bear was never referred to as male in either movies, so yea probs just on the packaging.

see I always thought both noble hearts purple and tye-dye colours were classed as his 'normal colours'.

do you have the names of the episodes that lotsa heart was referred to as female... I mustve missed these.

yea theres a lot of stuff wrong with the second movie, but I still like it though haha

NockNock link
12/21/2022 12:04:20 am

You’re wrong. On the kingdomofcaring website it literally says they changed proudheart from a cat to a bear. Look in the 1990’s section.

Also, I do realize that you were more directly talking about pre-2000’s as far as everyone’s gender but I do want to point out that in the 2004 movie journey to joke a lot, funshine bear is referred to as a male the entire movie and is even crowned king. Just wanted to throw that in there as well.

Reply
TSK
4/14/2018 03:24:47 pm

This is probably one of the most inaccurate Care Bears-related posts I've seen. The Care Bears' personalities were not all developed in the 80s series, so it is not at all surprising that their characters were changed drastically when Care Bears was revamped multiple times. There is absolutely nothing transgender about Care Bears, and each series is not even canon to another Care Bears series.

Reply
Harri
6/19/2018 03:32:22 am

What I was trying to say but in a lot less words... Haha

Reply
Jodi Riggins
3/7/2021 03:46:15 am

This is such a great read. None of the "inconsistencies" may have been intentional, but it does make it a great way to introduce children to these things without having say anything at all. ❤

Reply
Wish Bear
7/20/2021 10:46:06 am

as a part of the LGBTQ+ community, i’m sorry to say this, but this is a load of crap. There’s nothing transgender about the care bears. did they ever express not feeling comfortable in their bodies? nah, they didn’t.

Reply
vigaroushart link
11/22/2023 05:45:56 pm

because of my indian heritage, i do not support those tranny lil shits, i hope they get syphillus and drop dead (:3) love a lot bear is a gay fag

Reply



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