Goodbye, Christopher Robin (2017)

I've always thought that Winnie-the-Pooh is a Disney character. However, the movie Goodbye, Christopher Robin showed that this anthropomorphic teddy bear is actually a character developed by A. A. Milne, an English author. And the movie version of the real-life story is bittersweet.

The adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh and of his friends (Tigger, Eeyore, Owl, and Piglet) are the result of the real-life Christopher's bond with Milne (who was suffering from PTSD) in the English countryside after World War I.  It conveyed peace, nostalgia, and a good feeling for the simpler life for the Milne father and son tandem. However, the fame that the stories generated basically robbed the real-life Christopher of his privacy as a child. He despised the stories and didn't want to have anything to do with it.

But World War II changed that.

Listening to the stories of his fellow soldiers, he realised that the real treasures in Winnie-the-Pooh were their happy childhood memories... something that Christopher didn't have himself when the stories became famous but what his fictional counterpart shared with these soldiers. These memories pulled them through the difficulties of war.

I found the story heart-breaking because of a childhood lost but cathartic because that lost childhood served a higher purpose. In the end, I would never wish worldwide fame upon a child who is pushed into the spotlight without him/her (and or his/her guardians) knowing and understanding its repercussions.

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