Winnie-the-Pooh began life nearly a century ago as “Mr. Edward Bear” in a short story by the English author A. A. Milne. He soon scored a new name as well as a series of tales. Eventually he migrated over to The Walt Disney Company, who purchased exclusive rights to him and his woodland buds. Those rights lapsed in 2021, at which point he became fodder for a tongue-in-cheek R-rated horror version that came out last year. It’s this last iteration that recently shocked and likely traumatized some young school children in Florida.
Per Variety, a teacher at a charter school in Miami Springs showed fourth graders Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, which turns Milne’s wholesome kiddie adventures into a gruesome slasher. It seems to have been an innocent mix-up, albeit one the teacher was slow to pick up on:
According to Diaz, the film played for “20 to 30 minutes” before the teacher shut it off. She said that the students were allowed to a pick a movie to watch and they selected “Blood and Honey,” but “it’s not for them to decide what they want… It’s up to the professor to look at the content.”
“He didn’t stop the movie, even though there were kids saying, ‘Hey, stop the movie, we don’t want to watch this,’” Diaz added.
Parents were not pleased that their kids watched a movie in which, according to the film’s Wikipedia page, Christopher Robins’ fictitious animal friends go to seed after he leaves for college and survive by eating poor Eeyore. “I feel completely abandoned by the school,” one parent said of the incident, calling the teacher “careless.”
Administration was quick to address the screw-up with the teacher and students who watched the film have been sent to the school’s mental health counselor.
Blood and Honey isn’t the only example of people milking Pooh for decidedly un-family friendly fare. An edgy forthcoming video game subjects our bear hero to so many Cronenbergian body horrors that some are wishing the guy had never fallen into the public domain. On a related note, there’s also that horror-comedy take on the Grinch…
(Via Variety)