Blogpost # 4: Care Bears: More Like Voodoo Dolls

 Have you ever watched Care Bears? Care Bears is also one of my favorite TV shows as a kid. Well if you haven't watched an episode of it, what do you think would be the story of this show? You would most likely think that this is all about those cute and cuddly bears playing and having adventures right? 

The Care Bears are the ones who watch over the earth to keep bad feelings away. Whenever a kid is feeling down, they are there to help bring a smile to the child's face. They live in a city in the sky, named Care-A-Lot. They have meetings in the Hall of Caring to discuss important things. Their cousins live in the Forest of Feelings. The Care Bear Cousins' leader is Braveheart Lion. Each bear and cousin has a special power, related to the symbol on its tummy. When they assemble, they can use the Care Bear Stare to beam good energy at their enemies. The bears have two modes of transportation, Cloudmobiles and Rainbow Rollers, which they fly down to earth on whenever there is trouble. They are alerted to problems by the Care-O-Meter. 

In the article "The True 'Spirit' of the Care Bears" by David Nalle on blogcritics.org, David said that "Unquestionably the height and full-blown realization of Voodoo in children’s animation was in the still enormously popular Care Bears. From the very name of the cartoon to the look and behavior of the characters, Voodoo permeates the Care Bears universe." He suggests that the Care Bears are not what they seem.  He believes that they are a form of Voodoo living under the guise of children's entertainment.  He believes that this has been done through the adaptation of symbology.   

In the article, David states the similarity between the Care Bears and aspects of Voodoo: Firstly, the name "Care Bears" means Carefours (district of Port au Prince, the heart of the Voodoo world). And Care-A-Lot means 'holy city' of the Lwa. The statement: "Care Bears want to share until people care" means that Lwa want to share the bodies of their worshippers. And also the statement: "Care Bears want to be children's 'friends'" means that Lwa referred to as 'friendly spirits' or just 'friends'. And lastly the statement: "Each Care Bear has a unique tummy symbol" means that each Lwa has a Veve.

(L-R): Love-A-Lot Bear, Friend Bear, Cheer Bear

Also, some of the bears mean something, like for example, Love-A-Lot Bear. It means the goddess Erzulie (the symbol of twin hearts means dual nature, color pink, love). And the next one is the Friend Bear. It means Legba. Legba is the symbol of crossed flowers, Legba referred to as a 'friend', prominent role. He cited some more example but my last example would be the Cheer Bear which means Damballah. Damballah is the symbol of a rainbow, uses magical or mystical powers more often.

Nalle even goes further with his theory, suggesting the circumstances surrounding the animators of the Care Bears as strangely suspicious.  He says that animator Lester Meyers disappeared, leaving a cryptic note suggesting that he was gone to find out the truth of 'where the care bears came from' and his final credit card bill showed the purchase of a ticket to Haiti.  

 Whether people who read his article choose to side with Nalle's theory or not is left up to each individual.  I quite do not believe that the creators and animators of the Care Bears designed it to represent Voodoo.  Though there may be similarities between Care Bears and Voodoo Lwas, I think that it's just accidental and a mere coincidence. There is also one article that I read entitled, "Cartoon Conspiracy Theory | Care Bears have VooDoo Ties?!" by Kmach Time" by Kyle Mack. He said that, "Care Bears is supposedly all about voodoo trying to convince children to get into voodoo." However, both articles do pose an interesting alternative view of the cartoon. 

Now the question is: Voodoo you trust? Let us not assume that all the things we find on the Internet is true. It's just up to you whether you believe it or not.