why is winnie the pooh an American icon?

Question

what does he represent? why is what he represents so important to americans that he has been famous for so many years?

Answer 1

Well, actually he's a British icon, imported to the USA.
I guess we can blame Walt Disney:

But Winnie's very popular ALL over the world:

"Winnie-the-Pooh is arguably the most famous bear in the world. Winnie-the-Pooh has been translated into thirty-four languages: Afrikaans, Breton, Bulgarian, Castilian, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, Frisian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croat, Slovak, Slovene, Swedish, Thai, Esperanto, and Latin. The Latin translation, Winnie ille Pu, made the New York Times Bestseller List in 1960, the first foreign language book to do so, and stayed on the list for twenty weeks.

Milne was often frustrated as his designation as a children's author. For several years, he wrote essays for Punch, and at one time was considered to be one of England's most successful playwrights. He was also the author of a successful mystery novel, The Red House Mystery. However, after the publication of his four children's books, the public demanded more of the same from him, and critics often judged his later writing against his children's writing.

The popularity of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends gained a great deal in the 1960s. On June 16, 1961, Walt Disney purchased the film rights to the Pooh stories from Mrs. Daphne Milne. The first film, Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree, appeared in 1966 as a twenty-six minute short. E.H. Shepard, illustrator of the Pooh books, called the film 'a complete travesty', but Daphne Milne seemed pleased about the film. The general public review in America was high, but the British reaction was less than favorable. Disney had replaced the character of Piglet with a gopher, which they thought had a more "folksy, all-American, grass-roots image," according to the film's director, Wolfgang Reitherman. Outrage was also evident about the accent of the characters. Nearly all the characters had a Mid-West accent. Thanks to a crusade by British film critic Felix Barker, Disney consented to re-dub the part of Christopher Robin with a British accent, and Piglet appeared in the next film, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and in subsequent films."

Answer 2

I think the only reason is because of Walt Disney... Winnie the Pooh was originally a mascot, (a real bear) for a Canadian military unit. He was brought over to Britain during the war, where he stayed at a zoo, and became famous amongst the British... The rest John Slat has detailed Winnie the Pooh's rise to world fame.
CyberNara

Answer 3

My Dad used to sit and read me Winnie the Pooh stories at night. Winnie the Pooh is the best!

Answer 4

Winnie-the-Pooh was originally a character in a book by A.A. Milne. The book was written for his son, Christopher Robin. The other characters, Eyore, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga etc. were, like Winnie-the-Pooh himself, based on Christopher Robin's toys.
The books were popular for many years before Disney made a hugely successful film about these character. There is now a huge industry in spin offs from the movie. I wouldn't call Winnie-the-Pooh an icon, but he is a very popular lovable character.

Answer 5

He represents childhood innocence. This is reflected not only by Christopher Robinson's involvement in Pooh's fantasy world, but also in the fact that most everyone grows up with some exposure to him. Pooh books and movies are clean enough that parents don't have many reservations showing them to their children.

Answer 6

I have two sons, 4 and 3. They love Pooh because he's lovable, he’s kind and non-judgmental. They each have a Pooh bear half their size who sleeps next to them in bed.

Pooh is comforting. Simple.

The vitriol against Walt Disney, whose daughters loved Milne’s books and inspired Walt to bring Pooh to film, is stunning.

The fact Milne is British and, by creation, so is Pooh hardly matters. Fictional characters from many countries have been adapted by American entertainment.

Here’s a little more Pooh information (from the link below):

Potter Pooh is Disney's most popular character, eclipsing Pluto, Goofy, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse and -- yes -- even Mickey Mouse in licensing income.

Pooh-related sales amounted to roughly one-fifth of Disney's $25-billion in revenues in 2000.


A Pooh timeline

1882 -- A.A. Milne is born.
1920 -- His son, Christopher Robin Milne, is born.
1921 -- Edward Bear, the stuffed bear that inspired the tales of Winnie the Pooh, is given to Christopher Robin on his first birthday.
1926 -- Winnie the Pooh is published.
1929 -- Milne sells subsidiary rights to Winnie the Pooh books to literary agent Stephen Slesinger.
1953 -- Stephen Slesinger dies.
1956 -- A.A. Milne dies. Sales of his children's books reach 7-million.
1961 -- Slesinger's widow, Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, licenses the rights to Winnie the Pooh to Walt Disney himself.
1966 -- Disney releases its first Pooh movie, a short film called Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, beginning a great debate between Classic Pooh and New Pooh among the masses.
1987 -- The original stuffed Pooh and friends are presented to the New York Public Library, where they are put on display.
1991 -- Tampa family-controlled Stephen Slesinger Inc. sues Disney, alleging it is owed millions in royalties from unreported revenues from expanded line of Pooh videos and other products.
1996 -- Christopher Robin Milne dies. He had sold half his royalty share to Britain's Royal Literary Fund, set up in the 1780s to help "authors of merit who have fallen on hard times." The other half became a trust for his daughter, Clare, who was born with cerebral palsy.
2001 -- In March, Disney buys additional rights to Winnie the Pooh for $350-million from the A.A. Milne Trust until 2026, when the copyright is to expire.

Answer 7

Willie The Pooh

Answer 8

I believe Winnie the Poo was created by a british author A.A Milne. So would it not be a british Icon?

Answer 9

people here kinda grew up with Pooh and the whole hundred acres wood gang.

Answer 10

blame Disney, he made a lot of books famous by making them into movies.