Cotton (2000) claims that there is "some commonality of experience of childhood across contemporary European cultures" that are accepted among children with similar cultural backgrounds, "animals are often used as a metaphor for childhood, with allegorical descriptions treating animals as participants in human-like worlds” to reach across children/audiences from diverse cultural backgrounds (Cotton, 2000, p.33).
In my discussions with Albert Lamb, an author and cartoonist, we thought of a bear who has overslept and woke up to a completely changed world - an idea similar to that of a mother in the film Good Bye Lenin! by Wolfgang Becker (2003). There would be a bear from East side of the Wall who woke up 20 years later (he also suggested A German TV series Heimat (Homeland) to get an idea of how people experienced the changes of Germany).
There's a male bear, who wakes up and meets a female bear from the West. The female bear is up to date and westernised, whereas the male bear is a socialist, just woken up and doesn't know the changes Germany went through.
Becker, W. (2003) Good Bye Lenin! [DVD] Berlin: X Filme Creative Pool GmbH.
Cotton, P. (2000) Picture Books Sans Frontières. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books Ltd.
Cotton, P. (2000) Picture Books Sans Frontières. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books Ltd.
