Sunday 27 December 2009

Talks with Albert Lamb, 24-26 Dec 2009

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.