Fairy Tale Spotlight: Why is Care Bears Good?

This is a question that has long plagued me. There are so many truly bad cartoons from the 80's and 90's. Did we really need Captain Planet? And if Captain Planet is so horrible, why is Care Bears so good? Why even compare the two?

Captain Planet had its run. Lots of people watched. It's dead now. In fact, not only is it dead, it's considered a joke among most people. The problem with Captain Planet was that it was a halfhearted attempt to push environmentalism (a political talking point) into the faces of children. Were all the episodes crap? No, actually. But the show was what it was, and we can't help but think back to how stupid we were for watching such tripe. And I still can't help but feel terrible about that poor Asian kid who only got the power of "heart." What a sad and pathetic life he must have led while all of his buddies were zapping things with fire and ice.

But then we have Care Bears, a show that still runs to this day. Why? It's about a bunch of huggable, cute bears who care about each other's feelings. Their powers consist of... staring down the bad guy... because he knows what he did was wrong... so... we're gonna stare at him... like in a group and stuff. Seriously, this shouldn't have gone as far as it did. But it did!

A lot of the reasons the show lasted was because a genuine amount of work went into the characters. The original show actually had a good bit of well-timed humor in it. And when the movies came about, the villains were genuinely interesting. Especially that second one which went into demons and possession. Wow. I'm serious. The second movie had a freaking exorcism happening in the final scenes.

I'm still not 100% clear on why Care Bears has come so far. I actually do like the show, at least the original. I find myself chuckling and giggling as they try and spread childish notions of caring across the world. People roll their eyes at me. I know. I... know. I think it's weird too.

But let's go back to the contrast. Captain Planet was boldly trying to indoctrinate children to the political talking point known as environmentalism. Even though the episodes were somewhat entertaining, we naturally dislike being taught things while we watch our cartoons. Care Bears, on the other paw, may have been been trying to spread snowflakey ideas into our brains, but they seemed to focus more on plot, character development, and entertainment. You know... the stuff we watch things for. And even though it seems that all the Care Bears technically have the Asian kid's power of "heart," at least they can use it to zap evil demons back into the underworld where they belong. Hell yeah!

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