Медведи (не) спавају зимски сан - лик медведа и мотив зиме у уметности за децу

Abstract

In this paper we analyzed four selected works of art from the realm of arts for children that contain the characters of bears and the motif of winter. More precisely, we analyzed the non-fiction book for children Milisav the Bear and his Friends (original title: Медвед Милисав и другари), two picture books for children (Little Bear`s Big Adventure and Alert in the house of the white bears) and the animated short Jack Frost from the year 1934. The chosen corpus envelops two cultures (Serbian and Anglosaxon) and two different time periods (modern times and the 1930s). What connects all of the selected works is their unique interpretation of the bear and winter and the (partially false) belief that bears hibernate all winter long. We have come to the conclusion that there are two distinct approaches to interpreting the abovementioned elements – the first one is that bears live in nature and according to nature’s rules, and it is the man that brings forth the destruction. In the first observed example (Milisav the Bear and his Friends) the bears fulfill the educational and entertainment function where the children learn how the bears live on the Tara mountain. In the second ecocritical and entertaining story (Alert in the house of the white bears) the children learn how to take care of their environment. The second half of our corpus manifests the other interpretative approach – the basic premise that bears hibernate during winter is debunked. Both stories (Jack Frost and Little Bear`s Big Adventure) are centered on the world of the young reader’s imagination, but their methods of interpretation vary distinctly