Luncasu Diana - English Through Naming Acts

8/7/2019 Luncasu Diana - English Through Naming Acts

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English through Naming Acts

Masterand: Luncau Elena-Diana

2nd year MA, Practici de comunicare


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A framework for the analysis of names as culturalicons

Winnie-the-Pooh

Walt Disney


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Exam requirements:

Create a written and/or visual material based on a personal name to the

purpose of indicating it as an American cultural icon.

Winnie-the-Pooh, also called the Pooh Bear is a fictional bear found in

childrens books and in movies for the same public.

In order to understand the etymological background of the name is better

to check the denominative devices to include it under at certain classification.

Winnie-the-Pooh is the name of an unique animal (the Pooh Bear), is a

fictious anthroponym whose origin is traceable in names of real animals.

Winnie-the-Pooh also stands as a personal name and belongs to a pet someone

once had. It can also be categorized as being under the chimerical family name,

being a name invented with precedent.

In other words, Winnie-the-Pooh is a fictional anthropomorphic bear

created by Alan Alexander Milner. Originally, Milner named the character after

a teddy-bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milner. But the origin of the

name doesnt stop here.

What people dont know is that there was once an actual bear called

Winnie. So, Christopher named Winnie the teddy bear after a Canadian black

bear which he often saw at London Zoo. ThePooh of the same character came

after a swan the same child had met while on holiday.

The author himself offers another explanation why Winnie-the-Pooh is

often calledPooh in the book (1st chapter):


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But his arms were so stiff they stayed up straight in the air for more

than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it

off. And I think but Im not sure that that is why he is always calledPooh.

The name first appeared in a Christmas story in the London Newspaper

The Evening News. The first collection of Pooh stories appeared in the book

Winnie-the-Pooh and The Evening News Christmas story reappeared at the

first chapter of the book and at the very beginning it explained that Pooh was in

fact Christopher Robins Edward Bear, who had simply been renamed by the

boy.

But a great significance of the name was given since 1966 when Disney

Corporation released numerous animated productions starring Winnie-the-Pooh

and related characters. These have included theoretical featurettes, television

series and direct-to-video films, as well as the theoretical feature-length films.

But also after becoming the American Walt Disney Company franchise,

Winnie-the-Pooh loses hyphens it originally had in the stories. Again, with full

rights over the characters, Walt Disney Company created a new image to the

bear, the image we all know it nowadays: the cute bear with a red short T-shirt.

While the etymological background is important to some, the cultural

background is also important because it explains why this one becomes as

important to us as individuals and to our society as a whole. Culturally, Winnie-

the-Pooh is pretty important concerning childrens literature as well as the

animated world. Therefore, after the success of the childrens books A. A. Milne

has written: When We Were Very Young, Winnie-the-Pooh, Now We Are Six,

The House at Pooh Corner, Walt Disney Company developed the stories and

adapted them into a series of features:

The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree

(83 episodes), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, Winnie the Pooh and the

Tigger Too! , Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, The Tigger Movie,

Piglets Big Movie, Poohs Heffalump Movie and the not yet released Winniethe

Pooh (July 15, 2011)


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Since the 1970s with the new image of Walt Disney Company, the

character reached with its movies a real success and an international recognition.

It is said that Winnie the Pooh is considered to be a cultural icon for many

children and not only. As Hall and Hall have identified in the three volumes of

American Icons: An Encyclopedia of the People, Places and Things that Have

Shaped Our Culture, an icon generated strong responses, people identify with it,

or against it, stands for a group or related things and values, has roots in

historical sources, can be reshaped within its own image, or extended in updated

images by its adaptations or imitators, it moves or communicates widely, can be

employed in a variety of ways, and used in visual art, music, film and other

media.

In other words a cultural icon is any other image, name, logo that can be

easily recognized and generally represents an object or concept with cultural

significance to a wide cultural group. This is what Walt Disney Company

achieved with a great mediatisation of the character within the years: Winnie the

Pooh with its sweet innocent looks stole millions of childrens hearts.

As well as being recognizable in a crowd icons are symbolic. Surveys

show that if you ask anyone in America or in any European country who is the

man who invented Mickey Mouse and many other animated characters, the

answer will definitely be Walt Disney.

Walter Elias Disney represents more than just a famous entertainer in any

culture, but stands for the man who made hundreds of children childhood much

colourful and why not meaningful. And the Disney Dream doesnt stop here.

It all began in December 1901, when Flora Call Disney gave birth in

Chicagos Hermosa Community Area at N. Tripp Ave to a beautiful little boy

named Walter Elias Disney. Today the word Disney leads to a whole empire of

characters, of animation, of fairy tale, of stories, of a new land of magic, of

Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom.

Walt Disney is a unique name just as his fictional characters are, is a

symbol, a logo used to identify thousand of new movies, TV series, stories,

books and magazines and even resorts as the Disneyland. He became one of the

best known motion picture producers in the world.


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But without the fame and analyzing the name in its etymological

background, Walt Disney has a rather common first name. Walt comes from

Walter a very common name for men; is of Old Germanic Origin being

translated as commander of the army. Talking about semantically charged

names, can be easily affirmed that Walter has a powerful meaning when

thinking of a great ruler who commanded his troupes.

Elias is of Hebrew origin and means My God is the LordorGod, the Lord

or Strong Lord. Again, the name is semantically charged. Walt Disney, thus

cannot be, but a great strong man who knew only success. Nowadays is a

veritable brand name, trade name and also a trademark.

Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular

showman as well as innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his

staff created some of the world's most famous fictional characters including

Mickey Mouse, a character for which Disney himself was the original voice. He

has been awarded four honorary Academy Awards and has won twenty-two

competitive Academy Awards out of fifty-nine nominations, including a record

four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other

individual. He also won seven Emmy Awards.

He is the namesake for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme

parks in the United States, as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney,

Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland Hong Kong.


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References:

Hall, Dennis, R; Hall, Susan Grove (2006):American Icons: An

Encyclopedia of the People, Places and Things that Have Shaped

Our Culture, volumes 1-3, Greenwood Press, London;

Morrau, Nadia (2010): English through Naming Acts, note de

curs, Universitatea Vasile Alecsandri , Bacu;

http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/winnie-the-pooh/

http://disney.go.com/guestservices/international

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Walter&searchmode=none
http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/winnie-the-pooh/http://disney.go.com/guestservices/internationalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Poohhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disneyhttp://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Walter&searchmode=nonehttp://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Walter&searchmode=nonehttp://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/winnie-the-pooh/http://disney.go.com/guestservices/internationalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Poohhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disneyhttp://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Walter&searchmode=nonehttp://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Walter&searchmode=none

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