White Bear (빼꼼)

by R. Elgin on April 4, 2007

Suffering through all the cartoons that are Japanese — complete with awful voice-overs — is a good reason not to watch cartoons in Korea. “White Bear” (빼꼼) is a good reason to watch and laugh. This is apparently the work of an all-Korean creative team, whose subject is a white bear named “Bernard”.

{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

1 sewing April 4, 2007 at 3:24 am: Looks like a pretty harrowing experience for poor Bernard! Was the treadmill even going backwards for a bit there?

Shouldn’t it be 백곰 and not 빼꼼?
2 R. Elgin April 4, 2007 at 11:49 am: You are right sewing, I think it should be 빽 (white) instead of 빼 but I could have sworn it said that on the TV.

I liked the one of him playing with an automatic baseball pitching machine.
3 dogbertt April 4, 2007 at 11:59 am: That’s still only one “ㅂ” in “백”.
4 leefr April 4, 2007 at 12:08 pm: It’s a play on words.

“빼꼼” means ‘to peek’ or else is descriptive of the action.

They probably used it for the cuteness factor. Or something. Your guess is as good as mine.
5 dogbertt April 4, 2007 at 12:32 pm: 빠끔

[부사] [하다형 형용사] 작은 틈이나 구멍이 깊고 또렷하게 나 있는 모양.
빠끔하게 뚫린 구멍을 통해 동정을 살피다. (큰말) 뻐끔 1 . 빠끔―히 [부사]
창문이 빠끔히 열려 있다. 빠끔―빠끔 [부사] [하다형 형용사]
6 The Western Confucian April 4, 2007 at 2:44 pm: I agree. As a concerned father of two (aged 2 and 3), I have been evaluating kids programming lately.

“빠끔” was a pleasant surprise. It reminded me of the old Loony Tunes catoons. The American stuff is too touchy-feely and the Japanese stuff is essentially softcore porn.

[I once saw some cartoon (for kids in the afternoon) in which the scantilly-clad villainess was forcing the scantilly-clad heroine into a lesbian marriage. The good girls wear white thigh-high fishnet stockings and the bad girls wear black thigh-high fishnet in Japanese cartoons.]
7 The Western Confucian April 4, 2007 at 3:09 pm: I forgot to recommend two other decent cartoons.

One is “Pat and Mat” from the Czech Republic, available on videos here, in which two characters set about to fix a problem with tools, create more problems, and finally solve the problem in an unlikely way.

The other is “Thomas and Friends” from England. It is set on the imaginary Island of Sodor (part of the real Anglican Diocese of Man and Sodor). It’s good for train enthusiasts and those who long for the better times when men and women wore hats.
8 sewing April 4, 2007 at 3:26 pm: The latter as in “Thomas the Tank Engine”?
9 Haisan April 4, 2007 at 3:32 pm: English name for the Bear movie is MUG TRAVEL. You can read about it here.
10 R. Elgin April 4, 2007 at 6:28 pm: Thanks for the word pun information “leefr”. I suspected as much.

I am really beginning to hate this Japanese crap, especially the horrible Korean voice-overs. “Ho-pang Man” was fine but the latest stuff would rot the brains of any intelligent child. Does Korea not have anyone reliable to evaluate what their children are watching!?

“Thomas and Friends” has been on PBS in the states for some years already.
11 The Western Confucian April 4, 2007 at 8:58 pm: The latter as in “Thomas the Tank Engine”?

Yes. The title was shortened, regretably in my opinion.
12 SomeguyinKorea April 5, 2007 at 12:25 am: http://www.bernarbear.com
13 SomeguyinKorea April 5, 2007 at 12:26 am: Crap, typo. Sorry.

http://www.bernardbear.com
14 sewing April 5, 2007 at 3:28 am: leefr, dogbertt: Thanks for the explanations.

Personally, as a kid growing up in Canada, I found the Hanna-Barbera cartoons either insulting to my intelligence (Scooby Doo), just dumb (Flintstones), or highly irresponsible (Tom and Jerry). Much children’s TV programming in most countries is probably similarly unsuitable crap.

On the other hand, is there is the equivalent of Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, or other educational programs in Korea, or are those missing or inadequate?