The Off Topic Topic

[Caliga]

Anyone ever encountered Maya the bee before?
I've never heard of it. Seems big in some countries.
The boy has become a fan.
I checked the Wikipedia page.
On ramp to nazism?

That cartoon has been around forever... was on Nickelodeon in the US when I was a kid.

[Oexmelin]

A classic cartoon on Quebec TV in the 1980s.

[Razgovory]

Anyone ever encountered Maya the bee before?
I've never heard of it. Seems big in some countries.
The boy has become a fan.
I checked the Wikipedia page.
On ramp to nazism?

That cartoon has been around forever... was on Nickelodeon in the US when I was a kid.

Yeah, I remember Maya the Bee.  Nickelodeon used to have some kind of contract with a Canadian company so we got a lot of Canadian programing.

[celedhring]

Very popular in Spain in the 1970s-80s

[Grey Fox]

Like Oex said it was big here. You've triggered memories and now I'm singing the theme song.

[Syt]

Anyone ever encountered Maya the bee before?
I've never heard of it. Seems big in some countries.
The boy has become a fan.
I checked the Wikipedia page.
On ramp to nazism?

The 1975 cartoon (commissioned by German TV in Japan) was huge when I was little. Looking at the German/English wiki pages for it, I don't see any problematic stuff there (it's based on 1910s childrens books).

[Syt]

Like Oex said it was big here. You've triggered memories and now I'm singing the theme song.

The German original was sung by Karel Gott, a Czechoslovak schlager singer who was immensely popular in Germany in the 70s/80s. Still a very well known melody (up there with the German title song for the Heidi anime from the 70s).

[Duque de Bragança]

Very popular in Spain in the 1970s-80s

Same in France. Later '70s I'd say.

[Tamas]

I remember it from Hungarian TV but by the time it got there I was way too old for it.

[Josquius]

Anyone ever encountered Maya the bee before?
I've never heard of it. Seems big in some countries.
The boy has become a fan.
I checked the Wikipedia page.
On ramp to nazism?

The 1975 cartoon (commissioned by German TV in Japan) was huge when I was little. Looking at the German/English wiki pages for it, I don't see any problematic stuff there (it's based on 1910s childrens books).

Sulevi Riukulehto suggested that the book may have carried a political message. This view depicts the beehive as a well-organised militarist society and Maya as an ideal citizen. Elements of nationalism also appear when Maya gets angry at a grasshopper for failing to distinguish between bees and wasps (whom she calls "a useless gang of bandits" [Räubergeschlecht] that have no "home or faith" [Heimat und Glauben]) and at a insulting fly, whom Maya threatens to teach "respect for bees" and with her stinger. Riukulehto interprets this to mean that respect is based on the threat of violence. Collectivism versus individualism is also a theme. Maya's independence and departure from the beehive is seen as reproachable, but it is atoned by her warning of the hornets' attack. This show of loyalty restores her position in the society. In the hornet attack part of the story, the bees' will to defend the hive and the heroic deaths of bee officers are glorified, often in overtly militarist tones.[9]

After World War II, adaptations toned down the militarist element considerably, reduced the hornets' role. The 1975 anime added the character of Willy, a lazy and quite un-warlike drone bee. In the cartoon series, the briskly marching, but ridiculously incompetent ant armies provide a parody of militarism.

and the author

Bonsels was an outspoken antisemite and expressed his approval of Nazi politics against Jews in 1933, calling the Jew "a deadly enemy" who was "poisoning the culture" in an article (NSDAP und Judentum) which was widely published.[2]

[Syt]

Yes, but:

The first American edition was published in 1922 by Thomas Seltzer and illustrated by Homer Boss. The latter's wife Adele Szold-Seltzer (1876-1940), the daughter of Benjamin Szold and younger sister of Henrietta Szold, was the translator.

Henrietta Szold (/zoʊld/ ZOHLD, Hungarian: [ˈsold]; December 21, 1860 – February 13, 1945) was an American-born Jewish Zionist leader and founder of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. In 1942, she co-founded Ihud, a political party in Mandatory Palestine dedicated to a binational solution.

I can tell you, nobody knows the books anymore, but everyone knows the TV show.

And as said in your quote:

After World War II, adaptations toned down the militarist element considerably, reduced the hornets' role. The 1975 anime added the character of Willy, a lazy and quite un-warlike drone bee. In the cartoon series, the briskly marching, but ridiculously incompetent ant armies provide a parody of militarism.

So unless you aim to read the original stories to your kid and extol the virtues of a tightly organized state under military control, you should be fine.

[Syt]

 

[Josquius]

Super Eye Patch Wolf did an interesting video lately on fake games. Theres this thing called Vermis which seems very cool- essentially a guidebook for a messed up game that doesn't exist.
He also makes a point in the video when talking about a fake game out there... the actual video has far fewer views than it deserves with analysis videos having many more, which he reckons defeats the point of actually experiencing media.

I do sort of agree.
Though I'm guilty of it too.
Randomly clicked the other day onto a video about a Japanese horror film in the style of a crappy low budget NHK documentary for foreigners. After a few minutes in I realised I'd actually like to watch the original. Not done so yet.

And on Maya the bee- respect the originals. I'm a RWS purist on all things Thomas :p

[Syt]

I actually watched that Vermis video yesterday while playing POE.

[Syt]

Germany is loosening its laws re: cannabis consumption. The organizers of the Munich Oktoberfest have announced that cannabis will not be permitted on premises to "preserve the family friendly character of the event."

Yes, the place known for its "vomit hill" etc. needs to remain family friendly.