eeyore

In the Disney's cartoon, he was originally voiced by Ralph Wright; his current voice actor is Peter Cullen. He was voiced by Gregg Berger for Kingdom Hearts II, and his Japanese voice is done by Taro Ishida.

Characteristics

Eeyore is hardly ever happy and when he is, he is still sardonic and a bit cynical. His grumpiness might be attributed to the fact that his tail is affixed to his behind using a pushpin. Nevertheless, he seems genuinely appreciative of the efforts of his friends to cheer him up, for example, when Pooh and Piglet build The House at Pooh Corner for him, or when they give him birthday presents of a honey jar (empty) and a balloon (accidentally burst).

Some of Eeyore's friends include Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, Roo, Kanga, Owl, Gopher, Christopher Robin, and many other friends that the gang makes on their journeys.

Eeyore is always overlooked and is often used as a beast of burden, most notably when he was ridden by Rabbit in his search for train "borrowers" in The Tigger Without A Name and The Pooh With A Name. Nearly all of Eeyore's houses have fallen down, been knocked down, or been bounced down. Eeyore is not good at rebuilding the houses; butterflies often knock them down just by landing on them. Yet, like tortured Sisyphus, he soldiers on and rebuilds again, time after time.

Despite his depressive nature, Eeyore is capable of great compassion, which is shown when he grows a plant that Rabbit (a master gardener) was unable to grow, just by showing the plant a little love.

In merchandise by The Walt Disney Company, Eeyore sometimes has an uncharacteristic smile. Also, he is somewhat less caustic and sarcastic in the Disney version than in A. A. Milne's original stories. It must also be noted that Eeyore's tail was not always fixed to him by a pushpin, although Disney has chosen this as part of his permanent image. Eeyore lost his tail in one of Milne's stories. Owl found it and used it as a bell pull for his door, before Winnie the Pooh found it for Eeyore. Christopher Robin then pinned it back on.

The difference between Milne's and Disney's portrayals of Eeyore may be due to a difference between British and American culture. The original Eeyore is very British, embodying as he does a mixture of pessimism, stoicism, sarcasm and cynicism, all qualities common to the streotypical British character. Moreover he expresses these attitudes in dry, deadpan humour, again typically British. In her book Watching the English, author Kate Fox lists 'Eeyorishness' as a fundamental English characteristic.

Tigger, on the other hand is over-enthusiastic, hyperactive and has an overdeveloped 'can do' attitude (he often assumes he can do things that he cannot). On the whole, he seems to appeal more to the American outlook on life.

Eeyore's "birthday" was December 25, 1921, when Christopher Robin received him as a Christmas present.

Kingdom Hearts

Eeyore also appears as a minor character in the Kingdom Hearts video game series. Like his classic rendition, this Eeyore is always rather moody and keeps having his house knocked down, in addition to losing his tail. He is one of the characters needed to be found in the final Winnie the Pooh minigame "Hide and Seek".

Influence on popular culture

In more cynical workplaces such as newspaper newsrooms, a co-worker who is constantly a source of depressing and incongruous commentary is sometimes secretly referred to as "Eeyore." (See Debbie Downer.) Eeyore is also the subject of a long-standing celebration in Austin, Texas called Eeyore's Birthday Party.

In the episode of Pinky and the Brain, Brainy the Poo, Al Gore is parodied in the episode with the animators drawing him imposed on Eeyore's body; thereby making the satirical parallel that Al Gore is just as monotonous, pessimistic and depressing as Eeyore. He is also shown to be full of hot air.

In music, Slipknot recorded a song called "Eeyore".