...critics for years have commented on the ursine clan's adherence to gender stereotypes, including Mama Bear's ever—so—brief fling at working outside the home, only to retreat to the cubs.
Papa Bear's bumbling incompetence, compared with Mama Bear's warm, wise effectiveness, has spawned particular ire.
"He is often wrong but never in doubt," as the Berenstains' Web site says.
Charles Krauthammer, in a 1989 column in The Washington Post, referred to "the postfeminist Papa Bear" as "the Alan Alda of Grizzlies, a wimp so passive and fumbling he makes Dagwood Bumstead look like Batman."
In 1998, Mary Jo Kochakian, a columnist for The Hartford Courant, wrote, "You have to wonder, doesn't Stan Berenstain have any self—respect?"Mrs. Berenstain explained in an interview yesterday that her husband was comfortable with the depiction of Papa, which was at least half his idea.
"Nobody likes making a mother the fall guy," she explained. "Papa Bear has broad shoulders."
Do even obituaries have to have an agenda over there? Apparently, the answer is yes. "Rest in peace" is no longer operative.
