Clash of the Cultural Titans

According to Immanuel Kant, “in everything that is to excite a lively convulsive laugh, there must be something absurd.”

This video, which I stumbled across during a desperate Monday, just might be the definitive example of his theory. It certainly excited a lively laugh in me. And convulsions. (And it’s most definitely absurd. Hugely, wonderfully absurd.)

There’s something so incongruous about that voice (and the particular personality and memories I associate with that character) saying those so-familiar words — Can we get a mash-up with the actual scene, please? STAT? — that when it comes to clashing cultural icons, this one pretty much takes the cake. (Perhaps even more clashing, thoug,h is Cummings‘ facial hair. That…does not correspond to my mental image of Pooh.) Interestingly, I think my favorite moments are actually those when he veers from the script: “She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod. Oh, bother!”

Bonus camera angles are available, and a huge HT to The Disney Blog for making this week’s craziness undeniably better. Also, James Hance scoffs at the suggestion that combining Winnie-the-Pooh and Star Wars is a new thing. He’s been making “Wookie the Chew” pieces for years.