Profile for therpham - A statement.

therpham aka Michael Boland is 24.03 years old, has been a member since June 28, 2006, has scored 4 submissions, giving an average score of 5.00, helping 1 designs get printed.

Jun 01 '07 by therpham
18 Comments
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A statement.

about Emo Bear

I wonder how many people have bought this shirt without considering the meaning behind it. I certainly see at least one, even if the artist didn't intend.

To me, it seems like the bear is totally out of place underneath all the emo imagery. This is a statement against using old characters in places where they don't belong at all - such as a Care Bear on an emo.

The other message I get from it is that underneath the "I'm so cold and broken" show that emos put on, they're really just children, represented by the cute little cartoon bear.

I bought it because of the many different possible interpretations. The great thing about an interpretation is that it can't really ever be right or wrong - it is merely subject to agreement and disagreement.

sirensrising on Jun 01 '07 at 10:50am

Yeah, that's what everyone says to hide the fact that they're wrong ;)

therpham on Jun 01 '07 at 10:53am

Mostly disagreements.

sirensrising on Jun 01 '07 at 10:54am

Well, no, not always. I mean you could say an apple was a piece of bread; it's obviously not, but it's your "interpretation". You're still wrong :P

FRICKINAWESOME on Jun 01 '07 at 11:03am

I'm not a fan at all of this design, and of course you are more than entitled to your opinion, but i think this shirt is going for the play off care bears and th emotional palettes of the original beings. That's it. Oh, and the fact that in Spiderman 3, Sam Raimi made Toby McG wear this hairstyle to demonstrate that he was "tortured" and "now officially badass." Oh my, was that the biggest mistake of a dissapointing film...

mulberry on Jun 01 '07 at 6:55pm

An extremely creepy shirt... depression made cute? The emo music + cuddly animals thing seems to be angling for some super-specialized angst/ immaturity niche audience that sort of icks me out.

Your good interpretations almost make me like this shirt. But not really.

roboroller on Jun 01 '07 at 6:58pm

yeah, this design is retarded...i'm sorry, im usually really nice and accepting of all the designs on threadless even if i don't like them...but this thing is fucking retarded, i feel like i could walk into hot topic and this shirt would be there...that's not good.

angharadeee on Jun 02 '07 at 10:28am

I doubt most people are clever enough to care or realise. Or do anything really. That's the impression I get of society today, and I am only 13. It's horrific.

dandywarhols on Jun 03 '07 at 3:22pm

That is a cute interpretation, and gives this design a depth it possibly doesn't deserve.

My personal interpretation is that Care Bears are just so damn happy, and emos are, well, not , so it's ironic for a Care Bear to be emo. Gloomy Bear or whatever that Care Bear with the rain cloud is the exception, of course.

I think I may buy this t-shirt, if only because I am 14, and it will get a strong reaction from my peers. That, and I already have the 'Shakespeare hates your emo poems' t-shirt, and irony amuses me. (:

sirensrising on Jun 04 '07 at 8:58am

Angharadeee, that's probably the impression you get BECAUSE you're 13.

travis76 on Jun 04 '07 at 9:02am

"That is a cute interpretation, and gives this design a depth it possibly doesn't deserve."

agree. i think it's emo...because it's emo..and the care bear..well, 80's imagery is 'kewl' right now to all those that were born in the late 80's early 90's that never experienced it but want to play along with the rest of us. just like how those of us born in but not experienced in the 70's went through a fake 70's resurgance in the 90's. 20 year cycles, kids, that's what it's all about.

and i think the idea of a carebear with a broken heart was actually thought to be wholly original and ironic to the artist at one point.

hardyheart on Jun 04 '07 at 1:31pm

didnt you pple design your own line of carebears when you were little? i did. i remember getting in trouble in class for passing around my drawings of ..bloated bear, beat up bear, rainbowhead bear, some other disgusting bears I wont mention...when i was 12 it was funny. Emo bear is funny. lighten up :D

thehuman on Jun 04 '07 at 11:23pm

lol, It's...a mockery of the 'emo kid' fad...I don't understand why people think this is a shirt aimed at an audience that would find it agreeable in any sense other than ironically.

20 days later

phyntosia on Jun 25 '07 at 8:16pm

I agree... it's cute, it's a mockery, it's funny!

And I do like therpham's interpretation, though I doubt it's an interpretation the artist originally meant it to have. But I like shirts that you can see deeper meanings in, and interpret them in other ways... a lot of shirts are pretty 2-D as far as meaning goes; this one has potential for more.

2 days later

ninjapiratesrock on Jun 27 '07 at 10:27pm

This shirt is probably the worst shirt threadless has ever printed. :[

15 days later

IDKmyBFFjill on Jul 13 '07 at 6:42pm

*sigh*...

it's something sinister or evil going with something nice and stuff...just imagine a shirt with Cookie Monster sniffing coke! its just...weird

5 days later

radhotrobot on Jul 19 '07 at 5:42pm

FRICKINAWESOME said: "but i think this shirt is going for the play off care bears and the emotional palettes of the original beings."

And he's totally right.

Vindemiatrix on Jul 19 '07 at 5:46pm

Woo!

That's one the things about Threadless; unlike in art class where you can argue forever about various far-fetched interpretations, you actually can get the artist coming in and setting the story straight.

3 days later

nickthequick on Jul 22 '07 at 10:06pm

so check it out:

a few of my friends, who are not emos in any way shape or form, have the idea that im slightly childish for buying this shirt. and that it also fits the fact that i was the emo kid in high school cuz i wore a black tshirt on some days and have untiddy slightly long hair that covers an eye every now and again (i went to a private school)

so did anyone else get any grief over this thing or am i the odd man out for getting it/caring about it

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