Bear (gay Culture) - References in Popular Culture

References in Popular Culture

Though not generally widely known outside of the gay community, the awareness of the bear culture has grown after numerous references in mainstream pop culture. As an example, the December 2007 issue of Instinct magazine featured an article by Kevin Smith, "The Last Word" page. Smith wrote about his gay brother Don, about him being on the cover of A Bear's Life magazine and the related cover story, and his feelings about being a "bear icon" in the gay community. References to bears are occasionally made on television and in printed media. In Glee, while at a gay bar, Dave Karofsky tells Kurt Hummel that he feels accepted and liked there and that he's "what they call a bear cub". In season 1, episode 11 of Snooki & JWoww, when the girls decide to go out with the three gay Joeys, Jenni says in describing the three "We have a twink, an otter, and a bear."

Max (Adam Pally) on Happy Endings is also depicted as a bear — literally, in one episode, as the winter blahs turn him into a grunting, hibernating animal who gets stuck in a garbage can while foraging for food.

Films depicting the bear community include BearCity, BearCity 2: The Proposal and Cachorro, and the comedy web series Where the Bears Are.