- A bear wakes out of hibernation in the middle of a human society that blindly refuses to recognize him as an animal.
- The Bear That Wasn't is a ten minute animated short about a bear that settles down for his long winter nap. While he is asleep the progress of man continues. He wakes up to find himself in the middle of an industrial complex. He then gets confused by the foreman as a worker and is told to work. To this he responds, "but I'm not a man, I'm a Bear." He is taken to each of his successive bosses, who try to convince him that he is just a very hairy man that needs a shave...—<kendel@livenet.net>
- The film opens at the edge of a great forest. A bear examines signs of autumn weather, and realizes that winter will soon arrive. He head into a cave and starts hibernating for the winter. As he sleeps, the forest is destroyed and a new factory is built in its place.
When spring arrives, the bear wakes up and exits the cave. He finds himself inside the factory building, just in time for the workers' coffee break. As the blue-collar workers enjoy their coffee and smoke their cigarettes, the bears finds himself with a coffee cup in his hand and a cigarette in his mouth.
When the coffee break ends, the bear is mistaken for a lazy worker and confronted by the factory's foreman. The bear politely explains that he does not work in the factory, but is simply a bear. The foreman laughs at his excuse to escape work, and tells the bear that he is a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat.
The foreman reports him to the general manager, who is likewise convinced that the bear as a man. He repeats the foreman's assertions. The bear continues to protest that he is not a man, but has encounters with the factory's entire hierarchy of bosses. He is assured that he is a man by the third vice president, the second vice president, and the first vice president.
The bear finally meets the factory's president, an elderly man in poor health. The president tells him that bears only live in zoos and circuses. The presidents transports the bear to a zoo, for an interview with the caged bears. Since this bear is free and not caged, the bears conclude that he is not a real bear. A bear cub tells him that he is a man.
The bear gives up, and seems convinced that he is a man. He starts working as a factory worker, while the hierarchy of bosses congratulate each other on resolving the problem. He works in the factory for a long time, but one night he is the only worker left behind when the factory shuts down for the night. He sees again signs of autumn weather and approaching winter.
The bear returns to the cave and thinks about hibernating. But at this point he reminds himself that he is not a bear. Shortly after, he finds himself covered in snow and wishes to be a bear. He realizes his true nature, and discards his cigarette, his coffee cup, and his worker's hat. He enters the cave and starts hibernating again. He had finally realized that whatever his bosses and the other bears told him, he was not a man. The narrator explains that the bear was neither a silly man, nor a silly bear. The film ends.
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