PINOCCHIO
Next though, is Pinocchio which was released in 1940. Pinocchio was adapted from the novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by the Italian Author Carlo Collodi. It was written in the 1880s and was an extremely popular children’s story. It was originally published as a serial in a weekly Italian magazine but eventually, all the serials were compiled into a novel.
The Adventures of Pinocchio is one of the most translated books of all time and it is one of the biggest-selling novels in all of Italy, it’s considered by some to be one of the great works of Italian literature, which is saying something.
Disney’s adaptation of Pinocchio is, similar, to Snow White, fairly accurate, but with smoothed edges. Collodi’s story of Pinocchio has a greater bite to it, a lot more mean-spirited characters, scenes of violence and of torture are also in there and Pinocchio is depicted, not as a naive boy, but as a bit of a dunce.
Once again, the adaption is accurate just a lot safer than the original text. I was going to say that the Disney version is more child-friendly, but I don’t really know what I mean when I use that kind of phrase. The Adventures of Pinocchio is beloved by children, and it always was, from the days when it was a serial in a magazine it has always been a huge hit with children, and by all accounts, it has always taught good, wholesome lessons to children.
I think nowadays, we underestimate children to their own detriment. They can handle a lot more than given credit for and that’s something that should be embraced.
It’s okay for children to get scared, be confused, feel anxiety and anything else, when watching a movie, reading a book or playing a game, in fact in a lot of cases I feel this sort of thing should be encouraged.
Some of the greatest works of children’s media are also some of the darkest.
Many horror fanatics will argue, that watching horror movies are actually good for your mental health, people that watch a lot of horror movies are able to deal with stressful situations and feelings of anxiety with a greater degree of success. The idea here is that simulating emotions like stress, anxiety and fear in a safe and controlled environment will prepare you for when you come up against these emotions in real life.
The reason I bring this up is because I think that it’s similar to children’s entertainment, I’m not saying you should take your six-year-old to see The Wicker Man, but maybe it should be encouraged for films made with children in mind to have a just a bit of darkness, cause it might help them in the long run.This is one of the issues of Disney’s Pinocchio.
I loved Guillermo DelToro’s most recent adaptation of Pinocchio because it felt closer to the source material. It’s simply just more interesting to set the story in the backdrop of Italy during WW2, with all of the cultural baggage that comes with that.
I know these movies are all considered classics now, but a part of me wonders if they’d be any better written and made by the people whose country the stories themselves are from, and I don’t say that for any political reasons or anything like that. I just think that’s more interesting and more engaging. Also, you just learn more that way too, by watching a movie set in a distinct place with characters that have different mannerisms and accents than we’re used to, I think maybe, it’d be a fuller experience.
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