For thousands of years, people have wondered, “What does it mean to do good?” However, moral philosophers should ask themselves a different sort of question – “Whom does goodness serve?” The Adventures of Pinocchio is written by Carlo Collodi and has been in existence for nearly 140 years. All through its life it has reflected the contemporary ethics of different societies and cultures. From socialist collectives to fascists, the story of Pinocchio has been misappropriated to serve various ends.
This led to many versions of the Pinocchio narrative even three this year alone. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio is hands down the best rendering of the story over an eighty-year period since Walt Disney did his second feature film in 1940. This adaptation has earned itself a near perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes for a reason; it beautifully photographed, deeply moving and subtly subversive reimagining retake on timeless fairy tale which has been stripped from various people who have turned Collodi into a puppet speaking their ideologies.
Del Toro’s version assisted by brilliant stop motion animator Mark Gustafson (Fantastic Mr. Fox, The PJs) may be considered as closest thing to what it was like when this story first appeared in the 1890s that I can think of now. With super cool animation style, celebrity voice cast members, blistering commitment to political ethics and deep affecting emotionalism Netflix’s Pinocchio might be one of the greatest or even only animated films worth seeing this year.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinnochio is an epic woven together from pieces taken from and given new twists in the original story. It features an amazing cast including David Bradley, Ewan McGregor Christoph Waltz Tilda Swinton Cate Blanchett Ron Perlman Finn Wolfhard John Turturro Tim Blake Nelson and an absolutely perfect young Gregory Mann as Pinnochio and Geppetto’s deceased child. It has stunning visuals only surpassed this year by Wendell and Wild. Amazing music from the talented Alexandre Desplat. Apart from that, it has a good grasp of history and inventive enough to change it even if things get a little gloomy along the way.
Yes, this is definitely an edgier version of Pinocchio than most people are used to, but don’t think of it as something bad or some sort of warning for parents. The movie honestly tackles issues like death, sorrow, warfare, and exploitation; however, only those who are curious and inquisitive enough will get the idea since they will be able to grow that way. Indeed, children need more real-life movies before they can actually learn about life because growing up on too much positivity causes them a prolonged lack of the ability to understand what it really is; all societies other than those marching under Disney’s umbrellas knew this fact until about 80 years ago (when Disney’s Pinnochio opened).
The original version of Pinocchio was serialized in an Italian periodical over one year with each installment featuring one episode in the story. Collodi was not writing some polished children’s book like regular ones do when he started off as somebody who studied hard to enter priesthood then moved to philosophy rhetoric independence politics during Italy unification process defiantly not just a children writer anyway. He had complex political beliefs but also a gambling addict so he had written textbooks for lower grades and kids stories due to deep debts into gambling
Collodi wrote The Adventures of Pinocchio for a monthly magazine called Giornale per i Bambini. However, his Pinocchio was different because the cricket is literally killed, and Geppetto is jailed for neglecting the child’s life. Consequently, Collodi described him as “silly talk of children” and decided to conclude Pinocchio’s exploits by having him hanged to death. This made parents and kids angry at him since they wanted more about the character; thus, he had no choice but to bring him back even though it meant that he would be jailbird after being charged with “foolishness crimes.”
The significance behind this historical fact is that Pinocchio is not your average innocent tale for kids; hence anyone claiming that Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of it is too dark really does not know what they are talking about. For Collodi and Del Toro alike, however, Pinocchio served as an allegory for Italy, childhood and maybe innocence itself. It isn’t a sweet story; it is the human condition – according to mine own understanding.This wood from which Pinocchio was created symbolizes humankind as once written by Benedetto Croce.
Historically speaking though, Del Toro sort of sticks to the original text (and even Disney), but there’s no sugar coating or any other protective layer visible on the surface of his movie. He maintains many of those stories’ original set-pieces but fleshes them out in order to produce something more coherent and politically engaged. While military planes have destroyed a church killing Geppetto’s son, he loses his son later in a drunken fit when he chops down the pine tree next to his son’s grave then whittles away on another boy made by himself.Gestured into unconsciousness by falling down stairs, Geppetto wakes up seeing that his creation has come alive: brought back from oblivion with the help of a literary cricket and an ethereal monster/angel.
Another important element in the Pinocchio mythos is creating a certain behavior for children. Whether it was satirical or bitter to some extent, Collodi’s original work has been taken by other authors to be a sort of tool that leads young people to accept three basic things – labor, study and obedience. This is what most editions agree upon as “goodness”; therefore, every time Pinocchio disobeys his dad, doesn’t go to school, or tries to think independently then there will always be pain.
That’s why during WWII Pinocchio was reprinted several times as propaganda for Italian and German youth, as well as adapted into a Disney movie. They had made him out as a Nazi sympathizer on one place on earth while Disney used him for teaching American kids how they should behave.
This is something very crucial and beautiful that Del Toro does with his Pinocchio; he retrieves this fable from fascists’ hands and moralizing 1940s Disney executives. Instead of letting go of its ideological grip on Pinocchio, however, his film goes straight into real history. It occurred at the time when World War II was ongoing; thus different authorities employed Pinocchio in achieving their own ends. According to them, becoming like a ‘real boy’ (i.e., being human) involved conforming to their commands and complying with their wishes as depicted here:
He is seen as the perfect type of super-soldier for Mussolini by an army general; one exploitative businessman thinks he’s perfect for entertainment and commerce, and wants him to perform for Mussolini; his own father wants him to read his books, study, and go to school like all the other boys and become something he is not. Everyone is pulling the strings, because everyone just wants him to be another puppet, despite the fact that, like all of us, he was gifted with a unique life of his own. The Pinocchio story has always been about ethics, and how being ‘good’ can make you a ‘real boy’ (or a mature person). Del Toro however asks “Who’s version of good are we talking about?”
“Do what I tell you to do,” says the General “then learn obedience, then you would become an ideal soldier.” The General states that: “I pull your strings; you’re my puppet. I’m in control; you’re my slave.” If it happened that Pinocchio acted on his volition someone would say “This is what happens with ill disciplined mind […] Of course dissident puppet somewhat. Or independent mindedness as I might put it.” Everybody wants Pinocchio to follow their definition of ‘good’, whatever they think is ‘right’, whether it’s military-mindedness or financialism or schooling or politics or nationalism.
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