26,840
edits
Pinocchio: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 19: | Line 19: | ||
[https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA128111697&v=2.1&it=r&sid=AONE&asid=2b7afc20 Growing nowhere: Pinocchio subverted in Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence]<br /> | [https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA128111697&v=2.1&it=r&sid=AONE&asid=2b7afc20 Growing nowhere: Pinocchio subverted in Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence]<br /> | ||
"What Collodi's novel celebrates is self-actualization in the context of community, a process that involves finding one's way imperfectly in a most decidedly imperfect world."<br /> | "What Collodi's novel celebrates is self-actualization in the context of community, a process that involves finding one's way imperfectly in a most decidedly imperfect world."<br /> | ||
"Collodi's puppet learns and grows until he becomes a real boy. Not so in Disney's film...Disney and his sources created a new image of Pinocchio-as-child: "In this new imagery no longer is the child's goal to grow up, mature, and transform. Rather, its goal is to be a good child, a loved and commended child, a child who enhances Family Harmony and promotes Family Solidarity. Its goal is to continue as a child!". Disney's puppet's purposeful non-growth means that he never develops individual initiative or judgment. The ideology of the film requires that the child not question received ideology. As Jack Zipes writes in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children and the Culture Industry, "Pinocchio will aim to please and will repress his desires and wishes first and foremost that his father is happy. Such a boy is easily manipulated for the good of the country, the good of the corporation, and the good of the Disney studio"."<br /> | "Collodi's puppet learns and grows until he becomes a real boy. Not so in Disney's film...Disney and his sources created a new image of Pinocchio-as-child: "In this new imagery no longer is the child's goal to grow up, mature, and transform. Rather, its goal is to be a good child, a loved and commended child, a child who enhances Family Harmony and promotes Family Solidarity. Its goal is to continue as a child!". Disney's puppet's purposeful non-growth means that he never develops individual initiative or judgment. '''The ideology of the film requires that the child not question received ideology'''. As Jack Zipes writes in Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children and the Culture Industry, "Pinocchio will aim to please and will repress his desires and wishes first and foremost that his father is happy. '''Such a boy is easily manipulated for the good of the country, the good of the corporation, and the good of the Disney studio"'''."<br /> | ||
"If Collodi's Pinocchio grew ad hoc, Disney's was the result of a premeditated vision and a well-conceived marketing plan. That any differences between his film and Collodi's book are intentional is easily proven. Richard Wunderlich observes that, "It is clear that Disney was conscientious in his endeavor to know Collodi's Pinocchio: the Studio purchased several copies of the novel in both Italian and various English translations, as well as the plays by Remo Bufano and Adams T. Rice. Furthermore, Disney contracted to have his own translation written by Bianca Majolie (a staff member)". Unlike the journeyman freelancer Collodi, who accepted the invitation to write Pinocchio as just another writer's gig, Disney was aiming for a blockbuster. As Wunderlich tells it, "Drawing on the great popularity of his existing cartoon characters, audience familiarity with his studio name, and the tactics already learned and used to merchandise his creations in myriad ways, Disney launched a market saturation campaign to attract audiences for the upcoming film". In this respect, he is a precursor of Spielberg rather than an heir to Collodi."<br /> | "If Collodi's Pinocchio grew ad hoc, Disney's was the result of a premeditated vision and a well-conceived marketing plan. That any differences between his film and Collodi's book are intentional is easily proven. Richard Wunderlich observes that, "It is clear that Disney was conscientious in his endeavor to know Collodi's Pinocchio: the Studio purchased several copies of the novel in both Italian and various English translations, as well as the plays by Remo Bufano and Adams T. Rice. Furthermore, Disney contracted to have his own translation written by Bianca Majolie (a staff member)". Unlike the journeyman freelancer Collodi, who accepted the invitation to write Pinocchio as just another writer's gig, Disney was aiming for a blockbuster. As Wunderlich tells it, "Drawing on the great popularity of his existing cartoon characters, audience familiarity with his studio name, and the tactics already learned and used to merchandise his creations in myriad ways, Disney launched a market saturation campaign to attract audiences for the upcoming film". In this respect, he is a precursor of Spielberg rather than an heir to Collodi."<br /> | ||
"David's inherent inability to mature marks the essential difference between A.I. and Collodi's novel; in fact, that this feature has been consciously built into him inverts completely Collodi's themes of sound child mentoring and mutual sacrifice. The scope, if not the character, of villainy is greater in A.I. than in The Adventures of Pinocchio, but David's range of options is nothing like Pinocchio's because he has been built to be a toy, an intelligent toy, but a toy nonetheless. There are two types of Mecha or robot in A.I.: those that do work and those that give pleasure; both are selfless servants. David is the latter, though, unfortunately for him, he has a self. As a number of commentators have pointed out, there are no decent human characters whatsoever in A.I. That harsh judgment seems reasonable given that the humans not only wreck the earth, but they also create a mechanical race that they exploit, torture and kill."<br /> | "David's inherent inability to mature marks the essential difference between A.I. and Collodi's novel; in fact, that this feature has been consciously built into him inverts completely Collodi's themes of sound child mentoring and mutual sacrifice. The scope, if not the character, of villainy is greater in A.I. than in The Adventures of Pinocchio, but David's range of options is nothing like Pinocchio's because he has been built to be a toy, an intelligent toy, but a toy nonetheless. There are two types of Mecha or robot in A.I.: those that do work and those that give pleasure; both are selfless servants. David is the latter, though, unfortunately for him, he has a self. As a number of commentators have pointed out, there are no decent human characters whatsoever in A.I. That harsh judgment seems reasonable given that the humans not only wreck the earth, but they also create a mechanical race that they exploit, torture and kill."<br /> | ||