Originally published between 2011 and 2014, this post has been updated but preserves its original publish date as content is migrated from the archives of The Flavored Word.
“Now shut up before I slap you silly!”
That’s the sentence. The one that turned my attention from laundry folding to the TV (well, I don’t really fold … it’s more like tossing of clothes into separate baskets designated with each child’s name). All the same, it was, “Now shut up before I slap you silly!” that lured me from my task and beckoned me to have a seat next to my five-year-old. He was watching a movie. A DISNEY movie. A classic. A show that I, and possibly you, watched dozens of times as a child and never so much as got a second look from an adult or a “preview.” And so, I sat. And I watched as a cartoon “child” was locked into a bird cage and taunted and threatened by an overweight gypsy. (And for those of you who think it was Hansel and Gretel, it was not. That was Grimm, not Disney.)
As the movie continued and my adult mind wandered through assorted analogies, I began to wonder, possibly to deeply, about what the hell I was really watching. I mean maybe all the symbolism I was clued into didn’t really exist. Maybe my “current-times” brain was making it all up. Maybe the 1940’s film just appeared laced with unpleasant imagery because I was watching it in 2011.
Maybe. BUT. There was Pleasure Island … a place where all boys could go and enjoy gambling, smoking, getting drunk and destroying property without any real significant repercussion; unless you call making a jackass of yourself and then turning into a real donkey only to be sold to work in circuses and salt mines, a repercussion.
DON’T DO IT … it’s hard to resist, I know, but don’t skip ahead to the part where I reveal which movie I am referring; major Kudos if you’ve already figured it out!
In all of Walt’s classic movies there is a moral lesson being delivered … (although I’m still not sure what we were supposed to have learned from the beginning scene in Bambi) … although harsh by many standards, still the lessons depicted in this hour-long feature, as well as other Disney movies, are lessons worth heeding.
“If you fart around and waste your life now, then you’ll be a jackass working in the salt mines as an adult.” A fate, unfortunately, some children unknowingly and unthinkingly choose.
AND …
“A stupid kid can grow into a wise adult. However, a stupid adult usually stays stupid.”
So, give a kid a break and help them make the right choices now, before it’s too late. All lessons and jackasses aside, I think, that after watching this beautifully restored copy of Carlo Collodi’s novel, that I agree with the folks at The Journal of Cartoon Overanalyzations (yes, it really exists) in that perhaps The Adventures of Pinocchio would be better suited for a high school career planning class than for a five-year-old. Maybe then there’d be less jackasses roaming free … at least that’s my take. What do you think?
Cover image created with Google AI.
DISCLAIMER: I’m a writer and an editor. And I try my best to make sure every post is articulate and free from errors. However, being that I edit my own work—and it’s next to impossible to properly edit your own work—I admit, occasionally there may be an error or two I miss. But doing so doesn’t make me an idiot so don’t be mean. Just smile, pat yourself on the back for finding an error and be glad you’re not the only one who makes mistakes sometimes … xoxox
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