In 1883, Italy, Carlo Collidi released the children's novel 'The Adventures of Pinocchio'. The basis of the novel follows a wooden marionette named Pinocchio crafted by a woodcutter named Geppetto from a piece of talking wood given to him. While it is dubbed as a children's novel, I argue that it is worthy of the title 'Fairy Tale'. The most obvious example for this is the fact that it features a fairy dubbed as 'The Fairy with the Turquoise Hair' and the idea of a sentient, talking piece of wood existing is purely fantasy. Fairy tales also tend to have morals behind them. Compared to another children's book like J.R.R Tolkein's 'The Hobbit', Pinocchio is trying to convey a warning to children while 'The Hobbit' is simply a grand adventure being conveyed to the reader. The moral is about discovering who you are as signified by the ending which sees the fairy turn Pinocchio into a real boy when he understands himself and life. However, this ending was only added to lighten the incredibly dark tone of the original novel. One of the many famous ideas the story presents is the idea that Pinocchio's nose grows whenever he lies and this only adds to the moralistic sense that the story has. It is warning children that they will get caught if they lie. The argument could be made that, especially based on the title, the story is simply an adventure however the morals I have brought up along with the whimsical and
Walt Disney's 'Pinocchio'
The most obvious example of Pinocchio being reinterpreted is the 1940 animated film adaptation by Walt Disney. What is fascinating about the film is the contrast in tone compared to the original story. Disney's 'Pinocchio' is a much lighter story as the character of Pinocchio is much more naive and likable. In the original, he is made out to be quite an arrogant, destructive and irresponsible puppet. One big example of this change being made is the use of Jiminy Cricket. In the film, he acts as Pinocchio's conscience and guide throughout the film and yet in the story (where he is unnamed), he is killed quite early on by Pinocchio after scolding the puppet for his ignorance.
"Because you are a Marionette and, what is much worse, you have a wooden head."
At these last words, Pinocchio jumped up in a fury, took a hammer from the bench, and threw it with all his strength at the Talking Cricket.
Perhaps he did not think he would strike it. But, sad to relate, my dear children, he did hit the Cricket, straight on its head.
With a last weak "cri-cri-cri" the poor Cricket fell from the wall, dead!
(Death of the talking cricket, Chapter 4 of 'The Adventures of Pinocchio')
The Fairy with the Turquoise Hair's name is simplified as The Blue Fairy and has much more of a god-like appearance. She is the one responsible for bringing Pinocchio to life and tasks him with earning the wish of being a real boy rather than rewarding him for his life discovery.
The story is simplified much more. The film does cover many scenes featured in the book, such as the puppet theatre and the climax at the ocean, however due to the length of the film in contrast to how much the book can cover, many of it is glossed over and the book provides a deeper look at certain places and situations. One of the most iconic scenes of the film, the boys being taken to Pleasure Island and being turned into donkeys, is one of the many dark scenes taken straight out of the original novel. Two elements that are greatly altered however are the climax and the use of the characters Honest John and his henchman Gideon, who are the Fox and Cat, mentioned in the story. As expected of Disney, the two are anthropomorphised to make more child friendly as well as more identifiable as actual characters. The only animals that aren't altered are the donkeys in which the boys are turned into. The climax features some possibly symbolism that could be applied to both the book and the film, although it is more obvious in the film. In the original story, Pinocchio (as a donkey) is thrown into the ocean in an attempt to be drowned. Upon turning back into a puppet, he is eaten by a giant fish. In the Disney film, since we have to see the fish, it is specified as a whale dubbed 'Monstro'. The visuals of Gepetto living inside the whale on a wrecked ship brings about the idea of Jonah from the Bible and begs the question as to what the idea behind this symbolism could imply. I feel the message being conveyed is that there is a parallel between the two. In the Bible, God speaks to the giant fish that ate Jonah and requests Jonah be given a second chance to fulfil the word of God. In 'Pinocchio', the puppet is killed in the escape whereon he is brought back to life by the Blue Fairy, who we've established is a god-like figure, and therefore given a second chance at life following the example laid upon by the fairy.
Other Reinterpretations
While many will point to 'The Wolf Among Us' for fairy tale modernisation, I looked to the comic in which it was based on 'Fable' for no other reason than Pinocchio not being featured in the video game adaption and stuck with the source material. We are introduced to Pinocchio in the first volume of 'Fables' where his, like everyone else, is a twist on the classic fairy tale character living in the mundane real world. Pinocchio is a human boy, just like he always wished he would be, however he is still a boy. After many, many years, he has not aged as the fairy apparently took his wish to literally. As a result of being restricted to a young body, he has grown bitter and brash which is contrasting to the happy-go-lucky version Disney established.
Purely for comedy's sake, Pinocchio is one of many fairy tale characters introduced in the film franchise 'Shrek'. Only briefly seen in the first film trying to defend himself from being sold by Geppetto, he is promoted to a more prominent character in the second film where he joins the ensemble fairy tale cast with saving Shrek from incarceration using his strings to parody a scene from 'Mission Impossible'. While nothing is too out of the ordinary in terms of adaption, it's worth noting a scene from 'Shrek The Third' which seems him challenged by a question which he wishes to lie to. In order to get around this, he constantly dodges answering and leaves with a convoluted and goes around in circles until the villain, Prince Charming, gives up on asking. It's an interesting way of countering the classic Pinocchio idea that proves that 'Shrek' is all about parodying classic fairy tales.
Arguably the most prominent example of a modern interpretation of 'Pinocchio' is Steven Spielburg's 2001 film 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence'. Part way through the film, the robotic child David (played by Haley Joel Osmont) discovers the story of 'Pinocchio' and it quickly becomes his favourite story no doubt because it follows the idea of a non-human boy eventually finding his self worth and becoming human. David's discouragement from his human brother and his abandonment only drives him to find the 'Blue Fairy' from the story and get his wish. As the plot progresses, David does find the fairy however his wish isn't granted by it as it is instead done by aliens which is a sign of the modernisation of the tale. Another interesting alteration is that David doesn't necessarily want to be a real boy but simply wants to be treated as such as his wish is to be with his mother again.
'A.I' brings about the concept that robots can be compared to the classic tale as many forms of media featuring robots will eventually have them grow so advanced that they wish to be on our level. Chris Columbus' film 'Bicentennial Man' features a story of an android built to follow orders (played by Robin Williams) who spends so much time around humans that he wishes to be on himself and ultimately does so. Two upcoming films also feature the idea of robots paralleling humans. Neill Blomkamp's 'Chappie' is about a robot who is treated like a human from his 'birth' and grows like a human does as he is a robot that can think and feel. Following 'Chappie' we are also made aware of the next film in the 'Marvel Cinematic Universe'
The most recent example of 'Pinocchio' being used in modern media is the trailer for the upcoming film 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. The trailer's music is a slowed down, haunting cover of 'I've Got No Strings' from Disney's adaption which is in reference to the film's antagonist Ultron who is seen as a dark parallel to Pinocchio's character. Ultron, also being an A.I., appears to be trying to become more human like as the film progresses judging by the trailer as he compares himself to being free of his control. Tony Stark builds Ultron to help fight for the Avengers however his mind is so advanced that he breaks free from his bonds, or his 'strings', We see him as a broken wreck of one of Tony Stark's Iron Man suits but, by the end of the trailer, has reached the uncanny valley by being a humanoid robot and states "Now I'm free, there are no strings on me", the abstract strings being symbolic of his enslavement.
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