Children's Media #2: Pinocchio (1940)


Please watch the clip from Rocketman (1997)

                          Everyone Can Learn from Pinocchio

            When do young children have a sense of what their conscience tells them? When do even adults have a sense or know how to interact with their conscience? The animated film, Pinocchio (1940), is unique by expressing how a child can interact and learn from one's conscience, whom is even a character in the linear narrative. Pinocchio teaches that people need to learn how to interact with their conscience and how it guides by the obstacles that Pinocchio faces and analyzing the character's wants versus needs. 
In the beginning of the film, Jiminy Cricket narrates the story. He later becomes Pinocchio’s conscience. Having chosen him to begin the film with the exposition gives importance to his character role. The viewer hears the story being told by the conscience’s perspective. It makes us think how would our conscience tell our stories. By the cricket’s tone and physical actions, we can assume that the story has a happy ending. If the creator of the story had chosen a different character to narrate the story, the theme wouldn’t have had the same impact. Having the conscience tell the story is credible because the viewer has seen his relationship with the boy from the beginning of the film. 
            Pinocchio has to make important decisions throughout the film. Once he becomes a real boy and alive, that is when he is assigned a conscience. This is a parallel to our lives when we become “real boys and girls”. In each crisis that Pinocchio has in the story, he has the option to listen or to stray away from Jiminy. The very first crisis after becoming a real boy is when he travels to school. Pinocchio plans on going to school like his father told him. The good intentions are there along with his conscience however temptation comes and stops him in his path. Jiminy teaches Pinocchio that is what temptation is and how he needs to obtain the character goal of attending school. Pinocchio doesn’t listen to Jiminy, wants to become the actor, and follow an antagonist of the story. Also, another example of the theme is when Pinocchio is captured and put in the cage after the show. He cries for his conscience to return. Jiminy returns and tries to save him from the awful trap but there is no possible way. In life, we choose our decisions in which come the consequences. Sometimes we wish that our conscience could save us from traps but they can’t. They can guide us of how can we get through it but we have to decide if we follow the guidance or not. Luckily, the magic fairy appears and gives the boy another shot on his task to prove bravery.
            The wants and the needs of the characters interestingly help the theme come alive. Jiminy wants to help Pinocchio and he knows he needs to but he learns that he can’t force Pinocchio to obey. Pinocchio’s needs are to show bravery, however this need becomes crucial against his wants. If Pinocchio did obey his conscience, go to school, and was obedient during the whole story, the question is would he have had the opportunity to exemplify bravery. I believe the magic fairy would have been happy with his obedience and maybe she still would have made him a real boy. But, the creator of the story wants there to be a glorious victory, a redemption. By having an imperfect Pinocchio go against Jiminy, sets up the redemption for him to listen, learn, and to save his family. I believe this is a stronger way to teach the theme by having his wants become his needs towards the climax of the story.

            Will we be tempted by the same temptation repeatedly like Pinocchio? Will we learn to listen to our conscience? It's interesting to note if this were compared to Son of Rambow (2007). If those two boys had a small cricket jumping up saying don't skip school to make a Rambo movie I don't think that would had made a big difference. I could see those two boys strapping Jiminy to the flying dog. The principle of listening is still there but not in a physical manifestation of a cricket. Jiminy's character works well in the narrative where he has been placed. Disney’s Pinocchio is remarkable by having one of the themes be to listen to one's conscience and pay attention to that interaction.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What to Wear?

Image
Medium Specificity T-Shirts are at the bottom of the page      The choice to be able to use any medium we desire is a thrill. I was sitting back in my school chair pondering all of the mediums that were coming to mind, film, painting, photography, maybe even interpretive dance. Then, the idea came to me like a fireball hitting Mt. Doom. I would make my own t-shirt. The medium that contains cotton and ink. Now as I was struck with that idea I overheard Dhane Taylor, a student from my TMA 112 class, speaking with a friend telling her that he was going to make a shirt. I thought he must have been hit with same fireball. Well if we were both targeted and hit, then we should collaborate and make TWO t-shirts. We collaborated and we decided to make one t-shirt, my t-shirt, say, "Since when did this (a picture of a man with a mustache) become more attractive than...". His t-shirt says, "This (with a picture of a man who has a beard). Here at BYU, there are many men who hav...
Read more

Welcome to Dinosty!

Image
Artist Statement:   Bleecker’s statement that “one can do science fiction not only as a writer of stories but also as a maker of things” is exactly what we did for this project. We didn't create a science fiction narrative in which there is an exposition, climax, and resolution. Instead, we created a kind of narrative by making artifacts from a world that doesn't exist. These artifacts reflect a society that exists in a world in which dinosaurs never went extinct. They are, in fact “totems through which a larger story can be told, or imagined, or expressed.” This is essentially the process that James Gurney went through to write his  Dinotopia  series. These books tell the story of people who live with sentient dinosaurs. This idea came to him while working with  National Geographic  archaeologists to envision ancient cities. Gurney used, among other techniques, both photographs of costumed people and maquettes (or scale models) to create elements of his...
Read more

Twinery: Hyperfocus

My link to my awareness video game named Hyperfocus : (copy and paste it in your URL) http://www.philome.la/cam_babcock/hyperfocus Artist Statement:    Is there a difference between ADD and ADHD? Yes, they have similar symptoms but a different diagnosis. What are the symptoms like and they do they affect the person? I have met friends who have ADD. They are great examples to me because they work hard in their endeavors while having a great attitude towards the future. In researching more about Attention Deficit Order, there is much better treatment now than there was in the past.     Dictionary.com defines Attention Deficit Order as  any of a range of behavioral disorders occurring primarily in children, including such symptoms as poor concentration, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. This disorder involves the physiology of the brain and his or hers environment. Now, in an article "Mental Disorder" by Andrew C.P. Sims, M.D. shares that now pat...
Read more