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The original “Bambi”

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Re: The original “Bambi”

#101
post #6

Yes, Bambi is an utterly depressing story. Most original material Disney adapted was bleakier and more grisly than the adaptation. Most of the tales collected by brothers Grimm would today be horror stories. (Did you know that Cinderella's evil stepsisters had their toes and heels cut off so they could fit in the slippers? Or that the ravens pecked their eyes as punishment? Or that Maleficent ends up in a boiling cau…

> "Requiem for a Dream" Well, if we're thinking about the moral messages of some of these old tales, I've always thought Requiem could be a good movie to show tweens+ as a cautionary against drug abuse. If Disney threw in an evil witch selling smack, a few catchy songs, a handful of dead parents, and a handsome prince to kiss Harry's arm back to life then I bet they'd have... well, maybe not a hit. But it would be so…

Tween-me would have been wondering what the adult showing me the film was thinking right around the time a grinning man suggested for the crowd "Ass to ass."

Re: The original “Bambi”

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a fat, stuttering early elementary kid, so I read a lot to avoid the cruel other kids. To the degree my 4th grade teacher would no longer allow me to do book reports for a grade using children's or teen books any longer. She pointed me at the literature classics and said only those were grade worthy at my reading skill. The right there was on of the most instrumental decisions of my life. By 5th grade I'd read…

Can you share some hopeful passages, or some recommendations on what to read? I could use a bit of positivity in my life this month.

Without your personal context, recommendations are difficult. If you like science fiction, check out "Stories of your Life" by Ted Chang; if you like historical strategies for success, check out "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene; if you like grand philosophical views of an entire life well lived and how to have one "The Glass Bead Game" by Hesse; if you're interested in extremely practical advice in how to be successful today read (believe it or not) Harvard Business Review - it is far more down to earth than should be possible. If you like cynical SciFi, read Philip K Dick's Valis trilogy - it's a failed 2nd coming of god, wreaked by modern brand marketing.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#103

For some reason I got my hands on George Orwell's "Animal Farm" at a very young age, as it looked like a kid's book. That's a fairly bleak book, for example when the pigs sell the draft horse to the glue factory, but only the goat (whose only friend is the horse) knows what's going on. Watership Down is another good one, the character of the Black Rabbit of Inle (the Grim Reaper of rabbitkind) was memorable. However…

I remember watching the Watership Down film as a young child and being rather disturbed. I think it set me up well for watching Nightmare on Elm Street when I was about 9 though.

However, I've turned into a fairly well rounded individual (I don't try to murder rabbits or children in their dreams at least). The only downside is that I don't find horror films or rabbits particularly interesting.

Something recently made me think of Moses the raven though.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#104

For some reason I got my hands on George Orwell's "Animal Farm" at a very young age, as it looked like a kid's book. That's a fairly bleak book, for example when the pigs sell the draft horse to the glue factory, but only the goat (whose only friend is the horse) knows what's going on. Watership Down is another good one, the character of the Black Rabbit of Inle (the Grim Reaper of rabbitkind) was memorable. However…

Quite a lot of adult mental illness can be attributed to being overly sheltered as a child… your brain wires itself to expect the environment it grew up in and when the adult world is substantially different the result is often mental illness.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#105
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, off the top of my head from Grimm: --Cinderella: mean deceptive people might get their feat chopped off & eyes pecked out. (In short, Karma. though unfortunately the world doesn't quite work that way, but there's still a bit of "the world can be ugly" too) --Cat & The Mouse: Never forget that the nature of a predator is predation --Hansel & Gretel: Don't take candy from strangers. Also, if something looks to go…

>Hansel & Gretel: Beware from the child rapists as an analogy. Kinda similar to The Little Red Hood.

[deleted]

Re: The original “Bambi”

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been split on this. On the one hand it is a bit unpleasant and can be traumatizing, and we tend to shy away from unpleasant things, but on the other hand lots of generations grew up on Grimm's Fairy Tales and Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales and learned a bit about how difficult life can be and the consequences of moral failings or lack of hard work. It is important to prepare children for the fact that life…

> learned a bit about how difficult life can be and the consequences of moral failings or lack of hard work I don't remember anything about consequences of moral failings in the old fairy tales, just random violence and chaos. In Sleeping Beauty the prince's mother turns out to be an ogre who tries to eat Beauty's children, but luckily the prince returns in time and kills her. Where's the moral lesson there? Don't mo…

I forget who said it, but one theory I've heard is that kids are naturally afraid of their parents and haven't built the ability to hold opposing views at the same time, so they have trouble reconciling these loving god-like figures they depend on 100% for survival and the total fear they have when the same figures are angry or disappointed in them.

Stories like Sleeping Beauty or ones with monsters allow kids to transfer those feelings of all encompassing fear to these bad guys, until they outgrow it and they're able to handle ambiguity.

That doesn't explain why the stories were originally told, but could explain their stickiness.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you share some hopeful passages, or some recommendations on what to read? I could use a bit of positivity in my life this month.

Without your personal context, recommendations are difficult. If you like science fiction, check out "Stories of your Life" by Ted Chang; if you like historical strategies for success, check out "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene; if you like grand philosophical views of an entire life well lived and how to have one "The Glass Bead Game" by Hesse; if you're interested in extremely practical advice in how to be s…

Have you read Klara and the Sun yet?

Re: The original “Bambi”

#109
post #108

The same gruesome scene begins the Babar odyssey, though unlike Bambi, it’s all on the page.

There's a Barbar cartoon (by Nelvana, which is Canadian, so now it's on YouTube because Canadian media companies haven't all been gobbled up yet), so your kids can have the horror of watching young Babar see the hunters attack his family. My 3YO loved it.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#110
I made a browser extension called No Scary Parts that skips traumatic scenes on Disney+ while trying to hold together a cohesive plot. Mainly for young kids who enjoy the music and other scenes, but aren't ready for the full story yet.

https://thomaspark.co/projects/no-scary-parts/

Fantasia was easy. Managed to do The Lion King. Haven't been able to pull off Bambi yet...

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