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The original “Bambi”

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Re: The original “Bambi”

#211
post #153

I recall something Stanley Kubrick said about Bambi being traumatizing: I saw Mary Poppins three times, because of my children, and I like Julie Andrews so much that I enjoyed seeing it three times. I thought it was a charming film. I wouldn’t want to make it, but … Children’s films are an area that should not just be left to the Disney Studios, who I don’t think really make very good children’s films. I’m talking ab…

Where's that quote from? Was it before or after he let his daughter help out on the set of A Clockwork Orange ? [1] Her job was said to be cutting out the letters on the wall. (Which was awesome, I thought, even though she turned out to be about as messed-up as his quote would suggest.) 1: https://old.reddit.com/r/StanleyKubrick/comments/7q86pu/10_y...

Apparently it's from an "interview by Charlie Kohler in The East Village Eye, 1968, a few days after 2001: A Space Odyssey opened". I saw it here https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/po...

Re: The original “Bambi”

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think as adults we downplay how difficult first experiences can be, and so I don't think we get that the stories of loss and struggle in kids movies are speaking to them about real problems they either already have or will soon. Miyazaki has for some people become an alternative to Disney, but his work is full of Dumbo and Bambi moments. The difference is that in his work, the girl (and it is almost always a girl p…

Speaking of Miyazaki, I watched the Grave of the Fireflies when I was a child, and it was a devastating experience. (For those who haven't seen, it's a story of a brother and sister in Japan at the end of WWII.) It was as if I myself had lived through (and perhaps died in) a war. I watched it one more time in my life, but I cannot even write about it without tears coming to my eyes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grav…

Not that you explicitly said otherwise, but I just want to point out that Grave of the Fireflies was written and directed by Isao Takahata (RIP), who was a co-founder of Studio Ghibli and frequent collaborator with Miyazaki.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that Bambi is something of a war movie; look at the forest fire scene, there is fire everywhere, it must have been inspired by bombing raids during the battle of Britain. I wonder if some of the artists had first hand experience of these events. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQrqhdU99Ws Also the father commands his son 'you must get up'; he acts like a commander.

Or bombings of Dresden. If you want fire.

The movie was released before the Dresden bombings happened.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#214
Some of the tales from my childhood that I hold very dear to this day looked at really tough topics: death, solitude, betrayal. "Ronia, the Robber's Daughter", "Timm Thaler, or the Traded Laughter", "The Adventures of Sajo and her Beaver People" by Lindgren, Krüss, and Grey Owl are some that come to mind. Their authors were interesting, complicated people who had something to say about the world they lived in. Proponents of the coddling style of child rearing would probably declare them "traumatizing" and "inappropriate" for the 7- or 8-year old kid that I was when I read them. What turned out to be really traumatizing though was the real world, not these fairy tales — which ended up teaching me some pretty helpful lessons after all.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was 11 when I read All Quiet on the Western Front and maybe 13 when I read Innocent Erendira . I don’t remember talking to anyone about these, though I did feel terrible for a few days after. Honestly, no lasting effects. This is probably the same as the fact that 70% of soldiers experiencing combat stress do not get PTSD and 30% experiencing severe combat stress don’t either. This means human variability is signif…

Do you have any evidence that there is a susceptible set? Books especially fiction come with two fundamental safety features. Firstly the book never subjects itself upon its reader. The reader is always in absolute control. Secondly the fundamental unreality of the setting allows one to dismiss it. I recall observing with morbid curiosity a video of someone losing their life to a terrorist many years ago thinking it…

I have no evidence that there is a susceptible set. That's a "maybe you're right" statement.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that Bambi is something of a war movie; look at the forest fire scene, there is fire everywhere, it must have been inspired by bombing raids during the battle of Britain. I wonder if some of the artists had first hand experience of these events. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQrqhdU99Ws Also the father commands his son 'you must get up'; he acts like a commander.

Or bombings of Dresden. If you want fire.

The fictional Tralfamadorians from Vonnegut's books could have traveled in time from 1945 back to 1942, when the movie was released.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There really is no greater love than that of a mother for her child. You don't really know the intensity and unconditionality of the love your own mother has/had for you until you have kids yourself and see how your wife loves your child. I always appreciated my mother, but I was only able to fully appreciate her after I had kids myself.

Totally agree. I go pretty far out of my way to make sure my mom gets plenty of time with her grandson, which she loves. It also burns my ass to hear my wife say “I couldn’t have imagined how much I would like being a mom”. Society and culture is so screwed up around children and raising a family.

I agree - but it’s a rather complex state of affairs. There’s not a single thing that’s absolutely correct.

I think we over index on how kids will hinder your ability to self actualize and become an independent woman. To value being a boss bitch rather than a mother. But there’s a huge reason why:

Men are unreliable.

For a variety of reasons it’s just a bad deal to assume every, or even many, woman will end up with a guy that’s reliable. He makes money and can provide, isn’t violent or abusive, will be respectful and stick around. A “decent guy”. There’s just too many guys that fail at this.

So the rational optimization is self dependence. And that probably means holding off on children. And in many cases becoming a lonely cat spinster that wishes they had a kid; the equivalent to the deadbeat dad in a twisted sort of way.

I don’t know the answer but if you do have a daughter then consider paying to harvest and freeze eggs in their early 20’s, if they’re a career minded person. They’ll work great 15 years later so long as they were produced when she was at an age nature optimizes around.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think as adults we downplay how difficult first experiences can be, and so I don't think we get that the stories of loss and struggle in kids movies are speaking to them about real problems they either already have or will soon. Miyazaki has for some people become an alternative to Disney, but his work is full of Dumbo and Bambi moments. The difference is that in his work, the girl (and it is almost always a girl p…

Speaking of Miyazaki, I watched the Grave of the Fireflies when I was a child, and it was a devastating experience. (For those who haven't seen, it's a story of a brother and sister in Japan at the end of WWII.) It was as if I myself had lived through (and perhaps died in) a war. I watched it one more time in my life, but I cannot even write about it without tears coming to my eyes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grav…

I told the kids they aren’t allowed to watch that until they’re old enough to drink. Mostly so they can drink immediately afterward. That’s one of hose movies you really only need to see once, like Schindler’s List.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#219
post #10
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…

Many of the Grimm tales in their original form were also somewhat bizarre or surreal. I agree with you, but sometimes think the Disney versions were crafted as they were in part just to make sense as much as anything.

not just them, look at "thousand and one nights", but not at an adaption, look at something close to the original, these used to be very cruel, also the old Russian folk tales used to be quite cruel.

I think they all used to live in a very different reality, with people dying at an earlier age and much more often then they do now. Also infant mortality was much much higher in the olden days; it was a scary time, altogether.

The olden days didn't have the luxury of clean water, antibiotics and food plenty. These are quite recent inventions...

Re: The original “Bambi”

#220
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow. Human history until recently was sustained largely by oral tradition and story telling; superseded by written story telling. What's the problem with telling stories that confer some wisdom or some sense of history or for fun? Many of these stories are embedded idiomatically in many languages? Let each parent decide at what age they should read Rapunzel, when they are ready.

I think I misunderstood the comment. You’re quite right, these stories served a valuable function.

Thanks, didn't realise you were not the parent poster.
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