Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The original “Bambi”

newyorker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 232 posts

Re: The original “Bambi”

#221

Post by m463 »

lioeters wrote: post #207
hinkley wrote: post #181

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…

As a kid I was traumatized by War of the Gargantuas.

I just remember a part where one of the monsters reaches into a building, eats a woman and spits out a dress + bones.

Now sort of amusingly, I don't want to watch the movie again for a different reason. It's because my memory of it is entirely sort of a "native memory" going back that many years.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#223

Post by circlefavshape »

klik99 wrote: post #106
circlefavshape wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 tra…

> the total fear they have when the same figures are angry or disappointed in them

Hmm. This sounds like a hypothesis from someone who doesn't remember being a child very well. I never lived in total fear of my parents' anger or disappointment, and I'm pretty sure my kids never did either

Re: The original “Bambi”

#224

Post by bsenftner »

js2 wrote: post #107
bsenftner wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Not yet. It is ordered, I love Ishiguro's prose.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#225

Post by tut-urut-utut »

ginko wrote: post #76
tut-urut-utut wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Snowwhite and the Huntsman" kept its original Hollywood name, it was never translated as "Schneewitchen und der Jägger". But you're right, it's “based on” a Grimm story, not a literal story adaptation.

I had to look that film up[1]. It's not a Disney movie so I don't see how that would apply here. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Huntsman

If we are splitting hair, note that in my comment you referred to, I wrote Disney/Hollywood, not only Disney.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#226

Post by tragictrash »

TaupeRanger wrote: post #160
ubercore wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source to claim the opposite?

Of course not. I'm simply saying that I'm very skeptical of the claim and would bet actual money that the opposite (or null result) was actually true.

You got too much time on your hands.

Please stop wasting other people's.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#227

Post by goto11 »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #142
senko wrote: 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 children's stories of old had an entirely different moral sentiment than today. They exposed children to the idea that the chaotic world is outside your ability to control, but you must live in it and navigate it to the extent you can nonetheless. This will not always end well for you, despite your best efforts. In contrast, the message of modern fairy tales is that life has challenges, but they can all be overc…

To be clear, folktales like Cinderella or Sleeping beauty were not originally stories for children.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#228

Post by meristohm »

buro9 wrote: post #40
jihadjihad wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget about Pinocchio, who in the original Italian children's book is tortured and hanged for being such a "bad boy" [0][1]. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio#Fictional_character_... 1: https://slate.com/culture/2011/10/carlo-collodi-s-pinocchio-... The part of the movie where all of the boys on Pleasure Island begin to turn into donkeys always freaked me out as a kid.

Ah, this reminds me of a review of the book I stumbled upon recently that is eye opening... eye opening as it shows how the context of the reader is imprinted on their experience of the reading. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R1JOT49B5OUAL0/... Even the opening of the review is... something: > To be honest, I struggled with this book. I found the main character incredibly frustrating. He almost always d…

Hovering over that link doesn't reveal the title of the book.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#229

Post by meristohm »

BeFlatXIII wrote: post #29
brobdingnagians wrote: post #3

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…

IIRC, many of the most popular fairy tales give happy endings by pure luck and happenstance. Catch a fish with a magic ring, etc…. The ones with moral lessons are too on-the-nose to be enjoyable.

Folktales around the world are only partly to be enjoyed, being also thrilling, emotionally-stirring (and thus more memorable) stories to help people of all ages make healthier decisions.

Re: The original “Bambi”

#230

Post by meristohm »

sentrysapper wrote: post #5
brobdingnagians wrote: post #3

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…

Life will give those hard lessons out for free - why build a curriculum for it?

Over lifetimes this works, sure. Any animal capable of passing on information to offspring likely does so, because it confers a boost in survival chance. For examples: sea turtles lay a bunch of eggs and leave, while a wolf family raises a much smaller number of pups.
Post reply on HN