“What does an actor want with a conscience anyway?” laments Jiminy Cricket, poking fun at the same Hollywood system that gave birth to this film. The child must figure right from wrong, safety from danger, and also realise that sometimes these distinctions aren’t so simple. Pinocchio’s transition to a real boy extends that further, mirroring a child’s growing independence as they prove they can be trusted with more responsibility. The metaphors in Pinocchio are some of Disney’s best, using the “strings” in the song “I’ve Got No Strings” to denote the infant stage of life where parents have complete control over their children’s decisions. For every child that gets nightmares from these dark stories, there is another that is innocently intrigued by them. This impartment of morals through storytelling works not just in spite of its extremity, but because of its extremity, as it clearly draws the line between good and bad actions, and their good and bad consequences. Movies like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory also use over-the-top repercussions to punish bad behaviour, and the basis for this stretches further back to Grimms’ Fairy Tales. It gets even more twisted when the naughty boys start turning into donkeys, as if they deserve this overly harsh discipline.īut Pinocchio isn’t alone in this use of moral chastisement. “Look at yourself! Smoking! Playing pool!” Jiminy Cricket exclaims, as if every piece of fun Pinocchio has is equally destructive.
#PINOCCHIO STORY MORAL LESSON MOVIE#
The movie shows its age a little later on as it turns towards an old-fashioned conservative view of ethics. The difference between aiming to do good and actually doing good is far muddier than Pinocchio would hope. Not exactly a tidy turn of phrase, but Jiminy Cricket, acting in his role as Pinocchio’s conscience, does highlight just how difficult the puppet’s path will be. They’re the wrong things that seem right at the time, but… even though the right things may seem wrong sometimes, sometimes the wrong things may be right at the wrong time or… visa versa.” When Jiminy Cricket tries to pinpoint the difference between good and bad, he finds himself a little lost for words. It would be easy to take for granted a small moment of moral complexity that takes place towards the start of Pinocchio.
As Roger Ebert stated in his review of the film, “at a very deep level, all children want to become real and doubt they can”. Pinocchio’s primary moral lesson takes the position that becoming a better person makes you more human, or more “real”, which in turn rewards you with the recognition that you matter and have something to contribute. This was also the period where Disney were starting to consider what types of messages they wanted their films to deliver to children, and as a result the character and story arcs have much clearer form here than they did in Snow White. It met positive critical reviews, many of which praised its huge innovative leaps as it experimented with the movement of non-living objects such as cuckoo clocks, vehicles, and water to create dynamic, lively environments around the characters.
Film historians have speculated that this was partially due to World War II cutting off the European and Asian markets in the early 40’s, but Pinocchio’s success at the time was still felt within Hollywood. But Pinocchio wasn’t the box office hit Disney hoped it would be. After mastering the animation of living creatures in 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney faced the extraordinary challenge of following that up with an equally successful and innovative film that would draw in audiences and push artistic boundaries.
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