It’s Alive

When the world of film is analyzed one can begin to see that every film fits into a category. Within each category the films are strikingly similar; the same basic plot lines are followed and similar climaxes occur. The same pattern can be observed within the digital recreation of novels. Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein cleared the pathway for dozens of films ranging from the late 1800’s to the current day. Although it may seem unrelated, the story of Pinocchio, released 65 years after the first copy of Frankenstein, has many parallels with Shelley’s novel. Both story lines share a similar plot and revolve around the theme of recreation as birth. Enhanced by digital effects, key scenes in Disney’s “Pinocchio” are direct interpretations of Mary Shelley’s novel.

Nearly everyone has seen the famous scene in which Frankenstein’s monster is created, and Victor proclaims, “It’s Alive!” This is originally portrayed in the novel as excitement and wonder, made clear by Shelley’s vivid words and exclamations within the text. The same excitement and wonder is found in “Pinocchio” when Gepetto creates Pinocchio. This creation scene within the film depicts Gepetto carefully picking out features for his “boy,” hand painting his face and carefully constructing the wood used for his body, just as Victor carefully selected for the monsters features within the Frankenstein. This key scene develops further when Pinocchio becomes alive just as the monster does. After wishing upon a star for his wooden creation to be a real boy, Gepetto awakes to find his creation alive. Upon first glance he stares at the newly born creature with wide and surprised eyes, and then suddenly denies him, saying “No, no, no, no!” and mumbling that he must wake up, as if he is experiencing a bad dream. In Shelley’s novel we see the exact same actions occurring when Victor discovers his creation alive, he says, “How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe!” (Shelley, 55). Here we see both creators having the same reaction towards their creations, their creations that they wished so hard for.

Within this scene the camera zooms in quickly on Gepetto’s face, as his eyes, wide, stare at Pinocchio and his mouth drops. The camera then slowly moves back out as Gepetto regains his composure. Happiness overcomes his face and he realizes that his wish came true, and now, he is a father. The camera zoom adds emphasis on Gepetto’s feelings, drawing viewers away from those of the other characters. The background music is quickly paced with an unsteady beats, this alerts the viewers and spreads a feeling of uneasiness. These techniques could not be used by Shelley in her writing, instead she used vivid verbs and strong emotions. Camera movement and music was Disney’s way of conveying Shelley’s writing.

The similarities between these two scenes prove that “Pinocchio” must be a digital recreation of the Frankenstein story. Disney is well known for taking important historical events and significant literature and translating them into children’s films. Until I closely watched the movie I did not see the parallels with Frankenstein but now I see that Disney must have got their inspiration from the famous novel.

There are several other scenes I’d like to examine. Pinocchio becomes mischievous soon after he is created, this reminds me of the monsters violent actions. There is also a scene in which Pinocchio is learning to use his body, this also seems similar to a part of Frankenstein. I wonder if Pinocchio, the original story, was inspired by Shelley’s Frankenstein, or if it is just a coincidence?  I wonder how the other versions of “Pinocchio” portray the “birth” scene?

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