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, released in 1940, are direct interpretations of Mary Shelley’s novel while other scenes show variant differences.
Nearly everyone has seen the famous scene in which the monster is created, and Victor proclaims, “Its 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 Frankenstein. This key scene develops further when Pinocchio springs to life, 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 beat; this alerts the viewers and spreads a feeling of uneasiness. The feeling of uneasiness is further portrayed through the use of lighting. It is still dark outside within the animation therefore Gepetto must walk through the house by candle light. The faint glow of light creates shadows and allows viewers to see only what the character is seeing. Here we see another similarity to Frankenstein, Victor creates his monster at night in the dim light also. These film techniques could obviously not have been used by Shelley in her writing; instead she used vivid verbs and strong emotions. Camera movement, lighting and music were Disney’s way of conveying Shelley’s writing. Watching this scene in “Pinocchio” allows readers to go back to Frankenstein and use its plot line to foreshadow the film. Viewers can predict that there will be negative consequences to Gepetto’s selfishness.
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 I now recognize that Disney must have got some of their inspiration from the famous novel. As the film continues, some differences between it and Frankenstein develop. After Gepetto gets past the shock of his creation becoming alive, he embraces him and calls him his own son. A bond forms between the two, creation and creator, just has a bond would form between a father and a son. Gepetto sends Pinocchio to school, treating him as a real boy. This is very different than the violent relationship formed between Victor and the monster. Pinocchio tries his hardest to make his father happy and proud, but he his tricked into joining a marionette circus. Gepetto then spends his time looking for his lost son until he is swallowed by a whale. We again see the use of dark lighting within the film to symbolize an unfortunate event which could have been prevented. This scene is similar to Victor searching for his monster as he too runs into trouble when he gets stuck on the frozen lake. The fast paced film speed during the scene in which Pinocchio is told that is father is living inside a whale shows the urgency Pinocchio feels to find his father. This proves that creation is certainly a form of reproduction because family bonds can be formed between the creation and creator.
When watching Gepetto carefully sculpt his wooden boy, viewers see him hold the delicate body parts and paint a smile upon the boys face. Disney emphasizes this creation scene through the use of lighting, music and camera movement within the film. Just as Frankenstein, Pinocchio explores the theme of creation by males as reproduction but larger implications within the film go further in suggesting that family bonds can develop between the creator and creation.
I pledge to have followed the Washington College Honor Code while writing this paper.
I believe that I did a good job when writing the opening paragraph. I made sure to go from general to specific to ease readers into the essay. I also think I did a good job describing the relevant scenes. In future papers I would like to do a better job of using active voice.
Literature Cited:
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. MacMillan Press Ltd. Boston, New York, 2000.
Pinocchio. Director Hamilton Luske and Ben Sharpsteen. Disney Studies, 1940. Film.
