I have been reading The Adventures of Pinocchio on my way back home, and never a book has made me feel so conflicted feelings.
For one, I love how wide and weird this world is. I love how every single animal talks, but some are anthropomorphic and some are not. I love how puppets are understood to be alive. How fairies, ghosts, and giants are a part of this world.
I have seen some scholars comparing Pinocchio to the Odyssey, and yeah, that tracks. It's all about the journey of this mischievous and clever protagonist along a wide surreal world.
It's a very entertaining read, that's for sure.
But damn, judging Collodi's writting by Pinocchio only, the guy must have been a massive conservative.
It's Pinocchio. It always had preachy 19th century morals that would seem harsh and outdated for us. I expected that. Many adaptations carried that outdated preachiness, even the Disney film.
But reading the book and it's somehow even worse than all the adaptations I have seen so far.
The book goes with a thesis that if you are a boy that doesn't go to school, you don't deserve food, shelter, or any type of rights, and you deserve to be cheated, exploited, and abused.
Recently I reached the Land of Toys part, the most striking and nightmarish part, so haunting that it's included in almost all adaptations. I already expected the culture shock, but damnit, the Coachman is essentially trafficking children, selling them into slavery, and it's somehow the children's fault to be caught.
I'm not saying the book is part or anything, but it's annoying how much of it hammers the message that "Obey blindly your elders and government. Never question anything". Poor Pinocchio is a very bratty, mischievous character, but the narrative seems to take pleasure in making him suffer, sometimes for very silly reasons.
And I hate how the Girl with Turquoise Hair, the Blue Fairy, always give him advice that she herself doesn't need to follow.
Yes, Pinocchio, everyone should work or they should starve, but the Blue Fairy, who lives in a fancy manor, has legions of servants, and doesn't seem to do nothing all day.
Excuse Miss Fairy, but from all the characters who ahould tell him this lesson, you aren't one of them.
@ariel-seagull-wings @mask131 @the-blue-fairie @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @maimoncat @princesssarisa
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