08-22-2025, 07:07 PM
This post was last modified: 08-22-2025, 07:08 PM by MichSwampbuck.
I've been rather dark and pessimistic lately, as evidenced by my latest threads, so I thought I'd lighten things up with an endearing childhood fairy tale, Pinocchio.
The original Adventures of Pinocchio story was nothing like the Walt Disney version in fact I'd say it was more of a horror story akin to a work by the Brothers Grimm.
When I thought about the usual Pinocchio story as I knew it, I began to see some strange things that seemed to connect the story to European pagan beliefs. You have an old man who used oak wood, a sacred tree of pagans, to carve a puppet of a boy he named Pinocchio. Geppetto seems much like the iconic wizard, sage, or alchemist character creating a golem or homunculus.
A fairy summoned up by the old wizard animates the wooden puppet with an appendage that grows longer when he tells lies. Then the enchanted puppet runs away and joins up with criminals and lives on the streets. Of course, there is this place called "Pleasure Island" where his sinful behavior turns him into a beast of burden, doomed to be a slave forever (sounds similar to recruiting for prostitution or human trafficking).
There is more to the story including when Geppetto is swallowed by a whale like Jonah from the Bible, but the story sure seemed to have a lot of connections to paganism. Then I read a summary of the original story and it is nothing at all like I thought it was.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Adv...-Pinocchio
If that isn't worthy of modern horror? "The Puppet Master" comes to mind. He kills Jiminy Cricket with a hammer and even though the blue fairy saves him from death, he still lies to her! There is a happy ending and he does become a real boy in the end, but in between, that is some really f'ed up shit! Something like "Scared Straight", Pinocchio is a cautionary tale for children supposedly, but I doubt that's how it came off to any kids exposed to the original story.
The original Adventures of Pinocchio story was nothing like the Walt Disney version in fact I'd say it was more of a horror story akin to a work by the Brothers Grimm.
When I thought about the usual Pinocchio story as I knew it, I began to see some strange things that seemed to connect the story to European pagan beliefs. You have an old man who used oak wood, a sacred tree of pagans, to carve a puppet of a boy he named Pinocchio. Geppetto seems much like the iconic wizard, sage, or alchemist character creating a golem or homunculus.
A fairy summoned up by the old wizard animates the wooden puppet with an appendage that grows longer when he tells lies. Then the enchanted puppet runs away and joins up with criminals and lives on the streets. Of course, there is this place called "Pleasure Island" where his sinful behavior turns him into a beast of burden, doomed to be a slave forever (sounds similar to recruiting for prostitution or human trafficking).
There is more to the story including when Geppetto is swallowed by a whale like Jonah from the Bible, but the story sure seemed to have a lot of connections to paganism. Then I read a summary of the original story and it is nothing at all like I thought it was.
Quote:A poor man named Geppetto wants to carve himself a marionette in order to make a living as a puppeteer. He is given a piece of enchanted wood, and as soon as Geppetto carves the puppet, which he names Pinocchio, it begins abusing the old man. Once its feet are made, Pinocchio runs away, and Geppetto is arrested when he seizes the puppet. Pinocchio returns to Geppetto’s home alone, and when the Talking Cricket admonishes him, Pinocchio kills the cricket. Going his own way, and ignoring all advice, Pinocchio soon falls in with a variety of bad characters, particularly the Fox and the Cat, who scheme to steal the five gold pieces Pinocchio was given for Geppetto. Eventually, the Fox and the Cat, disguised as Assassins, hang Pinocchio in order to get the gold pieces.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Adv...-Pinocchio
If that isn't worthy of modern horror? "The Puppet Master" comes to mind. He kills Jiminy Cricket with a hammer and even though the blue fairy saves him from death, he still lies to her! There is a happy ending and he does become a real boy in the end, but in between, that is some really f'ed up shit! Something like "Scared Straight", Pinocchio is a cautionary tale for children supposedly, but I doubt that's how it came off to any kids exposed to the original story.
