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DISNEY+ has just released the live-action remake of Pinocchio, and both critics and audiences are trashing it… and rightly so. It’s not that we’re dealing with another unnecessary updated version, but rather that we’re dealing with a total subversion and corruption of the original’s message that borders on the immoral.
Such is the reversal of the moral of the story, it gives the feeling that Disney hates children, and does not want new viewers to learn the wise lessons that those who enjoyed the original Pinocchio did have the opportunity to discover.
Despite the brilliant combination of actor Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Cast Away, Polar Express) the new version of the children’s classic is a disaster and a betrayal of the essence of the original.
The 1940 Pinocchio film is one of Disney’s most iconic and fondly remembered classics, not in vain its song When You Wish Upon a Star is the one that eventually became Disney’s unmistakable theme tune.
The importance of the original film lay not only in its sublime animation and unforgettable characters, but also in the profound themes it touched upon. Pinocchio, a wooden doll, has to learn to be good, brave, honest and generous in order to become a real boy and thus fulfill the greatest wish of his father and creator, Geppetto.
Pinocchio is woke now
In the original, the Blue Fairy wisely granted this wish half-heartedly, with Pinocchio himself having to complete the magic by making the right choices. The puppet had the invaluable help of Jiminy Cricket, who was his good conscience guiding him on the right path.
Actress Cynthia Erivo plays the Blue Fairy (EFE/EPA by Allison Dinner).
Beyond the artificial controversy generated by Disney’s umpteenth forced inclusion of an African-American fairy, in this version the Blue Fairy is a completely different and failed character. Now the problem is that the spell goes wrong because Geppetto did not think it through and the fairy, clumsily, leaves the transformation half done and walks away, washing her hands of it and leaving it in Pinocchio’s hands to complete it.
In the classic version, when Pinocchio is on his way to school he meets Honest John, and the fox seduces him with the idea of becoming famous, thus beginning the problems of our protagonist for succumbing to temptation. However, in the new version, although still set in 19th century Italy, the fox talks to him about being an “influencer.”
This effort to include contemporary references and fall into the grossest anachronism is the least of it, the problem here is that Pinocchio leaves with Honest John after having been expelled from school (literally kicked in the *ss) by a teacher who discriminates against him for not being a real boy.
This is the big problem of the remake of Pinocchio, its insufferable wokeism. Pinocchio does not have to face the consequences of making bad decisions, but is presented throughout as a victim discriminated against by the rest of society for being “different”.
Thus, in this version, Pinocchio does not learn any lessons from his own mistakes, but faces a mere succession of events that happen successively after being pushed by others.
When he is caged by the puppeteer Stromboli, far from learning that lies are bad and get longer and longer, he now discovers that thanks to the lies he can reach with his nose the key to the cage hanging on the wall across the room. At this point, the film’s message borders on the immoral, and one wonders what the hell Disney is trying to put into children’s heads.
Also, at this point, there is a new character, Fabiana, a “racialized” girl with a prosthetic leg who works as a semi-slave puppeteer for Stromboli. This character’s task is to show Pinocchio that there is nothing wrong with being “different,” and to explain that when she sets up her own theater company, she will treat her employees well. Basically, she is a union leader who reminds us of the importance of the Marxist class struggle and the inherent evil of employers.
Then, unlike the original, in which Pinocchio arrives at Pleasure Island of his own free will and enjoys being able to drink beer, smoke cigars, gamble without limit, and having no rules preventing him from wrecking everything, here he is kidnapped and forced to go. Once there, the new Pinocchio is seen to be uncomfortable and not really enjoying the shenanigans, so the idea of him becoming a donkey because of his bad decisions is completely diluted.
Again, he is a victim of circumstances and not of his own bad decisions. Oh, and in this new version, the children do not smoke cigars, because according to the woke mentality it is now worse to show children smoking than to teach them the lesson that vices are bad and have consequences. If it’s not shown, it doesn’t exist.
But the worst of the film is yet to come. In the end, Geppetto and Pinocchio manage to escape from inside the whale by using his wooden legs as an outboard motor to propel himself and flee to shore, after which his father exclaims that they would not have made it if he had been a real boy.
This version culminates with Pinocchio not becoming a boy, and remains wooden, and we are forced to believe that he was always perfect as he was. This conclusion is laughable because it is absurdly woke, and it is blatantly obvious that it is a wink that tries to please the gay lobby. Knowing the ways of wokeism, perhaps Pinocchio would have managed to become human if he had wished to be a girl and not a boy.
In short, Disney may have backfired by trying to completely change the message of the film, because what they are saying is that they hate children and prefer them to be victims and irresponsible so that they remain puppets of the left.
Ignacio Manuel García Medina, Business Management teacher. Artist and lecturer specialized in Popular Culture for various platforms. Presenter of the program "Pop Libertario" for the Juan de Mariana Institute. Lives in the Canary Islands, Spain // Ignacio M. García Medina es profesor de Gestión de Empresas. Es miembro del Instituto Juan de Mariana y conferenciante especializado en Cultura Popular e ideas de la Libertad.
Social Networks: @ignaciomgm