On Pretty Much Pop, a philosopher, an actor, and a sci-fi writer (often with entertainment industry guests) talk about media and how we consume it: TV, film, music, novels, games, comics, comedy, theater, podcasts, and more. Most of what (other) people like is pretty weird when you think about it, so thinking about it is what we do.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:34 — 48.5MB)
The PMP core four (Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al) discuss the original 1883 freaky children's story by Carlo Collodi and consider the recent rush of film versions, from a new Disney/Robert Zemikis CGI take to Guillermo del Toro's stop-motion passion project to a heavily costumed Italian version by Matteo Garrone, which is the second to feature Oscar winner Roberto Benigni in a lead role. Benigni's previous try was a 2002 version that is the most true to the beats of the original story and maybe because of this has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. Why do people keep remaking this story, and how has the original moral of "be a good boy and obey" changed over the years?
Read the original story. Some articles going through the film versions include:
- "The twisted history of Pinocchio on screen" by Cindy White
- "Pinocchio: Top 10 Best Movie And TV Adaptations, Ranked by IMDb" by Olivia Hayward
- "Pinocchios, Ranked" by Barry Levitt
- "The Transformations of Pinocchio" by Joan Acocella
- "Pinocchio: The scariest children's story ever written" by Nicholas Barber
Follow us @law_writes, @sarahlynbruck, @ixisnox, @MarkLinsenmayer.
This podcast is part of the Partially Examined Life podcast network and is curated by openculture.com.
If you like this podcast, try The Social Breakdown at TheSocialBreakdown.com.
I recently saw Guillermo Del Toro’s version of Pinocchio. I think this film speaks to our relationship with the “Other”, especially the inanimate order. Pinocchio symbolizes the world of inanimate things. The villain symbolizes our utilitarian consumerism, which takes advantage of the inanimate world of “forgotten things”. The father symbolizes our mystical union with that same “forgotten” world, and represents the transformative power of love which brings everything to life – even to the extent of bringing something out of nothing, and good from evil.
Really enjoyed this film 🙂