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“Pinocchio” started its life as an 100-some paged 1883 Italian novella by Carlo Collodi. Walt Disney was introduced to the story by one of his staff during production on “Snow White,” and he loved it so much he made it his next film.
Given the greater length of the original “Pinocchio” than, say, one of the Brothers Grimms’ super short stories, I don’t have the space to do a full compare/contrast between the Disney film and its source text. What I’ll do instead is list the most notable differences between the two versions.
Perhaps the most shocking disparities between Collodi’s and Disney’s “Pinocchio” occur at the beginning of the original story. The book opens with a carpenter plying his trade and as he makes a move toward a piece of wood to use it, he hears a high-pitched voice that distracts him from his task.
By the time the carpenter’s good friend Geppetto comes along to beg for some wood out of which to make a marionette (Geppetto wants to make his fortune and believes he can do so with a marionette-based traveling act), the carpenter has deduced, to his horror, that the voice is coming from the block of wood. Desperate to be rid of it, he gives the wood in question to Geppetto.
Those are Pinocchio’s magical origins, never explained. He’s not animated by the fervent wishes of a lonely old man or the enchanted touch of a blue fairy’s wand. There simply happens to be a sentient piece of wood, and when it’s cut down into marionette shape it’s able to move and see as well as speak.
The other most important change Disney made to his film was the character of Jiminy Cricket. In the past I have somewhat erroneously asserted that Jiminy is a Disney original. He is and he isn’t. There is indeed a Talking Cricket in the first “Pinocchio,” but he’s only referred to as such. He’s never given the name Jiminy, and his role in the original is much smaller.
In fact, the fate of the Talking Cricket is so unexpected that I exclaimed aloud upon reading it. Pinocchio meets the Talking Cricket in his bedroom in the third chapter. The sage insect, who has lived a hundred years, wishes to impart his wisdom to Pinocchio. He begs the wooden boy to act with greater caution and respect, and Pinocchio becomes so incensed upon hearing these unwelcome words that he throws a hammer in the Talking Cricket’s direction, killing him.
That’s it. No friendship, no Jiminy, no “when you wish upon a star” or “let your conscience be your guide.” The plucky cricket does try to return a few times as a ghost to continue to give Pinocchio unheeded advice, but relationship just isn’t the same as we all remember it.
Disney, as he so famously did with his many films, softened the edges of his source text. Collodi wrote the story as a cautionary tale about what happens to lazy, unmotivated young boys. But Disney correctly realized that most viewers wouldn’t sympathize with the original Pinocchio: a mischievous, often rude, and thoughtless young deviant (for example: Geppetto sells the coat off his back, despite the cold weather, so Pinocchio can buy a book he needs for school. Pinocchio promptly sells the book for tickets to a puppet show, never even making it to class). I certainly grew annoyed with him less than halfway through the story.
In addition to trimming down the story most of Disney’s changes revolve around his reconstruction of Pinocchio’s character into a sweet but too trusting young (wooden) boy. Although I’m still not that big a fan of Disney’s “Pinocchio,” I’d definitely say his is the more enjoyable story.
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*(This image by Enrico Mazzanti is in the Public Domain and thus licensed for public use).
