Disney rereleases Bambi on DVD

[Miwokhill]

Once a year Disney has been rereleasing one of their classic movies on dvd. This year it's Bambi. I'm sure it will be a huge seller due to it's fame and that parents are eager to give their kids quality animated films like this. I question if it a wise choice though because of the storyline. (doesn't the mother get shot by a hunter?) Perhaps in 1942, when the movie was first released, this was a fable that related to world war II. I was talking with someone who was around 5 years old when she saw this movie in the mid '40s and said it traumatized her. Not only just seeing the movie but the fact that it stays with and becomes part of the child's experience makes me say 'no, I don't think so.'

I don't mean to sound too strict. I thought Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo were great for kids, and the latter in particular had somewhat of a horrific opening. (which is why I think they may have put that part before the opening title shot, so you could begin there) Other recent kid flicks, like both Shreks and Shark Tale, I don't really care for and would pass on.

I just wonder how many people will go out and buy Bambi for their kids because it's a classic and not think of this aspect. It's almost like a must see movie. If it wasn't a cartoon would people think differently about the storyline? Maybe because it is a cartoon makes it automatically ok.
mike

[Feadan]

I don't mean to sound too strict. I thought Monsters Inc. and Finding Nemo were great for kids, and the latter in particular had somewhat of a horrific opening. (which is why I think they may have put that part before the opening title shot, so you could begin there) Other recent kid flicks, like both Shreks and Shark Tale, I don't really care for and would pass on.

Disney seems to have a thing for horrific openings on DVDs. I bought Spirited Away because I know how brilliant Miyazaki's work is. Whenever you try to play the movie you first get this horrific twaddle from John Lasseter who seems to think he must've single handedly discovered Miyazaki and goes on about what a great movie it is…blah, blah, blah. And because he says so must be of such vast importance to merit having his commentary always play before the bloody movie! It is totally hideous (shudder).

Re: Bambi, I'll probably buy it at some point but my kids are 12 & 16 so I am not particularly worried about any trauma from them watching.

Cheers,
David

[Flyingcursor]

Disney's marketing sucks. I detest Disney with a passion. Everything is "magical". It's crap. That's why I wouldn't buy it.
Bambi doesn't even have a plot.
Snow White, however, is one of the truly great films.

As far as a trauma? :roll:

[I.D.10-t]

I just gave the books Bambi and Barmbi’s children to my cousin for their children. Reading that book as an adult, it sticks with you (isn't that what a good story is suppose to do?). A chapter on leaves talking to eachother in the fall still is vivid in my memory. Don’t remember a thing about the movie. I think that the books are worth while and (at the right age) could be meaningful. Originally made in 1926 My book was a WWII reprint and had the war time low quality paper.

I would like to hear at what age (I know maturity differs) people think that these stories are appropriate for. Is it better to wait until they have already read worse things for fear of endorsing violence or scarring the child your self?

PEACE ON EARTH (1939 - d. Hugh Harman) MGM. was a great cartoon that I saw at 5AM in as a child and it stuck with me. It was directed at what the maker thought as an up coming war. It was one of the few things that I saw that left an impression and I must say that the “war is not cool” message stuck. I remember later seeing G. I. Joe and the A-Team where thousands of rounds were fired and no one ever got hurt. Was this a better message?

Salvador Dali’s «The Andalusian Dog» on the other hand…

P.S. not a big fan of Disney, or most other major entertainment/media.

[ChrisA]

Once upon a time, fables and fairy tales were not analyzed for how much trauma they would cause, and the phrase age-appropriate did not exist. In fact, Disney's tales are, in generally, terrifically sanitized versions of other stories.

In the original Cinderella, the stepsisters cut off their own heels and toes in an effort to stuff bleeding feet into the shoe, and in some versions, the stepmother and stepsisters were killed, or at least exiled at the end. Of course, this comes from a time when these stories were told to everyone, not just to children, and many of marriage/sexual awakening themes in particular were cautionary tales for adolescents.

However, children grew up with all sorts of violence in their stories, right up until these past couple of decades, and by and large, did not grow up with uncontrollable fears of stepsisters, talking flounder, or orphaned deer. They did, however, grow up with substantial metaphorical moral instruction, for better or worse.

I think, more important than -whether- there is violence are two other questions: how -graphic- is the violence (in this case, not very; iirc, the hunter and mother are only seen in silhouette), and what -message- does the violence send. Going back to the
Cinderella story, it teaches us two basic things: Being desperately greedy for something (someone) doesn't mean we'll get it, no matter how much we hurt ourselves or others in that pursuit; And, that the meek and subdued today may be in a different position tomorrow, so perhaps one should think twice before kicking someone just because you can. On top of the morality messages, it has an optomistic miracles-can-happen, don't give up hope even in the darkest hour message. Not too bad as messages go, in my book.

It's been too long since I've seen Bambi for me to really remember what themes or morals you might get from it, and it doesn't really matter what -I- think anyway, in this case. It matters what you, as the parent-in-question think. I encourage you, however, to dredge up your schoolday skills of articulating the moral of the story, and deciding on that basis more than on trying to remove all the possibly 'disturbing' stories. Issues of violence and loss are real, and are best coped with by understanding them through fiction first.

OTOH, a lot of pop-culture violence basically teaches us that those that hurt us do so because they are Evil (tm) , and we can solve this best by killing them, or in this more sanitary decade, by confronting them with weapons which will then get dropped for a fistfight, at the end of which the bad guy will be taken away by the authorities for properly administered punishment. I don't think these shows get any better, from the point of view of an influence on children, by making them bloodless. Violence-for-violence-sake shows are not really helping us understand anything, and do little other than inure us to violence.

Err. Did I go into lecture mode again? Sorry, but you did ask!

[Jerry Freeman]

The Bambi movie theme is connected to what was happening in the world at the time. (I haven't seen the book, so I've no idea how closely the movie follows the book.)

Basically, it says, "The world is a dangerous place. They're out to get you, and if you're lucky enough to survive and start a next generation, that's a happy ending." The specter of world war and annihilation that permeated the mass consciousness at the time is quite palpable in the movie.

I've seen Bambi twice, once in 1956, when I was four (it was the first movie I saw) and again about three years ago.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[mamakash]

Once upon a time, fables and fairy tales were not analyzed for how much trauma they would cause, and the phrase age-appropriate did not exist. In fact, Disney's tales are, in generally, terrifically sanitized versions of other stories.

I remember reading " the little mermaid" sometime after seeing Disney's version. And the animated movie is indeed sanitized. In the book, the mermaid loses that chance to marry the prince and as a result, loses her life.
Disney's "Snow White" was well done and scared me when I was three years old. That may have been the first movie I saw.

"Bambie" is a yawn. I saw it once and found it uninteresting.

[Walden]

When I was a child, we had a copy of the original novel of Bambi, though I have never actually read it.

I've been to the show twice in my life, both within the same month, when I was 13.

Bambi was the first of the two films I saw theatrically. As a 13-year old boy I was neither horribly impressed with it nor was I in the least traumatized by it (other than the fear that some of my fellow "Holy Rollers" had seen me going into a movie house ).

The other film that I saw was also from Disney studios, though under one of their imprints. It was Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Of the two, that was probably the one I'd have more qualms with showing to young children, though my cousin, who was two or three at the time, did become distraught, asking "What happened to Bambi's mama?"

As far as I know, Disney has always had the policy of re-releasing their cartoon features every so many years, presumably so that each new generation can see it as a child.

[glauber]

Although i'm tempted to say "all Disney stuff is crap" (and a lot of it is, for sure), it varies. I think Dumbo is actually very good. I just watched Mary Poppins for the first time, and i have to say, i'm impressed. The opening scene of The Lion King, when seen in a big movie screen, is exquisitely exhilarating.

The rest is crap!

[Bloomfield]

The rest is crap!

Fantasia is great.

[missy]

ok - I can't resist doing this.......

I don't remember if my kids saw Bambi or not (I just asked Noah and he says no.) However, if they had seen it, I know what they would have said when the mother is shot:

"Cool! Dinner!"

My dad was a hunter, my ex is a hunter, and Nate, my oldest, got a 8 point buck his first time out hunting. I'm not trying to start a conversation or argument on the pros and cons of hunting - I'm just letting you know there is another point of view.

Missy

[aderyn_du]

I guess I'm in a minority... I really like Disney movies. But then, I also think life is magical.

I do have to admit that I've started losing interest in the new ones over the last few years, though. I think Tarzan was the last one that I really enjoyed.

[Jack]

I've never seen it.

As a matter of fact, I haven't seen most movies that are really popular.

When I was growing up, for some reason, we just never watched them.

I still don't like to watch movies. I'd rather read.

When I have my own home and children, I will not have a television in my house.

[dubhlinn]

There is a wonderful scene in Aladdin where Aladdin asks the Genie just what he can do.Robin Williams,the voice behind the genie, goes into a huge frantic monologue describing the options available and it is a testimony to the art of the animaters that they could illustrate every single thought that flew through Williams brain.Incredible!!


Toy Story 1 was pretty nifty too.I had to take my son to see it for seven or eight weeks on the trot...I can still remember huge chunks of the script verbatim.


Slan,
D.
D

[izzarina]

Disney's marketing sucks. I detest Disney with a passion. Everything is "magical". It's crap. That's why I wouldn't buy it.
Bambi doesn't even have a plot.

But he talks, that should account for something