You know, I almost didn’t have a holiday post this
year. Sure, there’s a whole lot of
folklore associated with the December holidays, but I just wasn’t feeling the
draw for any of that stuff. What I
really needed was something that drew on the other side of the “Fairy Tale
Fandom” equation: popular culture.
So, let’s talk about one of the most unique aspects of
Christmas-time popular culture: the Rankin/Bass Christmas special.
Rankin/Bass Productions was founded by Arthur Rankin, Jr.
and Jules Bass on September 14, 1960 as Videocraft International. Rankin/Bass Productions is known for its
animated productions, some of which were made using traditional cel animation
but many of which were made using a stop-motion animation process called
Animagic. Interestingly, a great number
of Rankin/Bass animated productions were actually animated at studios in Japan
(that’s right, when you’re watching Rankin/Bass specials you’re watching
anime). And while they’ve been
responsible for a number of different things ranging from the animated Hobbit movie to the ‘80s cartoons Thundercats, Silverhawks and Tigersharks, what
Rankin/Bass are best known for is their Christmas specials.
It’s kind of strange, because of this fact, stop-motion
animation is probably more associated with Christmas than anything in the
world.
Anyway, while Rankin/Bass has done its fair share of work
with mythic figures like Santa Claus and Jack Frost, what got my attention is
this special that I just happened to get as a gift on a DVD set last year:
Pinocchio’s Christmas from 1980.
I know I post about Pinocchio a fair bit already, but I’ve
got a soft spot for that story. This
story is familiar territory for Rankin/Bass too. One of their first productions was a TV
series titled The New Adventures of Pinocchio.
The story focuses on Pinocchio as he prepares to get ready
to experience his first Christmas. Geppetto,
as is usually the case, is flat broke (or maybe a better description is “dirt
poor”). So, he decides to sell his boots
to buy Pinocchio a present: an arithmetic book.
Pinocchio, less than enthusiastic about the book, sells it and then
decides to use the money to buy Gepetto a present. At least, he does until the Fox and Cat show
up and convince him to bury the money so it will grow into a Christmas tree
covered in money. The Fox and Cat having
stolen his money, he decides to sign up with Fire-Eater’s puppet show. While performing in the show, he develops a
little crush on another non-living puppet named Julietta. Discovering that Fire-Eater plans on changing
her into a Wise-Man for a Nativity production, Pinocchio takes Julietta and
runs. Meanwhile, the Fox and Cat are
making a deal with a rather brutish man to secure Pinocchio as a gift for the
children of his boss the Duke. Pinocchio
finds his way into a magic forest (one where he was once part of one of the
trees). The Fox and Cat find him and try
to convince him to be taken to the Duke (in song, mind you) by lying that he’ll
be taken to a medicine that will bring Julietta to life. But they get scared off and Pinocchio finds
his way into the presence of the Blue Fairy.
And . . . you know, I’ve told you enough probably. He gets a lesson/task from the Blue-Haired
Fairy. He gets tricked again. He meets the Duke. Santa Claus shows up (as he often does in
these specials).
If it seems like it’s just one ordeal or misadventure after
another in pursuit of some kind of pie-in-the-sky goal, you’re not wrong. That’s pretty much how Pinocchio stories
work, though. Carlo Collodi’s original
story was serialized so that it would be one story after another. Even the Disney movie followed roughly the
same format.
Going beyond that though, I’m pretty impressed by what a
nice middle ground the special finds between the sometimes controversial book
and popular but saccharine Disney movie (yeah, I said it. Come at me, bro). There are numerous examples in the special
that show that the creators of it have read the book. They acknowledge that Pinocchio is kind of a
naughty little puppet at first. They
show the Blue Fairy’s servants: the monkey and the poodle. They include her coach pulled by white
mice. The names are consistent with the
book. The Cat from the shifty Fox and
Cat duo is female like in the book. Geppetto
even wears his yellow wig. But other
things are softened or made more consistent with the Disney film. For example, Pinocchio doesn’t kill the
talking cricket, he just drives it away.
Also, when they show scenes from his future adventures, it’s definitely
a whale he’s escaping from, not a dogfish.
But possibly the most notable difference between the special and the
book is that they make extra sure to note that Pinocchio is the world’s only
living puppet. It’s even a major plot
point. This was very much not the case
in the book, as Fire-Eater’s puppet theatre was full of living puppets. But this all just shows that there is a
middle ground to be found between the two extremes.
The special is not perfect, though. The songs are nothing to write home
about. There are no bonafide Christmas
classics in it like “Silver and Gold” from Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer. They can
even be a little dated. One scene where
Pinocchio imagines himself teaching Santa’s toys how to dance, the music has a
bit of a disco vibe. Not really an “ironic”
disco vibe, too. Also, one troubling
thing is that the Fox and the Cat (two characters known for being thieves,
liars and swindlers) are dressed kind of like Romani stereotypes.
I would recommend the special, though. It would be a good way to inject some variety
into the roster of Christmas specials that are shown every year. Give it a watch if you can.
Goodness, I learn something new with each post! Tganjs!
ReplyDeleteI have a vague memory of an Ialian version with Gina Lollobrigida as the Blue Fairy. And what was that US film with the robot boy who wants to be human?
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.
DeleteThis story, or at least the characters in them have been tackled a number of times. There was a TV miniseries with Bob Hoskins as Geppetto too, which I have on DVD but haven't really done anything with.
Huh, in the version I read the cat was male and the fox was female
ReplyDelete