Disney's Bambi discussion

[IsraeliDisneyFan]

Here we discuss one of Disney's darkest yet cutest films, I have been watching Bambi yesterday and it is such a classic film yet so dramatic, some scenes were pretty harsh ngl but I like the cuteness in the film. I also watched the midquel, nice addition to the plot gap to the original movie.

Here we can talk about the original 1942 classic and its 2006 midquel, merchandise and such, or maybe some ideas for Bambi merch if you got any. I hope this thread will be quite interesting to engage at.

[NHWestoN]

I read Felix Salten's Bambi: A Life in the Forest at the age of nine, and was deeply, deeply moved. Later, I went on to read many of his other books (Bambi's Children, Perri, Fifteen Rabbits, etc ). When I remember, I add his name to the Birthday thread every September 6th.

At any rate, I saw the movie at the age of ten and left with very mixed emotions. To keep it very, very short, I was enchanted by the music, the art and animation, and the romance of the story. That said, I was distrubed by the departures from the narrative - the substitution of important characters (Ronno, Karus, Gobo, and others) for "cutie-patooties" like Thumper and Flower especially.

This'll be an interesting discussion, Is. Thanks for starting it.

[DDeer]

I read the book (on Weston’s recommendation) then rewatched the film, having only ever seen snippets, I prefer the book as the characters have more depth to me, particularly Faline whom I found quite mercurial and intriguing in the book. I do love the animated style of the movie I have to confess. Bambi 2 was more mixed for me, it was great how they kept the style faithfully and good to see more of Ronno, it was just let down by some sloppy and immature jokes at times I felt that spoilt it but still well worth a watch I thought.

Unsurprisingly I have a fair amount of Bambi merch, mainly clothes and badges.

[NHWestoN]

As the animators and story people worked through the text of the movie, once of the segments they decided to drop was one of the book's most powerful - the conversation between the various deer characters about what is Man and why is he so cruel.

Foundering over their debates, the young stag Karus laments, "Will he ever stop killing us?" A young doe named Marena offers this vision, that "they say some day he will, that he'll come into the forest and play with us and we'll be friends."

Nettla, a grisled old doe and survivor, snorts at this fantasy - "Friends with Man?! He's killed our mothers and fathers and brothers since forever! What nonsense!"

Marena looked at them all out of her great shining eyes. "Love is no nonsense," she replied. "It has to come."

I read that section long ago when I did some lay preaching at my church. Maybe it was my emphatic reading or the unexpected power of the innocent's conviction, but several people in the pews gasped at the force of Marena's declaration.

Perhaps the directors had begun to realize that Salten's narrative had more dark power and gravity then they could handle. Besides, Thumper and Flower are easier to draw than a pack of cervine philosophers groping towards an understanding of the ways of God.

- - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -

Cutting this sequence, of course, eliminated much of the dramatic and spiritual power of Salten's Bambi and steered the production towards becoming what it became, Walt Disney's Bambi. Ronno, as Salten casts him, is a much older deer, carrying a wounded hoof, and initial treats young Bambi with a kind of paternal distant. When the fight between him and the hormone-enflamed mature Bambi occurs over Faline, Ronno gets knocked for a loop almost immiediately and is lucky to escape with his life. In Bambi II, Ronno and Bambi are contemporaries, and Ronno's kind of a run a marathon. Bambi's Children, Salten's sequel, is much richer and more powerful but then this now is also a different Disney as well as a different Bambi.

I have most of Salten's Books and some of the Disney merch. Much of what I once owed vanished in our frequent moves in my Army days. I often said that, if I ever murdered someone and wanted to insured the body was never found, I'd just entrust it to Army family possessions packers and have them moved. ppfht!!! Gone forever! Nice to have you back with us, DDeer.

[IsraeliDisneyFan]

it surprised me the author of Bambi was Jewish like me

[Amazee Dayzee]

I watched the movie when I was really young a few times but that is about it. I also saw some clips of it in those Disney Sing-A-Long video tapes that they had back in the day but this is going back to the mid-90s so I don't have many memories of it. I also enjoyed the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and thought they missed a darkly humorous opportunity when they decided NOT to make Judge Doom be the one who shot Bambi's mother.

I am probably going to be burning for that opinion.

[NHWestoN]

it surprised me the author of Bambi was Jewish like me

Salten was, indeed, Jewish and grew up in Hapsburg Vienna at the twilight of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was an active member of a writer's group there and did quite a few articles for newspapers, journals, and at least one novel. Bambi, which came out in the early twenties after Austria became a separate state, was influenced by the upheavals and despair haunting central Europe after the First World War. Other writers have also sensed that, although not particularly devout, Salten's animal stories were profoundly influenced by Jewish mysicism and a sense of the quiet presence of God. (In their last time together, Bambi's father shows him the dead body of a poacher and comments that "Man is not the end. There is a Higher Power above him and above us all" before he leaves his son for the last time.)

Also, Bambi's Children deserves a wider readership than it gets. It's as powerful as Bambi, but a little less intense and Faline plays a much larger role. Think you, Amazz, and DDeer might enjoy that reprise, too.

[DDeer]

I too would have liked to see more of the individual Deer characters from the book in the film but can understand Disney wanted to take it in a different direction, I guess philosophical Deer may not have been thought to have been as appealing to audiences.

I have an old copy of Bambi’s Childern from the 1940s with some nice pen and ink illustrations, I must re-read it, I recall being pleased Faline featured more.

[DDeer]

I too would have liked to see more of the individual Deer characters from the book in the film but can understand Disney wanted to take it in a different direction, I guess philosophical Deer may not have been thought to have been as appealing to audiences.

I have an old copy of Bambi’s Childern from the 1940s with some nice pen and ink illustrations, I must re-read it, I recall being pleased Faline featured more.

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[NHWestoN]

Happy New Year to all you folks and all fans of Bambi, Disney, and Felix Salten. Here's to better times, Marena!

[IsraeliDisneyFan]

I love the movie because of cute characters

[Amazee Dayzee]

Its hard to believe that as of now Bambi is 103 years old from when he was first created in 1923 and that was before even Alaska or Hawaii joined the United States and America had only 48 states altogether. I would like to think at this point Bambi has had children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and maybe one great-great-grandchild even though most likely Bambi is no longer on Earth as deer only live 3 to 6 years, but it is nice to think about the family he might have had.

[IsraeliDisneyFan]

not to sound rude or aggressive or anything like that but this thread is more about the Disney movie version of Bambi rather than the original book, so can we please talk more about the Disney version?

[NHWestoN]

Sure. An aspect of the movie which is rarely noted is its music, both the songs and the background score. The Bambi-Faline love song, I Bring You a Song is an exquisite piece, intricately chorographed as the two characters move through the moonlit fields, ending with a halting cosumation and then the choral refrain. Another example is "Little April Showers" which starts out a bit sappy but then transforms into a powerful storm punctuated by lightning flashes illuminating the different creatures as they react to power. Then, the storm ends and suddenly, we're back to the simple verses, now transformed into a theme of relief at the end of the weather raging. Great early Disney, just great.

[IsraeliDisneyFan]

Don't get me wrong, it's okay to mention the book here and there but the main focus of the thread is the Disney version

[NHWestoN]

Don't get me wrong, it's okay to mention the book here and there but the main focus of the thread is the Disney version

No problem, Is. Discussion threads, however, do have a way of splaying out in all sorts of unintended directions.

[IsraeliDisneyFan]

don't you just love Thumper? he's so cute!!!!

[Amazee Dayzee]

They are all adorable in their own way but then again it's a movie by Disney so you would expect that. One of my memories embarrassingly enough was thinking that all of the characters in the movie were FEMALE because when I was younger I couldn't distinguish between male and female voices on television and sometimes today I still can't. >_<

[NHWestoN]

They are all adorable in their own way but then again it's a movie by Disney so you would expect that. One of my memories embarrassingly enough was thinking that all of the characters in the movie were FEMALE because when I was younger I couldn't distinguish between male and female voices on television and sometimes today I still can't. >_<

What I learned as a very small child was to watch for eyelashes - girls always had eyelashes. I did get more sophisticated eventually.

[IsraeliDisneyFan]

I believed Flower was a girl until I realized it was a boy

yeah.... it's not uncommon for cartoons to give audience confusions on gender assuming

[Amazee Dayzee]

I think Bambi was the one where I had the most issues out of all the cartoons that I watched if I am being honest. I didn't know that Bambi was a MALE until the sequel movie came out in 2006. Another thing is that if you look at Bambi real closely you can sort of see longer eyelashes.

[NHWestoN]

I think Bambi was the one where I had the most issues out of all the cartoons that I watched if I am being honest. I didn't know that Bambi was a MALE until the sequel movie came out in 2006. Another thing is that if you look at Bambi real closely you can sort of see longer eyelashes.

I know. I cheated. I read the book first.

[Amazee Dayzee]

If you cheated first then that doesn't really count because its not fair so nothing you say matters. Though I imagine reading the Disney book first would clarify it pretty quickly but even on the cover you can see Bambi have quite feminine eyelashes.