Pinocchio is a
cultural icon and one of the most reimagined characters in children's literature. His story has been adapted into many other media, notably the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio.[5] Collodi often used the Italian Tuscan dialect in his book. The name Pinocchio is possibly derived from the rare Tuscan form pinocchio (“
pine nut”) or constructed from pino (“pine tree, pine wood”) and
occhio ("eye").
Pinocchio's characterization varies across interpretations, but several aspects are consistent across all adaptations: Pinocchio is an animated sentient puppet, Pinocchio's maker is
Geppetto and Pinocchio's nose grows when he lies.[6]
Pinocchio is known for having a short nose that becomes longer when he is under stress (chapter 3), especially while lying. In the original tale, Collodi describes him as a "rascal," "imp," "
scapegrace" (mischievous or wayward person), "disgrace," "ragamuffin," and "confirmed rogue," with even his father, carpenter Geppetto, referring to him as a "wretched boy." Upon being born, Pinocchio immediately laughs derisively in his creator's face, whereupon he steals the old man's wig.
Pinocchio's bad behavior, rather than being charming or endearing, is meant to serve as a warning. Collodi originally intended the story, which was first published in June 1881 in the children's magazine Il Corriere dei Piccoli,[7] to be a tragedy. It concluded with the puppet's execution. Pinocchio's enemies, the Fox and the Cat, bind his arms, pass a noose around his throat, and hang him from the branch of an oak tree.[8]
A tempestuous northerly wind began to blow and roar angrily, and it beat the poor puppet from side to side, making him swing violently, like the clatter of a bell ringing for a wedding. And the swinging gave him atrocious spasms...His breath failed him and he could say no more. He shut his eyes, opened his mouth, stretched his legs, gave a long shudder, and hung stiff and insensible.
Characteristics
Clothing and character
Pinocchio is a wooden
marionette (a puppet that is manipulated with wires or strings) and not a
hand puppet (directly controlled from inside by the puppeteer's hand). However, the piece of wood from which he is derived is animated, and so Pinocchio moves independently. He often gets carried away by bad company and is prone to lying. His nose becomes longer when lying to others.[3] Because of these characteristics, he often finds himself in trouble. Pinocchio transforms in the novel: he promises
The Fairy with Turquoise Hair to become a real boy, flees with
Candlewick to the
Land of Toys, becomes a donkey, joins a circus, and becomes a puppet again. In the last chapter, out of the mouth of
The Terrible Dogfish with Geppetto, Pinocchio finally stops being a puppet and becomes a real boy (thanks to the intervention of the Fairy in a dream).
In the novel, Pinocchio is often depicted with a pointy hat, a jacket, and a pair of colored, knee-length pants. In the
Disney version, the appearance is different; the character is dressed in
Tyrolean style, with
Lederhosen and a hat with a feather.
Nose
Pinocchio's nose is his best-known characteristic. It grows in length when he tells a lie, but also does so in the book when it is first carved by Geppetto.
The nose is mentioned only a couple of times in the book, but it reveals the Blue Fairy's power over Pinocchio when he acts disobediently. After the boy's struggling and weeping over his deformed nose, the Blue Fairy summons woodpeckers to peck it back to normal.
Use as an allegory
Pinocchio's nose is arguably the most colorful and revealing part in the entire story. It has the capacity to reveal to others that its owner was lying. Today it is sometimes used as an allegory. When someone says, "Your nose is growing!”, he is signaling to others -and to speaker himself- that he might be lying.
Literary analysis
Some literary analysts have described Pinocchio as an
epic hero. Like many Western literary heroes, such as
Odysseus, Pinocchio descends into hell; he also experiences rebirth through metamorphosis, a common motif in fantasy literature.[9]
Before writing Pinocchio, Collodi wrote a number of didactic children's stories for the then-recently
unified Italy, including a series about an unruly boy who undergoes humiliating experiences while traveling the country, titled Viaggio per l'Italia di Giannettino ('Little Johnny's voyage through Italy').[10] Throughout Pinocchio, Collodi chastises Pinocchio for his lack of moral fiber and his persistent rejection of responsibility and desire for fun.
The structure of the story of Pinocchio follows that of the folktales of peasants who venture out into the world but are naïvely unprepared for what they find and get into ridiculous situations.[11] At the time of the writing of the book, this was a serious problem, arising partly from the
industrialization of Italy, which led to a growing need for reliable labor in the cities; the problem was exacerbated by similar, more or less simultaneous, demands for labor in the industrialization of other countries. One major effect was the emigration of much of the Italian peasantry to cities and foreign countries such as the United States.
The main imperatives demanded of Pinocchio are to work, be good, and study. And in the end, Pinocchio's willingness to provide for his father and devote himself to these things transforms him into a real boy with modern comforts.[9]
Media portrayals
Literature
Il Segreto di Pinocchio (1894) by Gemma Mongiardini-Rembadi, published in the United States in 1913 as Pinocchio under the Sea.[12]
Pinocchio in Africa (1903) by Eugenio Cherubini.[13]
The Heart of Pinocchio (1917) by Paolo Lorenzini.[14]
The children's novel The Golden Key, or The Adventures of Buratino (1936) is a free retelling of the story of Pinocchio by Russian writer
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy.[17] Some of the adventures are derived from Collodi, but many are either omitted or added. Pinocchio (Buratino) does not reform himself nor becomes a real human. For Tolstoy, Pinocchio as a puppet is a positive model of creative and non-conformist behavior.
Fables (2002–2015), a comic book series by
Bill Willingham, includes
Pinocchio as a refugee, having fled his magical homeland and living in the mundane 21st century.
Marvel Fairy Tales (2006–2008), a comic book series by
C. B. Cebulski, features a retelling of The Adventures of Pinocchio with the robotic superhero called
The Vision in the role of Pinocchio.[21]
Wooden Bones (2012) by
Scott William Carter describes a fictional untold story of Pinocchio, with a dark twist. Pino, as he's come to be known after he became a real boy, has discovered that he has the power to bring puppets to life himself.
When
Walt Disney Productions was developing the story for their film version of Pinocchio (1940), they intended to keep the obnoxious aspects of the original character, but
Walt Disney himself felt that this made the character too unlikable, so alterations were made to incorporate traits of mischief and innocence to make Pinocchio more likable. Pinocchio was voiced by
Dickie Jones. Today, the film is considered one of the finest Disney features ever made and
one of the greatest animated films of all time. In the
video game adaptation of the film, Pinocchio lives out (mostly) the same role as the film, traveling through the world filled with temptations and experiencing various forces.
In Kinect Disneyland Adventures, he appears as a meet-and-greet character in Fantasyland and has several quests for the player. In Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion Pinocchio is featured as one of the many iconic Disney characters kidnapped by the evil witch Mizrabel in her plot to dominate their world; he is imprisoned alongside Genie in the Cave of Wonders until eventually being rescued by
Mickey Mouse.
In the early 1990s, it is rumored that
Elijah Wood portrayed the real-boy version of Pinocchio in the live-action segments for the updated
Jiminy Cricket educational serialsI'm No Fool and You, in addition to the new shorts of I'm No Fool.
In March 2021, it was announced that Benjamin Evan Ainsworth would play him in Disney's
2022 live-action/CGI remake of the animated film.[34]
Pinocchio first appeared in a cinematic adaptation in Pinocchio (1911), an Italian live-action
silent film, directed by
Giulio Antamoro. The character is performed by French-Italian comedian Ferdinand Guillaume.
A 1936 adaptation The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio) was planned in Italy by Raoul Verdini and Umberto Spano, but it was never entirely completed and is now considered
lost. Only the original script and some still frames are all that survived from the film.
The first
child actor to portray Pinocchio was Alessandro Tommei in the 1947 Italian film The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio), directed by Gianetto Guardone.
Italian comedian
Totò portrayed Pinocchio in the 1952 film Toto in Color (Totò a colori).
Actor
Mel Blanc voiced Pinocchio in a 1953 radio adaptation of the story. This is the second adaptation of Pinocchio with Mel Blanc involved, as Blanc voiced
Gideon the Cat in the 1940 Disney film until all of his lines were deleted, save for three hiccups.
In Pinocchio (1965), the character is portrayed by actor John Joy.
In the Belgian-American animated film Pinocchio in Outer Space (1965), the character is voiced by actor Peter Lazer.
Pinocchio (Turlis Abenteuer) (1967) is an East German film, directed by Walter Beck. Pinocchio (Turli) is a puppet, voiced by actress Gina Prescott. In the final scene, as a boy, he is portrayed by Uwe Thielisch.
The Adventures of Pinocchio (Un burattino di nome Pinocchio, 1972) is an Italian animated film, written and directed by
Giuliano Cenci. Pinocchio is voiced by actress Roberta Paladini with
Pamelyn Ferdin doing his English voice dub.
The 1977 animated film Spinnolio, created by
John Weldon for the
National Film Board of Canada, parodies Pinocchio with the story of a wooden boy who never comes to life, but nobody notices because his apparent skill at listening without talking makes him the ideal candidate for a job as manager of a department store's complaints desk.[36]
Si Boneka Kayu, Pinokio (Pinocchio the wood puppet) is the 1979 Indonesian musical film, directed by Willy Willian, written by
Imam Tantowi and based on the original story with some additional adaptations. Pinocchio is portrayed by the Indonesian actor and comedian
Ateng.
Pinocchio appeared in the French-Dutch TV musical film Abbacadabra (1983), directed by Rien van Wijk. He was portrayed by actor Nico Haak.
Pinocho is a 1986 Argentinian movie, directed by Alejandro Malowichi. Pinocchio is portrayed by an actress
Soledad Silveyra.
Pinocchio 3000 is a 2004 Canadian-French-Spanish computer-animated film, directed by Daniel Robichaud. Pinocchio, a robot that was built by Geppetto, is voiced by Canadian actress Sonja Ball in English.[38]
In Alberto Sironi's 2008
miniseries, Pinocchio was portrayed by
Robbie Kay. In this adaptation Pinocchio has the physical appearance of a real human boy from the very first moment he comes to life instead of being a
CGI character and it's stated he's still made of wood on the inside.
In the 2012 Italian animated adaptation Pinocchio, directed by
Enzo D'Alò, Pinocchio is voiced by child actor Gabriele Caprio in the Italian original version. In the English dub he is voiced by child actor
Robert Naylor in the Canadian release, and by singer
Johnny Orlando in the American one.
Child actor
Federico Ielapi portrayed Pinocchio in the live-action Italian film Pinocchio (2019), co-written, directed and co-produced by
Matteo Garrone. Prosthetic makeup was used to turn Ielapi into a puppet. Ielapi also dubbed himself in the English-language version of the movie.
In 2022, Disney released Pinocchio, a live action remake of their 1940 animated version, directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Zemeckis and Chris Weitz.
In 2022,
Netflix released a
stop-motionmusical film titled Pinocchio, inspired by
Gris Grimly’s original design for Pinocchio, and co-directed by
Guillermo del Toro and
Mark Gustafson. The film stars
Gregory Mann in the title role, along with
Ewan McGregor as Sebastian J. Cricket, and
David Bradley playing Geppetto. Unlike the original story or any other versions of it, Pinocchio stays a wooden puppet at the end of the movie but was still considered at the end, by his loved ones including the Wood Sprite (the movie’s counterpart to the
Fairy with Turquoise Hair) (voiced by
Tilda Swinton, who also voiced
Death, the Sprite’s sister) as already a real boy.[40][41][42] The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature in January 2023.[43]
A horror reimagining titled Pinocchio: Unstrung will be produced by
Jagged Edge Productions. It was teased at the end of their horror film Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, itself a horror imagining of the children's franchise Winnie-the-Pooh. Pinocchio: Unstrung is intended to share the same universe as Blood and Honey.[44]
Television
Musician and comedian
Spike Jones portrayed Pinocchio in the first television adaptation, a satirical version aired 24 April 1954 as an episode of The Spike Jones Show.
Pinocchio was portrayed by thirteen-year-old
Andrew Irvine as 'Nokie'[45] in the 1955
ITV children's series Round at the Redways.
De avonturen van Pinokkio (1968–69) is a Dutch TV miniseries. Pinocchio is portrayed by an actress
Wieteke van Dort.
Tatsunoko Productions created a 52-episode
anime series entitled Pinocchio: The Series, first aired in 1972. This series has a distinctly darker, more sadistic theme, and portrays the main character Pinocchio (Mokku) as suffering from constant physical and psychological abuse and freak accidents. Pinocchio was voiced by actress
Hiroko Maruyama and in the 1992 English-dubbed version by actor
Thor Bishopric.
Pinocchio is a 1976 American television musical film, directed by
Ron Field and
Sid Smith, aired 27 March 1976. Pinocchio is portrayed by an actress
Sandy Duncan.
Pinocchio is a 1978 British television miniseries produced by the
BBC in 4 episodes, directed by
Barry Letts. Pinocchio is a puppet voiced by an actress
Rosemary Miller. In the final scene, he is portrayed by child actor
Joshua White.
Child actor
Seth Adkins portrayed Pinocchio in the television musical film Geppetto (2000) and as a guest star, in an episode of The Drew Carey Show, aired 1 March 2000. He also voiced the character in the video game Kingdom Hearts (2002).
Pinocchio appeared in the Australian television series Fairy Tale Police Department (2001–02), where he works at F.T.P.D. Pinocchio is voiced by actress
Maggie Dence.
Child actor
Robbie Kay was Pinocchio in the two-episode TV film Pinocchio (2008), directed by Alberto Sironi.
Pinocchio appeared in 2010 in the animated television series Simsala Grimm in an episode of the same name.
Pinocchio is a recurring character in the television series Once Upon a Time (2011–16). He appears in Storybrooke in the form of a mysterious man named
August Booth (played by
Eion Bailey). In the Enchanted Forest, his younger self is played by
Jakob Davies, but he was released into our world before the curse by
Geppetto; Geppetto had been charged with making a magic cabinet to allow
Snow White and series protagonist
Emma Swan to escape the curse, but Geppetto arranged for Pinocchio to enter the cabinet instead as he feared that his son would cease to exist if the curse was cast as there would have been no way for him to be born without magic. August begins to return to his wooden state towards the end of the
first season due to his selfishness, but following his near-death by
Tamara, the
Blue Fairy restored Pinocchio to his child self for his compassion and courage and he resumes living with Geppetto. In the
fourth season, he was restored to his adult state by
Rumplestiltskin so that he could torture him for information about the Author. In the
sixth season, it was revealed that August was the one who inspired Emma to take on the
surnameSwan after he shared with her the fairy tale
The Ugly Duckling when they were kids.
Actor Sigurður Þór Óskarsson portrayed Pinocchio in an episode ("New Kid in Town") of the TV series LazyTown, aired 5 October 2014.
Pinocchio, a 2014–2015 South Korean television series starring Lee Jong-suk and Park Shin-Hye.
Rooster Teeth's web series RWBY features a character named Penny Polendina, who alludes to Pinocchio.
Pinocchio appeared as the main character in the anthology horror comedy series JJ Villard's Fairy Tales, with
John Kassir playing the role of the title puppet and his creator Gelato (an allusion to Geppetto).
The horror season of
Dropout's web series Dimension 20, entitled Neverafter (2022), features Pinocchio as a principal character, played by
Lou Wilson.
Pinocchio (1993) adapted by David Gilles. Produced by MTYP (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada). Starring Derek Aasland as Pinocchio and Harry Nelken as
Geppetto. Review "Pinocchio's Fun Contagious" - Winnipeg Free Press[46] - Preview Play Probes Pinocchio - Winnipeg Free Press [47]
Actor
John Tartaglia portrayed Pinocchio in the original Broadway cast of Shrek the Musical (2008) as well as in the 2013 filmed version.
L'altro Pinocchio (2011), musical by Vito Costantini based on L'altro Pinocchio (Editrice La Scuola, Brescia 1999).
Pinocchio. Storia di un burattino da Carlo Collodi by Massimiliano Finazzer Flory (2012)
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a 2009 opera by Israeli composer
Jonathan Dove, "for 3 actors, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano".
The musical Pinocchio - Superstar was produced by Norberto Bertassi and performed by the young talents association Teatro. Premiered on 20 July 2016 in Mödling, Austria.
The Making of Pinocchio—"a true tale of love and transition told through the story of Pinocchio"—is a contemporary interpretation by Rosana Cade and Ivor MacAskill, which had its UK premiere at the
Battersea Arts Centre as part of the
London International Festival of Theatre in 2022.
Miscellaneous
Lies of P, a
video game developed by Round8 Studio is loosely based on the original 1883 novel.