L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2016 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 7 "I can move! I can talk! I can walk!" : whoever has a passion for fairy tales must know the story this quote belongs to. Not s u r e y e t ? H e r e a n o t h e r h i n t : "When he lies his nose gets big." Yes, you are right! We are talk- ing about Pinocchio, the most famous animated puppet brought t o l i f e b y a b l u e f a i r y , w h o promises he will become a real boy only if he proves himself to b e " b r a v e , t r u t h f u l , a n d unselfish". But, as we all know, especially this kind of achieve- ments do not come without a certain numbers of adventures and many dangerous situations to pass. That's the path followed by the little burattino too. The novel "Le Avventure di Pinocchio", written by Italian author Carlo Collodi, was origi- nally a series in 1881 and com- pleted as a book for children in 1883. However it became popu- lar worldwide also thanks to the animated fantasy movie pro- duced by Walt Disney in 1940. Although it is today considered as one of the best achievements o f t h e A m e r i c a n d i r e c t o r , Disney's second full length ani- mated feature movie did not reach the expected success. This and much more has been at the centre of an exclusive panel, " P i n o c c h i o f r o m C o l l o d i t o Disney", hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute on May 19, in occasion of the opening of the exhibition "Wish Upon a Star: the Art of Pinocchio" at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. Animation Historian John Canemaker and Italian journalist Federico Fiecconi have walked the audience through a fascinat- ing discovery of Pinocchio as character as well as of the illus- tration of some original Italian objects and artworks related to Collodi's masterpiece, on dis- play at the Institute's conference hall for two weeks. As researcher, author, and director who won, among oth- ers, an Academy Award, John Canemaker explained the mak- ing and the art of Disney's mas- terpiece, focusing on the com- parison between the Disney ver- s i o n a n d C o l l o d i ' s o r i g i n a l novel. On the other hand, thanks to his experience as Animation Reporter, Federico Fiecconi could give an overview of works of some Italian artists inspired by Collodi's story. 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Fiecconi's exploration was followed by John Canemaker's review of both Pinocchio and the Walt Disney's movie: thanks to his knowledge and experience in the animation world, Canemaker delivered a captivating analysis of Pinocchio's character. Walt Disney travelled to Europe in the mid 1930s and, once in Italy, he bought some books hoping to find a story for a new movie: t h a t ' s h o w C o l l o d i ' s n o v e l became one of Disney's movies. But the path was not as easy like for other animated movies: Walt D i s n e y s t a r t e d w o r k i n g o n Pinocchio in 1938 and immedi- a t e l y h a d t o d e a l w i t h s o m e issues. " W o r k i n g o n P i n o c c h i o ' s movie was not that smooth as Walt Disney would have expect- ed", John Canemaker explained. "He had to deal with the length of the story (33 chapters), while the character itself was a tough one. Pinocchio is not a warm and cuddly puppet, he is ugly and it does not represent a charming hero as Disney's fans would like. T h a t ' s w h y t h e y n e e d e d a n extra-effort to make of him an appealing, cute character." How did the Pinocchio movie express the new achieve- ments in the industry? The characters in the movie a r e v e r y s o p h i s t i c a t e d . N e v e r t h e l e s s , t h e a n i m a t i o n p r o c e s s w a s n o t e a s y e i t h e r : v i s u a l i z e t h e w o r d s a n d t h e actions in the board was very hard as well as the making of all characters. Walt Disney had to create a team to produce little clay sculptures. Indeed, he also h i r e d a m u p p e t s m a k e r , Cristodoro, who was considered the "maestro" of the team. This movie is very meaningful, in the way it proved, for the first time, that making cartoons is a real art". W h y d i d n ' t i t g e t t h e expected success at the begin- ning? The fact that it was produced soon after Snow White is crucial. S n o w W h i t e w a s a r o m a n t i c movie, whereas Pinocchio is a "buddy movie", limited in terms of audience. Therefore, from the historical perspective, the war had just started in Europe and finances were bad, so very few people could watch it. W h a t ' s t h e d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n t h a t a u d i e n c e a n d today's one? Pinocchio is one of those sto- ries that are told by grandpar- ents, parents, and so on. It has such a strong and good reputa- t i o n t h a t e v e r y b o d y l o v e s i t today, even if it's a bad and ugly character, so different from any other hero. It's not by chance t h a t o t h e r d i r e c t o r s , s u c h a s S p i e l b e r g a n d F r a n c i s F o r d C o p p o l a , g o t i n s p i r e d b y Pinocchio, its personality and features. Is there any contemporary character that reminds you of Pinocchio? This movie has not been sur- passed in quality yet. Right now I cannot think of any other char- a c t e r t h a t r e m i n d s m e o f Pinocchio, however I can say that he is great because Collodi w a s a s m u c h r e a l i s t i c a s h e could. "We should have known the story more and gone back to Collodi's story": Walt Disney was not wrong after all. The exhibition "Wish Upon a Star: The Art of Pinocchio" is on display from May 18, 2016 through Jan 9, 2017 at the Diane Disney Miller Exhibition Hall - WALT DISNEY FAMILY Museum.

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