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Collodi's Puppet in Film: Disney, Comencini, Benigni

2004; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 25; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.33137/q.i..v25i1.9208

2293-7382

Patrizia Bettella,

Italian Fascism and Post-war Society

Geppetto's initial wish in Collodi's Le avventure di Pinocchio was to build a wonderful puppet who could perform acrobatics and help him earn a liv- ing touring the world.Ho pensato di fabbricarmi da me un bel burattino di legno; ma un burat- tino meraviglioso, che sappia ballare, tirare di scherma e fare i salti mortali.Con questo burattino voglio girare il mondo, per buscarmi un tozzo di pane e un bicchier di vino 1 .Since Geppetto created Pinocchio with performance and entertain- ment in mind, it is not surprising to note how much interest the boy-pup- pet has attracted in cinema, theatre, and television.Cinema and television have given Pinocchio undivided attention for almost a century.Data shows that the story of the puppet generated approximately twenty feature film adaptations, 2 to which one should add the European co-production direct- ed by Steve Barron ( 1 996) and, of course, Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio, released in October 2002.Pinocchio the character attracts the media and continues to inspire cinema.It is worth noting, for example, Federico Fellini's predilection for Pinocchio-although he may have viewed the story of the puppet as a nightmare-and the presence of motifs from Collodi's story in many of his films. 3Pinocchio has had a large impact in Collodi, Le avventure di Pinocchio, p. 8. Data from Laura, "Pinocchio nel cinema mondiale."^One could mention the presence of a Collodian big fish/whale in Casanova, the attraction for the circus and automata in numerous of Fellini's films, or the direct association of actor Roberto Benigni to Pinocchio in his last film La voce della luna.Bernardino Zapponi, screenplayer of La voce della luna, remembering Fellini's project for a film on Pinocchio said: "Fellini vedeva Pinocchio come un incubo, con un po' di antipatia per questo Ottocento toscano, un po' borgh- ese"(cited in Giusti, "Quando Fellini cercava Benigni, " n.p.).In Fellini's last film the protagonist, played by Benigni, is shown with a Pinocchio puppet.