Pinocchio is a Story About Art and God

Additional Editing by Isaac Holland
Translation by Katherine Incandenza

Sources:
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, 1883
Additional Pinocchio Art from PINOCCHIO: Atlante delle edizioni italiane dal 1883 al 2022
Pinocchio in Venice by Robert Coover, 1991
I, Fellini by Charlotte Chandler, 1995
The Will to be Human by Silvano Arieti, 1972
Ma Collodi Non Esiste by Italo Calvino, 1981

Media shown: Disney’s 1940 Pinocchio, Disney’s 2022 Pinocchio, Pinocchio: A True Story, Gullermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Lies of P, Handcarved Cinema: The Making of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio, The Polar Express, A Christmas Carol, Beowulf, Welcome to Marwen, Dark Souls III, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Bloodborne,

Music Used (Chronologically): Cohen’s Masterpiece– Accordion (Bioshock Infinite), Lost in Thessaloniki (Trabant 33), Peaceful Sleep– Music Box (Nier Automata), I’ll See You in My Dreams (Isham Jones), March of the Ducks (Mike Franklyn), Invention No. 4 in D Minor (Bach), Last Move (White Bones), A New Power (SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE), The Midnight Woods (Hyper Light Drifter), Hallway Omega (SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE), Estella Opera House (Lies of P), Far East Princess (Lies of P), Saintess of Mercy Statue (Lies of P), Etude No. 3 for String Quartet (Peter Sandberg), Fallow Deer (Martin Klem), The Angels Descend A (Bayonetta), Marche Militaire Version 2 (Epidemic Sound), Ave Maria (Epidemic Sound), Only Human (Philip Ayers), Smooth Talking (Nocturnal Spirits), Feel (Lies of P)

Additional music and sound effects from Epidemic Sound
Additional footage from Razbuten

Description credit: Ma Collodi Non Esiste by Italo Calvino

[yeethittter]

Nobody tell him about the theatre production of Pinnochio at the London National Theatre where every single character is played by elaborate puppets except Pinnochio hiself who's played by a human actor, which is simultaneously impressive as fuck and has amazing implications about what it represents with his character and his place in the story's world

[RandomDude]

"pinocchio killed jiminy cricket with a hammer right after meeting him" is one of the funniest things i've heard

[ThanImBetter]

"The joy of parentage is discovering who your child is, not deciding who they should be" damn what a line

[slynthehedgehog]

And then, there's Astro Boy, ALSO based off Pinnochio, that gets its own adaptation by many very talented artists.

Like, Pinnochio Everywhere mode is ALWAYS on.

[yoswayd]

One of my exes, her grandfather was deathly afraid of Pinocchio. The word was banned in the house, because even in his old age it would send the poor Italian gentleman into shrieks of hysteric terror. I can see why

[shieldbearer]

I need y'all to know that not only did Tom Kenny voice Geppetto in Pinocchio: A True Story, he also voiced Mussolini in del Toro's Pinocchio.

[ultimateninjaboi]

"the cruelty of being created by a god who abandons you, " has now made me want to see something blend the stories of Pinocchio and Frankenstein.

[maot]

As an Italian, it's my duty to point out that the name of the monkey in Del Toro's work "SPAZZATURA" means "TRASH"

[avawetzel]

that last line, about the grand metaphor, and "no, you are a mistaken. once upon a time there was a piece of wood". that was GOOD. that was so good. that was wonderful, incredible, videomaking truly is art

[El_Squid]

"The joy of parentage is discovering who your child is, not deciding who they should be." I broke down and cried when I heard this line - this one hit closer to home than I was ready for.

[kkaaiittlliinn]

in 2022, the same year all those pinocchio movies came out, the director of my ballet studio decided to create a ballet of pinocchio for our spring production, and ended up with some set pieces that have not left my head since, notably:
- bungee cords that the dancers cast as marionette dolls hung off of lifelessly before springing into action, using the cords to throw their weight around and do impossible things, all while the puppeteer stood over them on a platform, a red light illuminating his face from below as he directed each movement and pinocchio ran through the dancers, terrified
- a whale half the size of the stage, broken into puzzle pieces with each piece controlled by one dancer as they moved all as one. it was terrifyingly realistic, and once gepetto and pinocchio both were thrown into the belly of the whale, the dancers opened up their pieces of the whale and retreated around the stage to reveal the whale’s innards so that the father and son could be shown reuniting
- a giant birdcage pinocchio got trapped in, with a single spotlight illuminating his crumpled figure, as silhouettes of other people walked by, and his nose grew as he pleaded to the blue fairy for help

there were more incredible choices, but ultimately i just wanted to share why the ballet has stuck with me to this day—it’s become one of my favorite adaptations of pinocchio. this video speaks to me so deeply mr geller i appreciate you always

[zp]

Pinnochio is such a good retelling of Pinnochio, but not as good as Pinnochio imo.

[purplehaze]

"This video will discuss major plot points of Pinocchio, Pinocchio, Pinocchio, Pinocchio..."
Ah yes, truly the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

[snake_lad_]

As someone who loves Frankenstein, the parallels are surprisingly close. This video is beautiful and im obsessed with the line “god does not speak, but the church does”. I highly suggest watching Dimension 20’s Neverafter series, they explore a lot of Pinocchio’s themes in growing up in a world you’re not prepared to face on your own especially as a child, and it’s so beautiful. If you enjoy dnd i can’t recommend it more. UGH

[MagnaFae]

Jacob Geller doesn’t mention Frankenstein in this video essay, but I used to think about Pinocchio and Frankenstein as very similar stories.

Both main characters desire belonging and purpose as outsiders to the human experience. Where they differ is that Pinnochio treats life as a blessing and Frankenstein’s monster suffers life as a curse.

[sorensouthard]

"Pinocchio is not about anything, it's about everything!" I feel like those are the words someone says when at the edge of their sanity.

[LowGuppy]

Imagine a video game where you slowly lose agency as the character becomes "more human" - you lose dialog options. Combat gets replaced with QTEs, then takes away the button inputs. Cutscenes get longer and transition from in-engine to pre-rendered cinematics.
There are games that do this unintentionally- to collapse story threads into a single or limited set of endings, hoping you don't notice the loss of agency. But imagine if it was intentional and thematic?

[MendaciousCat]

Interestingly, never once in LoP is the main character called Pinocchio; he’s always called “Geppetto’s puppet”. Geppetto never even uses a name for P, only ever calling him “my son”.

[hannahkat]

Im only 5 minutes in but i cant wait til jacob talks about Pinocchio: a kdrama about ethics in journalism set in a world where some people develop hiccups whenever they lie

[MrOrdinaryundone]

Great video! I might be a little late to the party but I'd like to mention something about Lies of P. The primary theme of the story, which I feel you overlooked, was lying. Its specifically in dialogue with the Disney movie which says that if Pinnochio wants to be a "real boy" he has to be obedient and moral and specifically not tell lies. Lies of P, on the other hand, spends most of its time questioning the purpose and value of lies. Most NPC interactions go more favorably if you lie, pretty much everyone is lying or being lied to about something. The two main villains want to create worlds where lying is no longer possible; Manus can literally read minds and wants to "ascend" humans to be like him and the other would enforce obediency by replacing the world with machines. The way you get the best ending, or at least the one where P demonstrates the most agency, is by lying, disobeying, and sometimes doing morally questionable things in addition to just being a decent person. The lies are what makes P eventually turn human, which is the opposite of the movie because it suggests that lying and disobedience are fundamentally human traits. To live a life of constant truth and obedience isn't human, its just a being a puppet.