*The [[Japan]]ese [[superhero]] [[Kikaider]] (1972), created by [[Shotaro Ishinomori]], was partly inspired by Pinocchio (and by [[Frankenstein's monster]]).
*The [[Japan]]ese [[superhero]] [[Kikaider]] (1972), created by [[Shotaro Ishinomori]], was partly inspired by Pinocchio (and by [[Frankenstein's monster]]).
*Though not actually an adaptation of the story proper, the [[video game]] [[Toy Pop]] released by [[Namco]] in 1986 features a character named "Pino", who was inspired by the Pinocchio character. It was a Japan-only release until it was included in [[Namco Museum]] Vol.1, which was released in the United States in 1995.
*Though not actually an adaptation of the story proper, the [[video game]] [[Toy Pop]] released by [[Namco]] in 1986 features a character named "Pino", who was inspired by the Pinocchio character. It was a Japan-only release until it was included in [[Namco Museum]] Vol.1, which was released in the United States in 1995.
*In a similar vein, the [[1995]] [[Super Famicom]] title ''[[Wonder Project J]]'', released in Japan by [[Enix]] (now [[Square Enix]]), is a raising simulation in which a robot child named "Pino" is taught human emotions and feelings in the hopes of eventually becoming a human boy. In the canon ending, Pino will activate the J circuit, appearing to die, but the [[Wonder Project J2|sequel]] reveals that he has been reborn as a human child.
*In a similar vein, the [[1995]] [[Super Famicom]] title ''[[Wonder Project J]]'', released in Japan by [[Enix]] (now [[Square Enix]]), is a raising simulation in which a robot child named "Pino" is taught human emotions and feelings by the fairy helper of Dr. Geppetto in the hopes of eventually becoming a human boy. In the canon ending, Pino will activate the J circuit, appearing to die, but the [[Wonder Project J2|sequel]] reveals that he has been reborn as a human child.
*[[Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoi]] wrote a famous [[Russian language|Russian]] adaptation of the book, entitled ''[[Buratino|The Little Gold Key or the Adventures of Buratino]]'' (1936) illustrated by Alexander Koshkin, translated from Russian by Kathleen Cook-Horujy, Raduga Publishers, Moscow, 1990, 171 pages, SBN 5-05-002843-4 (''burattino'' is Italian for "puppet").
*[[Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoi]] wrote a famous [[Russian language|Russian]] adaptation of the book, entitled ''[[Buratino|The Little Gold Key or the Adventures of Buratino]]'' (1936) illustrated by Alexander Koshkin, translated from Russian by Kathleen Cook-Horujy, Raduga Publishers, Moscow, 1990, 171 pages, SBN 5-05-002843-4 (''burattino'' is Italian for "puppet").
*[[Steven Spielberg]]'s film, ''[[A.I.: Artificial Intelligence]]'' (2001), based on a [[Stanley Kubrick]] project that was cut short by Kubrick's death, recasts the Pinocchio theme; in it an android with emotions longs to become a real boy.[[Image:BMG_Pinnochio.jpg|thumb|130px|right|Pinnochio ([[The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy]])]]
*[[Steven Spielberg]]'s film, ''[[A.I.: Artificial Intelligence]]'' (2001), based on a [[Stanley Kubrick]] project that was cut short by Kubrick's death, recasts the Pinocchio theme; in it an android with emotions longs to become a real boy.[[Image:BMG_Pinnochio.jpg|thumb|130px|right|Pinnochio ([[The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy]])]]
The Adventures of Pinocchio (Italian: Le avventure di Pinocchio) is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio [ IPA: / pi'nokkjo / ], an animated marionette, and his poor father, a woodcarver named Geppetto. It is considered a classic of children's literature and has spawned many derivative works of art, such as Disney's classic 1940 animated movie of the same name, and commonplace ideas, such as a liar's long nose.
Background
Once upon a time, there was ... 'A king!' my little readers will say right away. No, children, you are wrong. Once upon a time there was a piece of wood....
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a story about an animated puppet, talking crickets, boys who turn into mules and other fairy tale devices that would be familiar to a reader of Alice in Wonderland or Brothers Grimm — in fact earlier in his career Collodi worked on a translation of Mother Goose — however, Pinocchio's world is not a traditional fairy-tale world, containing, as it does, the hard realities of the need for food, shelter, and the basic measures of daily life, indeed the setting of the story is the very real Tuscan area of Italy. It was a unique literary melding of genres for its time.
Pinocchio draws from classical sources, such as Homer and Dante, but, more significantly, it is part of the Tuscan novella (short-story) tradition whose genesis is in Boccaccio's Decameron (1353) — as Glauco Cambon wrote:
"Storytelling is a folk art in the Tuscan countryside, and has been for centuries . . . Pinocchio's relentless variety of narrative incident, its alertness to social types, its tongue-in-cheek wisdom are of a piece with that illustrious tradition."
Collodi originally had not intended the novel as children's literature; the ending was unhappy and allegorically dealt with serious themes. In the original, serialized version, Pinocchio dies a gruesome death — hanged for his innumerable faults, at the end of Chapter 15. At the request of his editor, Collodi added chapters 16–36, in which the "Blue Fairy" (as the Disney version names her) rescues Pinocchio and eventually transforms him into a real boy, when he acquires a deeper understanding of himself, making the story suitable for children. In the second half of the book, the maternal figure of the Blue Fairy is the dominant character, versus the paternal figure of Geppetto, in the first part.
Children's literature was a new idea in Collodi's time, an innovation in nineteenth-century Italy (and elsewhere). Thus in content and style it was new and modern, opening the way to many writers of the following century. Collodi, who died in 1890, was respected during his lifetime as a talented writer and social commentator, but his fame did not begin to grow until after Pinocchio was translated into English, for the first time in 1892, but, in particular, with the widely-read Everyman's Library edition of 1911. The popularity of the story was bolstered by the powerful philosopher-critic Benedetto Croce who greatly admired the tale.
Several of the book's concepts have become commonplace, particularly the long nose for liars. The Tuscan male name "Pinocchio" means "pine nut" and "kernel". The story's Italian language is peppered with Florentine dialect features.
Analysis
Pinocchio puppets in their stages of construction in a puppet shop window in Florence.
Pinocchio, in addition to being a children's tale, is a novel of education, with values expressed through allegory. There are many ways of viewing these allegories. One is that they mirror the values of the middle class of the nineteenth century, in particular, that of Italy, as it became a nation state.[1] For example, not following the schemes of the fox and cat (i.e. the thieving noble class), but, instead, honestly working for money, and obtaining an education, so that one is not treated like an ass (the mule working class). Unsurprisingly, although the book was very popular, in many upper-class families of the time it initially was not a book regarded suitable for "well-educated" children.[citation needed]
It also is an allegory of contemporary society, a look at the contrast between respectability and free instinct in a very severe, formal time. Behind the optimistic, pedagogical appearance, the romance is sadly ironic, and sometimes a satire of that very formal pedagogy and, through this, against the nonsense of these social manners in general.[citation needed]
Derivative works
There are at least fourteen English-languagefilms based on the story, not to mention the Italian, French, Russian, German, Japanese, and many other versions for the big screen and for television.
File:Pinocchio hug.jpgSon and father, Pinocchio and Geppetto, are reunited. (Disney, 1940)
The Disney animated film Pinocchio (released February 71940), although a free interpretation of the Collodi story, is considered a masterpiece of the art of animation, and was deemed culturally significant by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. It is this version that first refers to the principal female character as the "Blue Fairy".
Though not actually an adaptation of the story proper, the video gameToy Pop released by Namco in 1986 features a character named "Pino", who was inspired by the Pinocchio character. It was a Japan-only release until it was included in Namco Museum Vol.1, which was released in the United States in 1995.
In a similar vein, the 1995Super Famicom title Wonder Project J, released in Japan by Enix (now Square Enix), is a raising simulation in which a robot child named "Pino" is taught human emotions and feelings by the fairy helper of Dr. Geppetto in the hopes of eventually becoming a human boy. In the canon ending, Pino will activate the J circuit, appearing to die, but the sequel reveals that he has been reborn as a human child.
The first episode of season 4 the of animated TV show Family Guy (aired in the UK in 2007) contains a brief spoof sketch featuring Pinocchio and Geppetto (the Disney versions of the characters).
