Tart Time Machine

Catching Bambi

By Wolfen Moondaughter
April 1, 2006

When we were brainstorming for conservation/nature-oriented article ideas for this month's issue of Tart, I had just seen Bambi II, so deciding what I should cover for this month's "Tart Time Machine" was pretty much a no-brainer. I re-read the novel, re-watched the original film, and watched the new one a second time. What follows is a little bit synopsis, a little bit review, a little bit compare-and-contrast, and a little bit reminiscing. This article should be considered extremely spoiler-intensive.

I can't actually remember when the first time I saw Disney's adaptation of Felix Salten's Bambi was. I assume I was very small, because I can’t remember a time in my life when I hadn't seen it. Of course, I did have a couple of storybooks based on the film, so who knows. I even have a vinyl that was supposed to be Pinocchio and instead had a Bambi album in the sleeve (not the manufacturer's fault; Mom found it at a garage sale). I mostly listened to it for the soundtrack — there are some lovely songs in that movie! It can't rain in April without me thinking of "Little April Showers" (well, actually, I can’t hear the word April at all without that cueing up in my head...). And I had a stuffed Thumper — still do, actually, and I just got a new one for Ostara (the Spring Equinox). Anyway, I do remember the film having been re-released in theatres when I was older, in 1991 if I recall correctly. McDonalds had Bambi stuff for their Happy Meal toys then. (I know I got them all, but for the life of me I can't find them. *Pout*) And Bambi-related swag continues to be made to this day. There's an adorable handbag out there that's a Bambi plushie with a zipper and handles (...okay, maybe that's a little morbid). Disney's been doing Japanese versions of some of their characters; I have an adorable pin of Bambi done in that style.

On the off-chance that you haven't even seen the first film, much less read the book or seen the second movie, the basic premise of all three is this: the audience follows the life of a fawn from shortly after birth into adulthood, until he sires children of his own. All the versions also show moments that don't involve Bambi, glimpses of life for other creatures. The second film fills in a gap in the first film, namely what happens to Bambi during the winter and spring after his mother is shot and killed by a hunter (he's cared for, reluctantly at first, by his father); while it's certainly inspired by the book, it's fairly original.

I still like Salten's 1929 novel, Bambi: A Life in the Woods, well enough, but it's just not quite what I remember; overall, I prefer the films to it. The simple fact of the matter is that I generally don’t like the writing style of many so-called "classic" writers, and Salten is a good example. His characters aren't terribly likable; according to Salten, it seems commonplace for the animals to be flighty, selfish, and vain. Of course, I suppose it would be just as bad to depict them as all noble and selfless, but the fact of the matter is, it's all conjecture, right? Animals might have some vague feelings and thoughts, but they aren’t human; its fine to put words in their mouths for the story, but if you’re going to do that, let's make them a little more well-rounded, shall we? And perhaps a little less ... nuts?

Why is it that Bambi is always thinking so well of people who speak abusively to him, like the grasshopper (whom he claims was very nice to him!) and his father, yet looks down his nose at those who are friendly to him? His mother speaks ill of other animals fighting for food, claiming that the deer never run out — she's forgotten about winter, apparently? And why paint the male deer as callous towards their mates after mating season, when the females could have just as easily have shooed them off, or the separation could have been mutual? Why should Faline pine for Bambi? Why shouldn’t she be as happy to be alone now as he is? Especially since, when mating season comes round again, they'll probably be mates again! So why depict their separation as though they will never interact again? Why have them be so confused by their instincts? I'm not saying that life in the forest shouldn’t be depicted as harsh, but the way Salten paints his characters much of the time — as silly and vapid and whiny — makes me wonder why I should care about any of them.

I appreciate that Salten wrote the work to discourage people from wanting to hunt and from keeping wild animals in captivity — it's a strong and obvious theme throughout the work, no question of that. In one scene, the animals even side with the fox, though he is their daily enemy, to call the hunting dogs traitors for serving Man. In another, Bambi's father saved Friend Hare from a snare. But despite Salten's intentions, he's not very effective at portraying the animal kingdom as a thing to be cherished; he doesn’t engender much in the way of sympathy out of me. (Well, to be fair, maybe I'm just that cold and callous.) Let's just say I would never have hired him to write PR.

The animated films paint a much more appealing view of forest life — literally.

The first Bambi, released in 1942, was only the fourth full-length animated feature film Walt Disney ever did (or sixth, if you include his anthology films), yet, aside from a slight bit of a dated quality to the character design and a grainy-ness to the film, this movie can still hold its ground pretty well today. The colours, the effects — they all make me yearn for a walk in the woods. Sure there is still some crankiness to be found among the animals, but it's much more light-hearted all around than the book. I love the fact that the sounds of nature are expressed through the score — a choir is used for the sound of the wind in a storm, and light raindrops are denoted by clarinets, for example.

And the new film sequel? I really don’t understand why this wasn't released to the theatres, the way two other Disney sequels that were less deserving were. After the recent re-watching of each, I honest-to-goddess prefer the new film to the original: it's even lovelier to behold! (And funnier!) It also has more of a coherent narrative quality to it than its predecessor, which keeps one's attention better. I like that many of the animals that we saw in the background of the first film, such as the fighting squirrel and chipmunk, the ducks, and the little mouse that catches the raindrop and washes his face (there was an adorable stature of that for sale a while back) appear again. I really love some of (but no, not all) the music in it, too. Especially "There is Life", sung by Alison Kraus, and "The First Sign of Spring", sung by Michelle Lewis; both songs made me cry. And of course having Patrick Stewart do the voice of the Great Prince certainly helped my enjoyment. (No, he doesn’t sing, put your mind at ease — no character sings any songs, they're all sung over the action). Bambi II is a really touching father-and-son tale; while I understand that the groundhog segment made Groundhog's Day a fitting time period for release, this would have been an excellent release for Father's Day.

There is a bit of confusion in the timeline between the first film and the second: in the first, come springtime, Bambi is suddenly grown up, and the insinuation is that it's been a long time since Bambi has seen any of his friends. But in the second film, Bambi's still a fawn even in springtime, and he's been with his friends for quite a while. All I can figure is maybe the bit with Bambi and his friends meeting after reaching adulthood and getting "twitterpated" (love-sick) takes place the next spring? (Bambi being twitterpated in spring is odd anyway — Whitetail mating is in the fall.)

It may surprise those of you who saw the movie but never read the book (indeed, many people I've met never even knew there was one) to hear that the film version's cast is actually very different from that of the novel.

Thumper bears no resemblance in character to Salten's Friend Hare, who is an adult for the duration of the novel and makes only a few small appearances. That had to be the biggest shocker to me, that my favourite character in the movie didn’t really even exist in the source material. Odd, considering almost all of my favourite scenes in the first film, as well as a large number of the ones I loved in the second, generally involved him. Who doesn’t get a kick out of the part where he falls in love with the girl bunny in the first film, where he stomps his foot like crazy when she kisses him? (Speaking of which, did anyone else think she looked like she had a beard? Hell, Thumper looked pretty scruffy as an adult, his whiskers giving the sense of a young guy who needs a shave — I liked him like that, though. ^_^) I also love Thumper's recitations of his father's rules every time his mother would ask "Thumper? What did your father tell you?" So anyway, this means that almost none of the scenes I loved were even inspired by the book, much less in it.

(Here's a fun fact: male rabbits are called "bucks", while females are "does" — just like with deer!)

Flower the skunk was created for the film. Friend Owl bears only a minor resemblance to the book's Screech Owl (and he's much more venerable, too). Aunt Ena, Faline's mother (who is never called by name in the film), has a much, much more active role in the book. And there are other deer with fairly prominent roles, such as Karus and Old Nettla. (There's a scene where Salten talks about how very well the deer got along with each other in winter, and how wonderful Nettla was, only to immediately depict a scene where Nettla comes off as a cranky old bitch, and it seems like the deer do little more than bicker all season!)

Faline has a twin brother, Gobo, in the original story. Gobo is thought to have been killed by hunters at one point, when in actuality he's caught and raised by a human family. When he returns to the forest, he practically preaches the greatness of Him (as they refer to mankind) like a religion, but when hunters come, even his devout follower/mate, Marena, thinks they should run and hide. Gobo goes out to greet the humans and is killed. There's a deer named Mena in Bambi II, who's intended to be a surrogate mother for Bambi at one point; I have to wonder if she was inspired at all by Marena.

In the book, Ronno is an adult when Bambi is a fawn, and until the mating season incident, Bambi practically worships him (and Karus). Ronno's even kind of likable, despite a tendency to seek sympathy for a gunshot wound that has lamed him. Ronno's also not the first one to challenge Bambi over Faline — Karus is the one who first inexplicably turns on their younger friend. (You'd think, if they're going to be portrayed as turning into total asses come mating season, that, once mating season was over, they'd go back to being comrades. I mean, since they're all a bit schizo anyway. Hell, Ronno and Karus don’t even fight each other, for that matter, just Bambi....) In the first animated film, we never even know Ronno by name — he's just this deer that jumps out of nowhere and starts attacking Bambi, with obvious designs on Faline. In the second film, we see a lot more of Ronno, who is depicted as just a little older than Bambi, still a fawn practically. He's a show-off, a liar, and a total jerk. (Well at least there's a set-up for his appearance in the first film, now.) And yet I kind of like him, despite myself; maybe it's just that his design is visually appealing. I've already run across people online who feel similarly — one gal even begged me to do a drawing of him for her. And young Ronno does bring up a good point: why is Bambi named so, anyway? Sure, Salten took it from the Italian word "bambino", meaning baby, but Bambi's only a baby for half the book! Couldn’t he have made up another name, like he did for nearly all the other deer aside from Bambi's parents?

Bambi's mother is, to my mind, significantly different in each version. In the animated film, she's a paragon of motherhood: endlessly patient, gentle, and loving. Who hasn't bawled their eyes out during the part when she's killed in the film? But when she's killed in the book (or when we're told she's never seen again, I should say) ... yeah, not so much with the waterworks. Which isn't fair of me, I suppose — she's a more realistic mom in many respects. She's jealous that Ena has two fawns when she only has one. She gets tired of Bambi's endless questions. She tells him to leave her alone. She does a lot of the old "You'll understand when you're older/You'll find out yourself" routine. Thing is, most of the time when she says this, I want to ask her why she won't tell him; it would only heighten his chances for survival if she would explain everything as clearly and concisely as possible. One day she just ups and leaves, with no explanation; he finds her again later, but after that he comes to expect her sudden and lengthy absences. By the time she's killed, Bambi's spent a lot of time on his own anyway; he doesn’t really need caring for anymore.

Bambi's father is not some forest lord in the book. He's not the one-and-only Great Prince — all deer are called princes, and he is never referred to as "Great". While the deer seem to hold some sort of royal presence over the other animals (why, I have no idea), Bambi is no higher in status than any other fawn. Bambi's father is the oldest stag, though, and any respect he's given by other deer is in recognition of this fact. In the second film, the old stag makes a show of "checking" on the herd, sort of watching over everyone, and there's even some suggestion of this in the first film. But in the books, he comes off as quite a loner for the most part, preferring to keep to himself. When Bambi's mother dies in the film, he tells his son, gently, "You’re mother can’t be with you anymore." In the book, the encounter occurs when Bambi's mom simply goes missing for the first time, and his father asks him, with some disdain, "Can't you take care of yourself?" Bambi's big dream in life from that point on seems to be to earn this deer's approval (and Bambi doesn't even know the stag is his father until nearly the end of the book).

In the first film, there comes a point where Bambi is shot — his father coaxes him to his feet and together they flee — until Bambi remembers Faline and runs off in search of her. He saves her from the hunters' dogs, and they almost get caught in a forest fire. In the book, Bambi hears a hunter's deer call and thinks it's Faline. (There's a nod to this in the second film, when Ronno talks about a stick Man has that sounds like a deer). Bambi gets seen and shot; his father helps him run to safety and nurses him back to health. They spend a couple of months together, with the stag passing on much of the knowledge that's kept him alive to Bambi (although he too uses the "You'll find out someday" line now and then). I thought the second movie would be based on the latter half of the book, especially the time Bambi spent with his father. And in some respects it's close: it is about Bambi spending time with his father caring for him, only Bambi is still a fawn rather than an adult. And while his father teaches him how to be a survivor, just like in the book, this Bambi teaches his father how to love — and how to have a little fun!

The message I get from the novel, save for a few scenes, is that you can only survive if you're alone, everyone must ultimately fend for themselves, and that we must teach the young to stand on their own (okay, I guess there's some sense to that last, but the portrayal seems a bit extreme). The films tell me that no one is an island, every life touches another, we all need a little help from our friends now and then, and we need to be a friend. In other words, the movies makes me happy and hopeful, while the book is depressing and fatalistic. But hey, maybe that's just me. My fellow Tart, Jiffy Burke, has a much more positive outlook on the novel. ^_^

Jiffy: My very first movie-going experience was going to see Walt Disney's Bambi with my mother and cousins on a rainy day when I was only 5 years old. The whole day was magical because I already knew the story of Bambi, Thumper, Flower and the Great Prince. I enjoyed the film so much and seeing a movie in a theater like the "grown-ups" was a real treat. I wasn't upset by the death of Bambi's mother because I had been to funerals and knew that Bambi would be looked after by his forest family.

Some of the first "real" hardcover books that I can remember reading as a child (with my Mom's help) were my mother's childhood copies of the original Felix Salten novel of Bambi and its sequel Bambi's Children: The Story of a Forest Family. The descriptions of the forest and the animals have stayed with me my whole life. The characters are all so vivid they leap off the page in my imagination.

Seeing Walt Disney's animated film gave me a completely different, though charming, picture of these characters and the forest they inhabit. The colors and atmosphere are wonderful and vibrant, capturing the very green depth of Bambi's forest world. However, I believe everyone should read and allow the author's descriptions to invoke a mental vision of the story, setting and characters.

I have read Felix Salten's books many times again through the years and I have seen the Disney version many times as well. Walt Disney's animals are humorous, silly caricatures of the noble beasts that inhabit Felix Salten's written works. That's not to say that I don't enjoy every minute of my Bambi DVD, with all its special features that show exactly what the creative team did to achieve their vision of Bambi. In fact, I would say that it is the dignity of Salten's writing that inspired Walt Disney to reveal a sensitive, some might say sentimental, environmental message in a story for all ages, languages and cultures.

Wolfie: Thanks, Jiffy! I never even heard of that sequel — I'll have to look it up and see if I feel differently about the first book afterwards. So how about the rest of you out there? Have an opinion or memory or trivia to share? Think we've got something dead wrong? Write our letters column; we'd love to hear from you!

Bambi II — The official DVD website.