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The Tales

Bambi: Just Can't Wait to be Prince

7/8/2012

2 Comments

 
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title card of the Disney animated film, Bambi
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Bambi is sweet, nice and uncomplicated – all the things you say about someone/something you really want to like, have no reason to dislike but refuses to give you enough to have strong feelings one way or the other. Ironically, the best and most fitting reaction to a picture like Bambi was famously delivered by Bambi's precocious, bunny rabbit pal Thumper, “If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.” But we can't just leave you with nothing because, as it turns out, Bambi IS important inasmuch it has its hoof prints all over Disney's crowning achievement (pun INTENDED) The Lion King (1994).
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At their core, both Bambi and The Lion King are animated wildlife films featuring young royalty and all the bumps and bruises that occur during their respective ascensions to the throne. Here are some of the more glaring similarities:

  • They are bookended with songs (“Love is a Song” and “Circle of Life”) that highlight the cyclical nature of... nature.

  • Their openings and closings feature a rush by all the animals of the forest/savannah to witness the birth of their prince/princes.

  • Bambi/Simba, Simba/Bambi – phonetically and syllabically similar.

  • Bambi and his father also have a Pride Rock-like throne where they watch over their subjects.

  • Death of a parent – Bambi's mom and Simba's dad.

  • The scenes where Bambi/Faline and Simba/Nala fall in love are both accompanied by musical love montages with the duets “Looking For Romance (I Bring You a Song)” and “Can you Feel the Love Tonight.”

  • Their climaxes are both framed by fire.

However, the main difference between the two lies in the fact that The Lion King actually has a plot which, in itself, is an understatement since Disney infused its little “king of the jungle story” with William Shakespeare's Hamlet – perhaps the heaviest and most influential tragedy of all time. And, in that difference, lies Bambi's fatal flaw – LITERALLY. Simba's journey is driven by the death of and relationship with his father Mufasa. Where the death of Bambi's mother (she didn't even have a name!) is neither here nor there... it's just something sad that happens. Bambi's story would be essentially the same had his mother not been shot and killed by a hunter. Then there's Bambi's relationship with his father The Great Prince which can be boiled down to a fleeting glance in the meadow and three very terse, one-sided conversations:

  • After Bambi's mother dies: “Your mother can't be with you anymore. My son.”

  • When the hunters infiltrate the forest: “It's man. He's here again. We must go deep into the forest. Follow me!”

  • When the fire is approaching and Bambi is nursing a gunshot wound : “Get up, Bambi. Get up. You must get up. Get up! Get up! Now, come with me!” (Then again, maybe this isn't fair to The Great Prince since you can't compare the austere fathers of the 40s with the more touchy-feely Mufasa of the 90s)

Plus, Bambi reigning over his kingdom in concert with his still very-much-alive father doesn't resonate or hold as much import as Simba ruling solo as THE King.
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Bambi is by no means a bad movie but any chance it had to hold up as one of Disney's all-time greats died in 1994 when The Lion King roared its way to the top as the greatest Royalty Based Animated Wildlife Film of all time (and, probably the greatest of all the Disney Animated Classics). Give Bambi it's due though because to crown a true king you must first have a prince.

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On a more whimsical note...

With its paucity of dialogue and heavy use of orchestral music, Bambi may have played better as a symphonic composition in the same vein as Disney's Peter and the Wolf (1949).

Is “Bambi” even a boy's name? The only Bambis I know are the female “dancer” variety. 

Bambi's first word is “bird”.

Here's a list of the various wildlife that make an appearance: deer, quail, owl, possum, gopher, rabbit, raccoon, beaver, skunk, mouse, blue bird, yellow bird, red bird, chipmunk, squirrel, butterfly, duck, pheasant, frog, crow, beaver, mole, humming bird, blue jay, robin and dove.

In a young Bambi, it's especially fun watching nature's most graceful animal struggle through his physically awkward/wobbly years.

Like Dumbo (1940), Bambi is another rare Disney animated picture that takes place in the contemporary UsofA.

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Thumper's “If you can't say something nice...” line is so prevalent even today that it served as the lone retort from bullied and beleaguered bus monitor Karen Klein.

Bambi's mother's description of his father: “Everyone respects him. For of all the deer in the forest, not one has lived half so long. He's very brave and very wise. That's why he's known as The Great Prince of the forest.”

“Twitterpated,” a word first used in Bambi, remains my favourite clean colloquialism for “being horny.”

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Contrary to popular belief, Flower is not a girl nor is he gay. He's just effeminate and very much interested in female skunks.

Big ups to Bambi who successfully protects Faline from Ronno the rapist deer.

The scene where the phreaked out pheasant can't stand the tension, flies out of hiding and gets shot is as harrowing as any scene from a horror movie.

Not only do the hunters shoot Bambi's mom and the pheasant, their unmanned fire from their campsite burned down the whole forest!

With “Man” as Bambi's main antagonist, this is Disney's third movie in a row without a singular, fully developed villain (Pinocchio – Stromboli, Gideon and Foulfellow, Coachman, Monstro and Dumbo – the elephant cows, the ringleader, the clowns).


2 Comments
Ashlee Moody link
11/22/2020 03:09:33 am

Thank you for shaaring

Reply
Bianca Runge link
6/24/2023 07:39:32 am

This is awesomme

Reply



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