MovieChat Forums > Pinocchio (1940) Discussion > Does that donkey scene . . . .

Does that donkey scene . . . .


. . . bother anyone else? It's terrifying. You're a bad kid, you've done bad things but you are trapped into being a donkey for the rest of your life. To your parents you essentially disappear off the face of the Earth. That's terrifying!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9n23J2IGJc

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Yes as far we know none of those boys were ever rescued, changed back into human form, or reunited with their families, it really disturbed me when I was little and gave me nightmares, it took me years before I could watch it again without getting scared.

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Tbh, as a child, I wasn't that scared over that scene. But watching it today I am indeed distrubed.

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Same here. I watched this all the time as a kid, and it never bothered me. Then, I watched it as a teenager, and it really bothered me. I refuse to watch this movie now.

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That donkey scene kind of makes me wish someone who dropped out of school who got his GED showed up and and rubbed that GED in the Coachman's face as an FU. All that aside, yes it was a dark and unsettling scene and the Coachman is one scary son of a bitch.

If Bon Scott of AC/DC was still alive, he would be a Brony.

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Even before that. There is this whole boys to donkeys racket going on and never a policeman or any other authority to even notice, much less put a stop to it. Despite that dozens of boys are disappearing.

And why no girl donkeys?

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Because girls are more apt than boys to like school, as opposed to skipping school, dropping out, getting into all kinds of trouble, and ending up with drab, low-paying and back-breaking jobs, with little or no chance for advancement, or to better their lives. Boys are also slower to mature both physically and emotionally than boys, so subsequently, at least during the 1950' and the 1960's, boys were far more likely to end up failing a grade somewhere along the line and having to repeat it.

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yes, it is disturbing.

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It seems like back then it was perfectly OK to scare the sh!t out of kids as long as it had a positive message.

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I was saying the same thing about Sleeping Beauty today, as I watched it over again for the first time since I was a child. There are some VERY CREEPY moments in it, including when Aurora is lead by the green light into the tunnels by Maleficent, and the battle with the prince, etc. Some of these movies are pretty frightening. I'm sure I was scared as a child.

The donkeys scene is disturbing but it was saying, "don't be bad, or you'll be an ass." I guess if you could see through that, you might not be scared, depends on when you saw it.

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I'm on my Disney classics rewatch. That donkey storyline was disturbing and sad. I'm not sure if they lost their humanity once their voices were gone? Did they turned full donkey or were they just trapped in a donkey's body. Knowing they can never turn back to a human again.

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I was also wondering if they went 'full donkey'. That's a horrible punishment either way.

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Oh, yeah! It's super-disturbing. This was the kind of stuff that I always liked watching as a kid, though. Movies that had elements of the grotesque in them. Sleeping Beauty - Maleficent - terrified me as a child, but I think that's one of the reasons I love it now. Challenging art is fun and engaging, even for kids. We need to stop babying children so much and allowing them these glimpses of sorrow and horror. Not saturating, mind you - I think it's good that this stuff comes in the dark points of otherwise bright and happy morality tales - but just tinting a bit.

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