God at the Movies: A Christian Reading of Disney's "Pinocchio"

     I’ve been watching some of my old Disney classics lately, and while watching some of them, I’ve thought about different ways to interpret them.  Bambi lends itself quite easily to an analogy of what life and death are all about, beginning with birth and the learning of the world, through to the death of a parent, love blossoming, overcoming adversity, struggling and fighting, and life continuing.  Even more surprising this time through was how clearly I could see a Christian interpretation of the movie Pinocchio.

     In the beginning of this story (and specifically the Disney version, not the 1883 story by Carlo Carllodi that is quite a bit different in tone and plot from the Disney film), an Italian woodcarver named Geppetto has carved a marionette boy he names Pinocchio and then wishes upon a star that the puppet might become a real boy.  Because of his wish, a Blue Fairy later flies through the window in the middle of the night and grants Gepetto’s wish by giving life to Pinocchio, though he is not a real flesh and blood boy, but rather a moving, talking puppet made of wood.  She tells Pinocchio that in order to become a real human boy, he must prove himself “brave, truthful, and unselfish” and listen to his conscience to determine right from wrong.  When Pinocchio asks her what a “conscience” is, a little talking cricket named Jiminy pipes and up and tells Pinocchio it is that still small voice, and when Pinocchio asks Jiminy if he is his conscience, the Blue Fairy gives Jiminy this responsibility.

     The Christian analogy is quite clear to me.  Pinocchio is like us:  Something not quite real yet given life and the free will to choose right from wrong.  And like us, the choices he makes will determine what kind of heart he has, and if he will, in time, be given the real life he desperately desires, not this wooden variety (that is still quite magical in its own right, but pales in comparison to the real thing).  Geppetto created him, and in this respect, he is like Pinocchio’s human father.  The one who gives him life, however, is the Blue Fairy, who in this story is similar to the way God is with us.  Our human parents may have created us through procreation, but only God can give us life, and is born out of something beyond us and beyond this world, yet it is not the true life we will have someday in heaven.  To help Pinocchio on his path in life to make the right decisions is Jiminy Cricket, charged as being Pinocchio’s conscience, and in this respect, Jiminy is like the Holy Spirit, who guides us and helps us make moral choices.  All we have to do is “give a little whistle” and call on His name.

     Geppetto is thrilled when he realizes his wish came true and Pinocchio can move and talk, and the next day he sends Pinocchio to school.   On his way, Pinocchio is approached by a couple of nefarious fellows from the original book, a fox and a cat, and it’s ironic the fox is named Honest John, because in all actuality, he is not honest, and represents the temptation to sin, and it’s no coincidence Carllodi, and then Disney, chose a sly fox to play this part.  In the Disney story, he convinces Pinocchio down the easy path and Pinocchio finds himself performing for a local puppeteer by the name of Stromboli.  This is all allegorical, from a Christian perspective, of succumbing to temptation and sinning, something for which we need the grace and forgiveness of God, and in this story, that figure, represented by the Blue Fairy, does come to his rescue.  Pinocchio had been enjoying himself with what Honest John sold to him as the easy life, and even  ate up the fame and adoration he received from his newfound audience.  And just like all of us, he soon finds that this existence isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, as Stromboli imprisons him, using him for what he can get out of him, with plans to chop him up for firewood when he has outlived his usefulness.  Life can be like this for us sometimes as well.  

     When Pinocchio is in his darkest hour, Jiminy returns to wish him well and finds him in his cage.  Unable to free him from the trap he has stepped into, the Blue Fairy arrives one more time.  Questioning Pinocchio about what has happened, Pinocchio heaps lie upon lie as his wooden nose continues to grow with each lie, until is sprouts branches, a nest, and little baby birds.  The Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio that lies “grow and grow until they are as plain as the nose on your face”.  Then she intervenes on Pinocchio’s behalf, but warns him that this is the last time she can do so, and releases him from the cage, despite his lies.  We can lie to God, but we’re really lying to no one because God knows our hearts and can see our lies as if they were a long, growing nose.  But his love for us provides much the same as the Blue Fairy provides Pinocchio, which is forgiveness and another chance; always another chance!

     Yet things don’t go so well for Pinocchio once he is given this second chance, and once again he comes across those shady fellows in the fox and the cat, and winds up going to the aptly named Pleasure Island where he and all the other boys, including his new “friend” Lampwick, smoke, drink, gamble, play pool and tear up the place.  To me, I’ve noticed that often, it seems the closer we get to God, the more the devil desires to throw roadblocks in our paths that cause us to sin, and when we fall, we can fall all the harder.  The island, you see, has a curse upon it that transforms bad little boys “who make jackasses out of themselves” into donkeys, and the evil Coachman then sells them to work in the salt mines and circuses.  Like Stromboli, I see the Coachman as an allegory for life in general.  This earth can become nothing more than Pleasure Island for us, the devil’s playground, and he will do his best to use us for his purpose if he can until it is too late.  Before Pinocchio’s eyes, Lampwick turns into a donkey, and Jiminy and Pinocchio barely make it off the island in one piece, but manage to stop the transformation occurring in Pinocchio, though he now has the ears and tail of a jackass.  Like Pinocchio, we too must still suffer the consequences of our actions.

     Towards the end of the movie, when Pinocchio arrives back at Geppetto’s workshop, he and Jiminy are delivered a note by the Blue Fairy that informs them that Geppetto and his pets (Figaro the cat and Cleo the goldfish) have gone in search of Pinocchio and been swallowed by a giant whale named Monstro.  It is at this part in the movie that Pinocchio finally displays heroic qualities, for he heads off immediately to save Geppetto without a second thought – ears, tail, and all - and jumps into the ocean to seek out Monstro.  Once inside the belly of the whale, he reunites with Geppetto and then devises a plan to burn wood to make Monstro sneeze.  The plan frees them from Monstro, but the huge whale becomes furious and tries to kill them.  Pinocchio manages to save everyone, but ends up paying the ultimate price.  

     As Geppetto, Jiminy, Figaro, and Cleo mourn Pinocchio, the Blue Fairy makes him a real boy for his final commitment and heroism.  The Christian allegory here is also quite clear to me.  Pinocchio died, and then was resurrected as something he wasn’t before.  This can be seen as either being born again, or the real death and resurrection in heaven that awaits us, but both are a product of our commitment to the Lord and our desire to follow by his example.  Pinocchio the Blue Fairy's words throughout the story, telling him he must be brave and true and to choose right from wrong, but it isn’t until his “father” is in peril that those words actually become reality for him, and he begins to act on them.  The book of James, however, reminds us that we do not do these things to earn our way into heaven, they will simply be a byproduct of our faith; our actions will prove our faith.  When Pinocchio dashes off to save Geppetto, it isn’t to prove his worth or earn his life as a real boy; it is simply something he must do because he loves Geppetto, and he lives the Blue Fairy’s words.  In this way, it is an allegory for proving our faith as the book of James talks about, which leads to his death and resurrection into a new life as a real boy.

     Someday, if our actions prove our faith, and not because of the actions themselves, we will be reborn into new life, and it will make this one seem like we were all once made out of wood.

 When you wish upon a star / Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires / Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream / No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star / As dreamers do

Fate is kind / She brings to those who love / The sweet fulfillment of / Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue / Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star / Your dreams come true

            - “When You Wish Upon a Star”

                Cliff Edwards