Part of our grade is to attend movie screenings on the weekends. Today we watched the original Bambi movie from 1942. This movie was based on the book written by Felix Salten. I had never seen Bambi before, even the newest one so I had no previous knowledge of what happens. I’ve always thought that Bambi was just about a deer going through his life but I had no idea that it was based on a book.
I decided first to watch the film and then read the book. My thoughts while watching the film felt like generally, “Oh this is a cute children’s movie!” They made it very colorful and dramatic with the music playing in the background during some of the scenes. It felt overly exaggerated with some of the animation and scenes. Obviously, this is a kid’s movie and there are animals talking so it’s not realistic at all, but it still felt like a lot. Another thing, I also almost felt that it always hinted at certain things happening but never fully showed it. Like Bambi getting shot, but it never actually showed him getting shot, just him falling down. That’s where I kind of felt like “Wow, okay maybe this shouldn’t be a kid’s movie.” It almost gave a darker feeling if you dived deeper into it. Reading the book later on kind of confirmed that. Another point to make is that it felt like chaos and disaster were constantly finding Bambi. Like with the forest fire and it seeming like he’s always surrounded by the hunters.
Part of me wished that I had seen Bambi as a child so I could compare the experiences between then and now. I think as a child, I would’ve enjoyed it up until the mother dies. Whereas now, I think I can read into it more and see how much darker it is.
