After watching the film with my FSEM over the weekend, I began my reading of The Original Bambi by Felix Salten. Starting off with the introduction, it gives us a background of the author. It also talks about how much Disney changed the details in the film compared to the original book. Upon reading the full book, I would definitely agree with that. The author goes into so much more detail compared to the film.
There are also a lot of things that happen in the movie that doesn’t happen in the book. Like Bambi having twins with Faline. In the book, Bambi pretty much breaks things off with Faline, saying he no longer loves her. While on the topic of Bambi and Faline’s relationship, I was also a little confused about how they were related because in the book it sounds like Faline is Bambi’s cousin. Now maybe it’s different with deer and they mate within the family, but I found that to be pretty odd. Another thing I found to be different were the characters and some of Bambi’s relationships throughout the forest. Like his relationship with the Hare and the owl. In the movie, it makes it seem like Bambi and ‘Thumper’ were best friends, but in the book, it just seems like they’re mutual acquaintances. There was also no forest fire in the book and it mainly focused on “Him.”
There were a lot of dark parts in this book as well. Like the many attacks on the animals throughout the book, like when the Hare’s wife had a mangled leg. She practically didn’t realize it. There were so many brutal killings in this book that definitely did not happen in the film. This is where Disney changed the story around to make it cleaner. I partially wish that it wouldn’t have been picked up by Disney and made into an exact version of the story so more people would know about Salten’s work. But at the same time, I think the film would’ve gotten ‘banned’ just like the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed actually reading this book and learning the darker history of the infamous Bambi film. I honestly had no idea that there even was a book until this class, but once I heard of it, I actually got excited. This book was definitely the easiest read so far and I recommend that everyone should read this book.
