{"id":1855,"date":"2014-03-26T19:58:21","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T19:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/?p=1855"},"modified":"2017-12-27T14:34:05","modified_gmt":"2017-12-27T14:34:05","slug":"bambi-in-boyland-1-the-american-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/bambi-in-boyland-1-the-american-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"Bambi in Boyland 1: Commerce Drive-In Theater, 1968"},"content":{"rendered":"

This a 3-part series as a model for student work.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Bambi in Boyland: How Disney\u2019s Fawn Reflects American Morals<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Part One:<\/b><\/h4>\n
Commerce Drive-In Theater, 1968<\/span><\/h5>\n

A boy is introduced to movies and Disney\u2019s <\/span><\/i>Bambi<\/span>, and the initiation teaches fear.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I admit my memory is cloudy<\/span> . I was five. My father and mother drove me to my first movie, the story of a Disney fawn stumbling his way through youth and tragedy. Our blue Ford Galaxy, its windshield spotted with dust, rolled up to the rusting post in the middle of the field. My father unhooked the small speaker that dangled there from a cord and perched it on the driver window; static peppered the thin sound, and the image on the screen before was dim, the occasional moth shadow stark and quick. But for me it was pretty magical. <\/span>Bambi <\/span><\/i>etched its complex purposes into me: fire, fear, violence, and something else more powerful still. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In my memory, the parts of the movie skip about, blur together. \u00a0Bambi is practicing words: \u00a0\u201cBird. Bird. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Bird.\u201d \u00a0Thumper laughs at him. But then the gunshot and the father\u2019s voice: \u201cYour mother can\u2019t be with you anymore.\u201d \u00a0I think it was Bambi\u2019s first year of life\u2014but for me he was five. <\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember feeling any fear that evening. My own mother tells me that I cried. And looking back on that scene today, more than 40 years later, I wonder at it. \u00a0What was Disney up to? \u00a0Ralph Lutts, in <\/span>Forest and Conservation History<\/span><\/i>, reports that Disney initially considered putting the death on screen. He set up details so that the audience would feel Bambi <\/span>was<\/span><\/a>\u201cmore helpless and everything.\u201d<\/span><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Did he know about me, squeezed between the two front seats of my father\u2019s Galaxy, 25 years later, inscribed by this horror? Did he know about the millions of children who would watch it? Think about the millions of dollars it might make? Or did he have some other idea about writing the American culture?<\/span><\/p>\n

While <\/span>Bambi<\/span><\/i> is now culturally responsible for so much of our thinking\u2014everything from Smokey the Bear \u00a0<\/span>(\u201cBambi or Bear?\u201d<\/span><\/a>) \u00a0to Ann Curry\u2019s scandalous firing in <\/span>\u201cOperation Bambi\u201d (<\/span><\/a>Markinson<\/span><\/a>)<\/span> \u2014it may also echo some of our national trauma. Rated by <\/span>Time<\/span><\/i> as one of the Greatest Horror Movies of All Time <\/span>(\u201cTop 25 Horror Movies<\/span><\/a>\u201d), it\u2019s a hell of a movie to put in front of your first-born child. \u00a0And if I was terrified by the <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>forest fire, the loss, the vulnerability of Bambi, so too might we all be compensating for those same terrors. In the end we are destined to become Prince of the Forest, resolute and proud Americans. \u00a0Just like Simba about 50 years later<\/span><\/p>\n

I guess I\u2019ve always felt that an abundant show of strength is too often a narcissistic mask for our insecurities. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Behind every Forest Prince is a lonely and helpless fawn. That night in 1968 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I didn\u2019t need <\/span>Bambi <\/span><\/i>to tell me that I was afraid of fire, afraid of losing my mother, afraid of gun violence, perhaps even afraid of growing up. Detroit was on fire in ways I did not understand, and my parents spoke in whispers and half-sentences with anxiety. \u00a0<\/span>Batman<\/span><\/i> was on most weekdays, and Walt Disney\u2019s <\/span>Wonderful World<\/span><\/i> would give me hours of nature movies and cartoons every Sunday night after grilled cheese sandwich dinners. \u00a0<\/span>Bambi<\/span><\/i> was different from the Sunday night Walt. I could watch my parents laugh at Carol Burnett and not feel afraid. \u00a0I could watch Disney\u2019s <\/span>The Ugly Dachshund<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>Pablo and the Dancing Chihuahua<\/span><\/i> and not worry too much about adult ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Commerce Drive-In is gone now, and my initiation into <\/span>Bambi<\/span><\/i> is over 40 years ago. My mother lives gently on a farm in southern Michigan. But as that child in the back seat that night, <\/span>Bambi<\/span><\/i> reminded me of how fragile my innocence was, and it taught me how sternly as an adult I would need to defend it.<\/span><\/p>\n

NEXT WEEK: \u00a0How Bambi\u2019s lessons might have helped a hip-hop idol<\/span><\/i> .<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

\nWorks Cited<\/span><\/h4>\n

“Bambi or Bear?” <\/span>Smokey Bear<\/span><\/i>. \u00a027 Mar. 2014. <\/span>https:\/\/www.smokeybear.com\/vault\/bambi_bear.asp<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

“Bambi’s Mom Dies.” <\/span>YouTube<\/span><\/i>. YouTube, 13 Feb. 2008<\/span> . 27 Mar. 2014. \u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-eHr-9_6hCg<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Lutts: “The Trouble with Bambi.” <\/span>Lutts: “The Trouble with Bambi”<\/span><\/i> \u00a0\u00a027 Mar. 2014.\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.history.vt.edu\/Barrow\/Hist2104\/readings\/bambi.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Mirkinson, Jack. “Ann Curry Firing Plot Called ‘Operation Bambi’: NYT.” <\/span>The Huffington Post<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>TheHuffingtonPo. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/2013\/04\/18\/ann-curry-today-firing-bambi-stelter_n_3108302.htmlst.com<\/span><\/a>, 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Top 25 Horror Movies.” <\/span>Entertainment Top 25 Horror Movies Comments<\/span><\/i>. Time.com \u00a027 Mar. 2014.\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/entertainment.time.com\/2007\/10\/29\/top-25-horror-movies\/slide\/bambi-1942-2\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This a 3-part series as a model for student work. Bambi in Boyland: How Disney\u2019s Fawn Reflects American Morals Part One: Commerce Drive-In Theater, 1968 A boy is introduced to movies and Disney\u2019s Bambi, and the initiation teaches fear. I admit my memory is cloudy . I was five. My father and mother drove me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247,248],"tags":[708,699,709,495,361,707],"class_list":["post-1855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chizblog","category-culture-criticism","tag-1960s","tag-bambi","tag-drive-in","tag-memory","tag-nostalgia","tag-vulnerability"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/bambi.jpg?fit=448%2C298&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1848,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/bambi-in-boyland-3-the-american-forest\/","url_meta":{"origin":1855,"position":0},"title":"Bambi in Boyland 3: The American Forest","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2014 Apr 24","format":false,"excerpt":"This a 3-part series as a model for student work. Bambi in Boyland: How Disney\u2019s Fawn Reflects American Morals Part Three: The American Forest: How Lost is the Dream of Success? The American Dream must be re-envisioned. It\u2019s time to abandon goals of material wealth and embrace the values of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/bambi.jpg?fit=448%2C298&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1854,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/bambi-in-boyland-2-the-infamy-of-a-failed-rapping-wannabe-forest-prince\/","url_meta":{"origin":1855,"position":1},"title":"Bambi in Boyland 2: The Infamy of a Failed, Rapping Wannabe Forest Prince","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2014 Apr 24","format":false,"excerpt":"This a 3-part series as a model for student work. 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(Cooper) Rapper\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/bambi.jpg?fit=448%2C298&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1818,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/gold-star\/","url_meta":{"origin":1855,"position":2},"title":"Gold Star","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2010 Oct 1","format":false,"excerpt":"From: \u00a0 \u00a0 I don\u2019t recall all the details.\u00a0 But my memory of my uncle\u2019s ranch in Wisconsin is a mixture of nostalgia (electric fences, recalcitrant goats, mischievous cousins) and horror (12,000 chickens stacked on top of one another, electric fences, potent winters\u2013and oh, the smells!).\u00a0 It\u2019s an uncomfortable combination.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "ChizBlog"","block_context":{"text":"ChizBlog","link":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/category\/chizblog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/egg-ranch.jpg?fit=551%2C301&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/egg-ranch.jpg?fit=551%2C301&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/08\/egg-ranch.jpg?fit=551%2C301&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1901,"url":"https:\/\/www.chisnell.com\/chizblog\/shoot-into-the-wind\/","url_meta":{"origin":1855,"position":3},"title":"Shoot into the Wind","author":"Steve Chisnell","date":"2017 Sep 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida is a Stand Your Ground state, after all. 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