Pinocchio is a Story About Art and God

There are many more fascinating Pinocchio stories to be analyzed. "Pinocchio: A True Story," starring Pauly Shore, is not one of these stories. And yet it's like a car crash; I couldn't look away. Catch it exclusively on Nebula: nebula.tv/videos/jacob-geller-attempting-to-unders…

Nobody tell him about the theatre production of Pinnochio at the London National Theatre where every single character is played by elaborate puppets except Pinnochio hiself who's played by a human actor, which is simultaneously impressive as fuck and has amazing implications about what it represents with his character and his place in the story's world

"The joy of parentage is discovering who your child is, not deciding who they should be" damn what a line

And then, there's Astro Boy, ALSO based off Pinnochio, that gets its own adaptation by many very talented artists. Like, Pinnochio Everywhere mode is ALWAYS on.

One of my exes, her grandfather was deathly afraid of Pinocchio. The word was banned in the house, because even in his old age it would send the poor Italian gentleman into shrieks of hysteric terror. I can see why

"pinocchio killed jiminy cricket with a hammer right after meeting him" is one of the funniest things i've heard

Pinnochio is such a good retelling of Pinnochio, but not as good as Pinnochio imo.

that last line, about the grand metaphor, and "no, you are a mistaken. once upon a time there was a piece of wood". that was GOOD. that was so good. that was wonderful, incredible, videomaking truly is art

"The joy of parentage is discovering who your child is, not deciding who they should be." I broke down and cried when I heard this line - this one hit closer to home than I was ready for.

I need y'all to know that not only did Tom Kenny voice Geppetto in Pinocchio: A True Story, he also voiced Mussolini in del Toro's Pinocchio.

"the cruelty of being created by a god who abandons you," has now made me want to see something blend the stories of Pinocchio and Frankenstein.

All I can add is that the best adaptation of Pinocchio is and has always been Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer, a comic where Pinocchio’s nose can kill vampires because the tree he was cut from was watered with the blood of Vlad the Impaler’s victims

As someone who loves Frankenstein, the parallels are surprisingly close. This video is beautiful and im obsessed with the line “god does not speak, but the church does”. I highly suggest watching Dimension 20’s Neverafter series, they explore a lot of Pinocchio’s themes in growing up in a world you’re not prepared to face on your own especially as a child, and it’s so beautiful. If you enjoy dnd i can’t recommend it more. UGH

As an Italian, it's my duty to point out that the name of the monkey in Del Toro's work "SPAZZATURA" means "TRASH"

"Joy of parentage is discovering what your child is, not deciding who they should be" This line (perhaps unintentionally) explained to me what has been poisoning my art making process for years. I've always focused on how my art should look like and completely disregarded how it actually turned out. Treating every painting as just a stepping stone to excellence, sanding off it's quirks and trying to mold it into something that doesn't come naturally to me at all, like some kind of overbearing parent. ...i think i need to sit down and reconsider some things. ty for life-altering experience, as always.

I find it very strange that Jacob states that Pinocchio in Lies of P "behaves perfectly" and that he always obeys his father. Despite saying that he went over the story many times, he seems to have missed the recurring theme that Gepetto wants Pinocchio to always tell the truth and "be a good boy" to fulfill his plans, and Sophia (the blue fairy) wants Pinocchio to choose what his heart desires, whether that be truth or lies only humans can tell. Pinocchio only "behaves perfectly" if you choose for him to always tell the truth and even then the ending tied to always being a "good boy" is considered not to be the canon ending. I thought it was glaringly obvious just playing the game once that being human isn't something that can be boiled down or distilled, it isn't even just whether you tell a lie or not. You gain humanity from listening to records. So is being human the ability to enjoy art? You gain humanity from disobeying the Grand Covenant (the commandments given to puppets by their creators), so is being human the ability to sin? As you progress through the story you gain allies that stop regarding you as merely a puppet but as a trusted friend, so is being human having friendship? And at the very end, you have the choice to put Sophia out of her misery or let her live, which can lead to you sacrificing your life for her. So is being human the ability to sacrifice everything for what you love? Maybe the game doesn't make it clear what all these questions it poses you mean or whether they have a right or wrong answer, but I don't have any doubts that these questions having ambiguous answers IS the answer to me. Being human isn't something that can be clearly defined, but as long as you are thinking of these questions you can think of yourself as human as you like.

"no strings to hold me down, motherfu-" i think that humanity's obsessive appeal towards that one sentence, which includes myself, pretty much sums up why pinocchio is so popular. we spend our lives trying to cut our strings, trying to destroy any outside factor that might be controlling us and actually being in control at some point in your life is so satisfying that we just keep craving to reach such state of existence again and again as long as we are alive. you can't always be in control, but the point is to be in control as long as possible and when you lose it, you want to take it back as fast as possible.

in 2022, the same year all those pinocchio movies came out, the director of my ballet studio decided to create a ballet of pinocchio for our spring production, and ended up with some set pieces that have not left my head since, notably: - bungee cords that the dancers cast as marionette dolls hung off of lifelessly before springing into action, using the cords to throw their weight around and do impossible things, all while the puppeteer stood over them on a platform, a red light illuminating his face from below as he directed each movement and pinocchio ran through the dancers, terrified - a whale half the size of the stage, broken into puzzle pieces with each piece controlled by one dancer as they moved all as one. it was terrifyingly realistic, and once gepetto and pinocchio both were thrown into the belly of the whale, the dancers opened up their pieces of the whale and retreated around the stage to reveal the whale’s innards so that the father and son could be shown reuniting - a giant birdcage pinocchio got trapped in, with a single spotlight illuminating his crumpled figure, as silhouettes of other people walked by, and his nose grew as he pleaded to the blue fairy for help there were more incredible choices, but ultimately i just wanted to share why the ballet has stuck with me to this day—it’s become one of my favorite adaptations of pinocchio. this video speaks to me so deeply mr geller i appreciate you always

"This video will discuss major plot points of Pinocchio, Pinocchio, Pinocchio, Pinocchio..." Ah yes, truly the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

"The joy of parentage is discovering who your child IS, not deciding who they should be." Thanks, you made me cry. You made me realize I love my father, because he loves who I have become and doesn't discount me for who I am not. What a nice start to my Monday.