Everyone wishes or dreams for something. One of the classic ways people express their wish is by wishing on the Wishing Star. But some people think that's silly. One example is Jiminy Cricket. But that soon changed. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what the story of what Disney's Pinocchio is about.
Once upon a time, the travels of Jiminy Cricket brought him to a "quaint little village" and the home of a woodcarver named Geppeto. Seeing that Geppeto's light is on, Jiminy goes inside to find Geppeto finishing his work on a puppet that's in the likeness of a little boy. When he's finished, Geppeto names the puppet Pinocchio. That night he sees the Wishing Star, so he wishes he may, he wishes he might, have Pinocchio become a real boy. While Geppeto's sleeping, a beautiful blue fairy appears and brings Pinocchio to life. He's still made of wood though, and the Blue Fairy tells Pinocchio to "prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday you will be a real boy," and to "always let your conscience be you guide." Since Pinocchio doesn't know what a conscience is, Jiminy volunteers to help him know right from wrong. Will Pinocchio be a real boy, or will he be "a boy who won't be good," and "might just as well be made of wood?"Disney's Pinocchio has a great amount of symbolism in many parts of the story. All together, it's a story that is true to life. All your life, you work hard and do good things to go towards something better. For Pinocchio, it's gaining the life and body of a real boy. This is one of the main branches in the film that leads off to other ideas.
When we think about it, we find that Pinocchio is linked to religion. Particularly Christianity. (I'm Mormon, and yes, we are Christians.) This has to do with what was said earlier about working towards something better. Those of us that are of a certain Faith, believe that we must to our best in order reach the highest happiness in the next life. The symbolism in this is also put into some of the film's characters. (This applies to us Christians mostly.) Pinocchio has to listen to either Honest John, a sly fox, or Jiminy Cricket. This represents the influence that both the Devil and the Holy Ghost can have on our hearts and minds when it comes to facing temptations and other obstacles. The Blue Fairy giving life to Pinocchio can also be used to represent the power of God in the creation of life.
A great aspect of Pinocchio is something we have in our lives whether one is religious or not: Consequences. Pinocchio learns about consequences more or less the hard way. He almost gets kidnapped by a traveling puppet show man, and then almost becomes a donkey. Obviously, turning into a donkey might be worse. How did this happen? Before he knows it, Honest John puts Pinocchio with a bunch of other little boys on a coach, where an evil coachman takes them to a place called Pleasure Island. There, the little boys can do what they want and misbehave a ton without being stopped. (That part can stand for our agency in life.) Once the boys are in, the Coachmen orders his men to lock the doors and says, "give a bad boy enough rope and he'll soon make a jackass of himself." This turns out to be literally true. Most of the boys have turned into donkeys and will be sold into slavery. Going back into religion, Pleasure Island represents all things that are worldly, such as cigars, drinks, fighting, and pool, and also symbolizes how Satan himself delights in our misbehavior. Nothing good comes from these things, so now the boys must face the consequences of their behavior, as we all must.
Here's the good part about all of this: For the boys that turned into donkeys on Pleasure Island, it was probably too late. Pinocchio was able to realize what was happening to him, and was able to escape with only a pair of donkey's ears and a tail. At the end of the film, he's able to no longer have them, thus representing forgiveness through Christ. Although we don't turn into donkeys when we do bad things in real life, we still face consequences. But luckily, we can almost always repent. Then through faith, we can have the knowledge that God and others will be kind and forgive.
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