The Sentimental Disney Cartoon Cemented the Myth That Man and Nature Can’t Coexist
Perking up her ears, the dog was the first to notice them, just a few
blocks from our homes in east-central Illinois. One-by-one the does
strolled from the woods into the meadow. They eyed us without lifting
their tails, seemingly habituated to this neighborhood. Their appearance
awed us but also prompted different responses. Joseph recalled long
past hunting trips four miles south in a tree stand overlooking a
soybean field and tried to pick out the fattest doe in the group. But
Robin remembered watching Bambi at a theatre birthday party at
the age of six. That brought her, the birthday boy, and the other female
guests to tears, wondering if our mothers might be next.
These contradictory responses suggest the lingering strength of the Bambi myth, the lasting legacy of Walt Disney’s 1942 cartoon about that big-eyed fawn. Seventy-four years later, Bambi’s worldview still animates debates over animal rights and environmentalism: Should we save Bambi or save the earth?
No comments:
Post a Comment