i really love this. i love the style. you make me love donkeys all over again

Awww.. Lampwick makes a cute jenny.. :)

He makes such a cute little donkey. I like the idea of Lampy learning to be happy as a donkey, maybe being Pinocchio's little buddy or something. Imagine Pinocchio massage donkey Lampy's ears all while Lampy has a contented look on his face. As long as he could be safe, I think Lampy could come to enjoy being a donkey.

In the Disney version we don't know what becomes of Lampwick, in the original story he died. I always thought there should have been more. A few pranks and skipping school equalled a few years, if that, of hard labor then death. It would have been more pleasant if he at least had a long and contented life as a donkey.

That always bothered me. People acted as though he deserved it when really, the things he did were nothing compared to the things kids of today do. What's worse is that the Blue Fairy did nothing to stop the Coachman and even Jiminy didn't ask about Lampwick when he made his way back to Pinocchio. Heck, even Pinocchio didn't say anything to Jiminy about Lampwick. I mean, what kind of heroes are these?

No heroes at all...which is why I said that rotten puppet in my comments on the pic.

There was a version of Pinocchio made in Canada a few years back, live actors and such. Lampwick in there of course suffers the same fate...but he was portrayed as more innocent, so it's all the more painful. I think that's what the director was going for though.

I still think there should have been some redmemtion for poor Lampy...but it is just a story. Still it's quite sad if you ponder it.

Something else I thought of (other then my second most recent comment below). Notice that Lampwick treats Pinocchio with respect and never (that can I recall anyway) does Pinocchio being an ambulatory marionette ever come up or seem to bother Lampwick. And yet once Lampwick has become a donkey, Pinocchio stops caring about him.

Now that you mention, yes. But the puppet always seemed shallow to me anyway so it's almost exp...ected. He and the cricket both, Jimminy, all sweet and light with vapid advice. The side characters were more interesting...

I wrote a fic of what Jiminy may have been thinking during that scene, of why he decided to leave Lampwick to his fate. Perhaps I should post it to my account here.

Yes, Lampwick had become a donkey. Yes, Lampwick was in a panic. Sadly, yes, there was little if any way to tell how much of the Lampwick they knew still existed in the donkey he'd become.

However, they don't even try to save him. They don't even ask the Blue Fairy about him or tell the authorities about what the Coachman is doing. It's as though they're attitude is, "Oh well, our job was to help preventing a boy from becoming a donkey (not literally more symbolically) and now that Lampwick and the others are donkeys we failed. Have a nice life as donkeys guys".

If the spell were so powerful that even the Blue Fairy couldn't change him back, he still deserved a chance to go home, even if it meant going home as a donkey. Some might use the old 'sorry but you can't change a donkey into a human' line, but I think that's a cop-out.

I mean, Pinocchio also enjoyed Pleasure Island. Although I saw some of the script for Pinocchio on a website and I'd forgotten about in that scene where he lies and his nose grows and the Blue Fairy is all nasty to him, wanting to keep him that way. It's not until Jiminy pleads for Pinocchio, to give him another chance that the Blue Fairy fixes him. But, she says that do it again and she won't change him back. I mean, my God, Pinocchio is literally only days old in the movie. It's like they expect him to be a saint. Yes, Lampwick wasn't the nicest kid in the world but how many people are at his age?

If we lived in a world where even as a young child, you could be transformed into an animal for your sins or even simple mistakes, how many of us would have lost of humanity years ago rather then (hopefully anyway) outgrown them and gone onto be at least half-decent adults? If humanity is that uptight, maybe Lampwick would be better off as a donkey living with someone that treats him well rather then constantly having to live up to impossible standards lest he make a small mistake and end up turned into who knows what and/or having his body violated in some other way.

I suppose however that the movie does show that one's humanity is a precious thing. I.e., that being human is a gift one shouldn't squander. Although the idea that you could permanently lose it that easily is rather unsettling.

In some ways I can forgive the movie, the original story is far creuler in many ways. As for the movie, well, I think they showed that the boys become donkeys were still aware for the most part in just the prior scene. That scene is at least equally disturbing, if not more. The coachman picks up one of the donkeys, still clothed, asks 'and what's your name?' The donkey brays and the coachman rips the clothes off him and tosses him in the shipping box. Next comes Alexander, who states his name, the coachman tosses him in with other who can still talk. Alexander and the other plead, and the coachman says something to the lot of, you made your fates and now live with it. The telling point is that the little donkeys who can't talk, the ones poking heads out of the shipping crates, drop their heads and droop their ears. They heard, they knew, they understood. They were still boys inside. Chilling...

In poor defense of Jiminy, he was only supposed to be watching out for Pinocchio and not others. Yeah, that's weak. I know. For a story that is supposed to be about a puppet learning to be a good boy, a fine and moral upstanding young man, it fails on so many levels. The primary players are self centered and do not help others at all, even the Blue Fairy to some degree. It's all about the puppet and the rest are damned.

That is a good point with them hanging them their heads. Some say (for the braying) the idea of trying to speak but only a bray coming out. To me, if that were true, they'd still sort of speak but with a serious impediment.

I think that with Lampwick and the others, the sad irony is that, I think they've changed enough on the inside coupled with the physical changes that they can only really express their fear and not wanting to be a donkey in donkey terms. Maybe they even have forgotten how to express that in a human way (in terms of body language and speaking language) and can only really express it in a way a donkey expresses fear and upset. They bray, buck and hang their ears. It's scary to see them react that way. Maybe (and I hope this make sense) they still know they should be able to speak a human language. Maybe they're trying but something is making it come out in "donkey" by default. Maybe they've forgotten the words but they still know they knew them.

I guess I'm over thinking it. In the end it, it more or less amounts to, they want to speak but can't seem to help but bray.

Either way, their human thoughts, intelligence and emotions are still there. They're still aware enough that they're aware of what they've become and what it means. They know how they appear and sound. Even if they speak donkey they don't think of themselves as donkeys and know they're not supposed to be this way.

I wonder if keeping them human or at least more or less human on the inside is crueler then if they lost their human wits?

I understand where you're going with the Jiminy issue. Let's face it, the movie is called Pinocchio, not Lampwick nor Alexander. It's about Pinocchio's journey to become a real boy, to earn the privilege of being human. The Pleasure Island scene was there to show us the dangers of temptation and how one could lose their humanity. In a way, it shows being human as being even more of a privilege. It's something we can't for granted. Even for Jiminy, he needed to see that, whoa, he thought Pinocchio might be at risk of never gaining being a real boy but it could be perhaps much worse then that. He could become something less and lose everything and maybe even never get it back.

I will admit that I do still like donkey tf to an extent. It's more staying that way and the dangers of it that bother me. That and forcing it on someone that doesn't want it rather then for example, someone that does (but want to be well treated) but when it happens it's perhaps unexpected but is still something they want. Yes, there is a sort of peace that comes with the idea of being in a safe place and getting to stay that way. Sort of knowing that one doesn't have to worry about human worries any more. The idea that you can let go because you don't need to worry about going back. But, it's also the issue of being a donkey being a very limited existence and the difference between being a donkey and being a donkey. It's that and the idea of having a life, family, hopes, dreams and wanting more out of life then just the basic things one would get as a donkey. It's sad for these boys because while turning into donkeys frees them from school and other human worries and responsibilities, being donkeys also means having no control over their fate which is very dangerous given the things people had donkeys doing back them. It also means losing their humanity. It's not as though this is temporary and they'll change back and have an interesting story to tell their kids and grandkids years later. This is like, holy crap, they're going to be animals from this point forward. Everything to do with being human is no longer part of their existence and the realities of being donkeys is.

It's a lesson of growing up but in a bad route where there's a point where it might well be too late and you're a donkey and that's that and you have no choice but to live with that. The problem is, it was one night of bad behaviour. Let's face it, the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

What bugs me even more is the Coachman gets away with it.

Although, I did write a fic where Lampwick doesn't die because I felt he deserved better.