Nature Bites

I’m not sure how long this will remain available online, but here’s Suzie Templeton’s 2006 stop-motion retelling of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. The detail, sets and character design are pretty marvellous and the film’s 29 minutes pass quickly. However, those of you familiar with the original story may raise an eyebrow at the reimagined ending, in which the wolf is released back into the wild – no doubt to resume his predatory ways - and the witless duck is presumably digested.

Part 1: 

Part 2:

Part 3: 

Part 4:

DVD. 

Comments

[Brian H]

It's really nice. I saw it this Christmas. Not sure about the "modern" ending though.

[TDK]

"the wolf is released back into the wild – no doubt to resume his predatory ways"

Surely not. Peter facilitated dialogue and conflict resolution. Note how he walked away from the cage with the wolf beside him. Only he had the vision to reject all prejudice and trust the wolf. After escaping the wolf got in touch with his inner self and became a vegetarian.

It is odd how folk tales have been sanitised for children in recent years. It's rare for Little Red Riding Hood's nemesis to actually die, unlikely that Hansel and Gretel's witch gets anywhere near an oven and so on. The Little Red Hen usually relents and shares the bread with the animals that wouldn't help with sowing, reaping & kneading.

Compare your memory of The Red Shoes with the original

http://hca.gilead.org.il/red_shoe.html

An even greater oddity recently is the ironic tale for children. In this a well known story is subverted. Thus Three-Horrid-Pigs-Friendly-Wolf: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Horrid-Pigs-Friendly-Wolf/dp/1845066278/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232361447&sr=8-6
, Three-Little-Wolves-Big-Bad Pig: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Little-Wolves-Big-Bad/dp/1405209453/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b
Three-Little-Wolves-Big-Bad
[We used to have a book that subverted loads of tales but I can't recall its title]

As an adult, it's quite fun to read these ironic versions because you are familiar with the original. However I read recently that today, parents avoid the traditional tales. That being so, some kids will only ever know the ironic versions. I wonder how that works?

[David]

TDK,

“Peter facilitated dialogue and conflict resolution. Note how he walked away from the cage with the wolf beside him. Only he had the vision to reject all prejudice and trust the wolf.”

Heh. Quite. I suppose revenge is now frowned upon in a way it wasn’t previously. Ditto self-defence. Much as I’m impressed by the animation – and it is lovely - the ending does jar a little. I don’t think these stories have to be carved in stone and tweaking the original premise can, as you say, be fun. But in this case, it softens the ending too much (bar the apparently digested duck). I’m happy to entertain the idea of balloon-aided crows with eerie intelligence, but the idea that the wolf would alter its nature and no longer be a threat is stretching things a little.

[Anna]

So the moral is 'treat the wolf like a human and everything will be okay'?

[David]

Anna,

“So the moral is ‘treat the wolf like a human and everything will be okay’?”

I’m not *quite* sure what the moral here is. Something to do with talking things out with dangerous predators in the hope they become a different kind of beast? Doesn’t seem terribly wise. Maybe Peter has actually mastered the wolf and plans to have it eat his enemies and thus begin a reign of terror.

[AntiCitizenOne]

I look forward to the remake of Aliens....

Negotiate from Orbit! It's the only way to be sure.

[James S]

The duck dies, the wolf is unfairly oppressed and the hunters are incompetent thugs. :)

[David]

This is quite telling, from a review in The Times:

“Michael Spencer, co-ordinator of the project’s educational side, has no argument with this change… ‘There are issues here about the relationship between the young and the old, about bullying, about geography, deforestation, the environment and personal morality,’ Spencer says. ‘Peter taking Grandfather’s key to open the door brings on the question: ‘When is it right to disobey?’”

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article638922.ece

I’m not exactly sure how “deforestation and the environment” come into it, though I see that mentioning such things is now all but mandatory. One Amazon reviewer insists, “When Peter spares the wolf it is not out of naïve sentimentality, more a statement against the brutality of our world.” Templeton’s own take is that, “For a while, it seems [Peter] is the local hero. But he has grown, and soon realizes that he cannot imprison another wild spirit. With great danger to himself and to the dismay of everyone else, he frees the magnificent wild creature, which runs off into the night.”

As a moral tale, I’m not sure what to make of that decision. It seems that in order to feel pleased with his own moral loftiness, Peter endangers his neighbours and the livestock on which many of them presumably depend. Still, as long as *he* feels good about himself, I suppose the consequences don’t matter.

[The Thin Man]

"the hunters are incompetent thugs" - yes, that was what grated with me most - the original storyline sees the hunters as just "folk" (I presume that hunters would actually have been soviet "heroes") but in this version are shown as red-neck bullies.

All in all a good looking animation, but the inversions of the various characters are a step too far for me.

[Anna]

"Maybe Peter has actually mastered the wolf and plans to have it eat his enemies and thus begin a reign of terror."

*That's* the sequel. Peter and the Wolf 2: The Bloodbath Begins! :D

[AntiCitizenOne]

Anna,

Hollywood would insist on making Peter female for that sort of movie.

[Horace Dunn]

AC1

"Hollywood would insist on making Peter female for that sort of movie."

Yes, but they'd need to feminise the name. How about calling her Peta?

[David]

Apparently, the wolf is now female:

“I thought the animators would animate her in a more complex and interesting way if they imagined her as a female. If they thought of it as male it would just be very aggressive and one-dimensional.”

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7Srj_KsktWE

I can see the point of introducing cubs to be fed (a detail cut from the script), but it still seems that Templeton has inordinate sympathy for the wolf. Certainly, she seems to prefer the animal to the human hunters, who are, naturally, devoid of redeeming features.

[Baltar's Beard]

Is it all done with stop-motion?

[David]

There’s quite a bit of digital clean-up, CG backgrounds, CG balloon, etc.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DpfZjvncXNQ

[Baltar's Beard]

Thanks, David