#as usual enjoy my obscene 2009 screencaps

[naivesilver]

What's your fave/least fave versions of Mangiafuoco? The dude seems kinda ambiguous but Disney really did him dirty...

Stepping into the den of the beast, uh, anon? Well, thank you for giving me a chance to rant once again. I'll put everything under the cut because I don't want to clog everyone's dashes with my delirium.

So, the problem with Mangiafuoco is that contrary to other characters I don't necessarily mind seeing him used as a villain. His role is that of the merciful tyrant, the mood swing riddled man, the ogre who is not truly evil, but if you're making a movie about the story of Pinocchio and don't have the time to pack every scene into it, or if you need to cut some corners, then he is the easiest character to erase the duality of. No time for the Gorilla Judge plot? It's fine, Mangiafuoco can lock Pinocchio up. Coachman seems unnecessary? Well, the dude SHOULD be able to drive a carriage, right?

As such, even if not every adaptation gave him the justice he needed, there are only two versions of him that I actually despise - Puppettino from Emperor of the Night, and Disney's Stromboli. And while Puppettino was terrible because HIS MOVIE was terrible, Stromboli's flaws went far beyond quality. It was a matter of principle.

Imagine, if you will, that a well-renowned studio finally makes a movie about a story that is pivotal to your culture. You watch it, expecting to finally see some representation about your life experience...and it turns out everything that made that story yours has been americanized, mixed and mashed with neighboring countries' lore and costumes because who gives a fuck, and the only slightly faithful character is a) a villain b) a heavily-accented stereotype and c) part of that long-standing tradition of flamboyantly ambiguous evil characters that nowadays Disney would happily call "their first gay character". And to top it all off, this is the only version of the tale everyone ends up remembering, often being dismissive of its true origins.

What I've said might ring familiar to many, especially members of minorities that have grown up with mainstream media (and in fact, if you have examples of similar situations about cultures that don't belong to me, feel free to send them over - I will gladly give those warnings a boost), and it's EXACTLY what Disney did to Pinocchio, and to Stromboli, specifically. The movie could have been salvageable - decent, even. If not for him.

(And Jiminy Cricket, but I can't spend every Pinocchio post complaining about Jiminy, now, can I?)

But thankfully, the Disney movie is now 81 years old, we can put it well behind us, and there are way better Mangiafuoco interpretations to draw from in what has been published since then. I'll gladly list a few, in no particular order, because these are all genuinely good.

Pinocchio (2019)

One of Gigi Proietti's last performances, and one that allowed him to both flex his theater acting muscles and express his unbelievably charming and positive aura. There's a softness to his scenes with Pinocchio that fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the movie, and if Garrone's Pinocchio was already a whimsical, comforting experience, the actor's passing fits another layer of nostalgia over Mangiafuoco's appearances. Thank you for this, Gigi. Truly. You will be missed.

Le Avventure di Pinocchio (1972)

What Mangiafuoco should be - he was an arsehole to everyone, but he gave Pinocchio mercy, food AND clothes, which is exactly what a child living in poverty would need first (also the golden coins, but those didn't go that well). Comencini's miniseries' peculiarity is that it's constantly a bit rough around the edges, far from polished perfection, and what's rougher than a giant of a man bellowing at teeny tiny puppets? A+.

The Adventures of Buratino/Buratino and the Golden Key

I want to know what the fuck was the deal with him SO BAD...Why hide a key in the house of a man like Papa Carlo Geppetto? Especially a key that important? I so wish the Italian dub could be found somewhere, because I can't keep track of the stuff happening if I have subs and I don't know shit in Russian. I only know he was balls to the walls and thriving, and that anyone employing the likes of Pierrot must have had an iron patience. Definitely would watch him conspire in a language I don't understand again.

Pinocchio (2009)

Every time I make one of these posts I think back to this miniseries and EVERY TIME I forgot how utterly ridiculous this Mangiafuoco is. A mixture of Stromboli, an aged rockstar and a bondage enthusiast, with such ridiculous sound effects given to his voice it's a wonder Rai didn't laugh the director out of the room. At least they realized they could only do so much with the terrible CGI Italy is infamous for and made a miniature set for him to traipse around instead of trying to fake a giant man. Best Mangiafuoco if you want to laugh for a solid ten minutes.

And that's it! I hope I exhausted all you needed to know, anon!