Myth in World Film: The 400 Blows (1959) and Pinocchio (1940)

Final blog post about the visual style and the mythic film subtext leading to why directors might have chosen to tell their story through myths!

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Myth in World Film: The 400 Blows (1959) and Pinocchio (1940)

All types of film have characters, plot, beginning, end, and gives us entertainment; however, there are films that conveys more than entertainment – myths. Myths and film subtexts can be truthful or shocking and make or break a film critically. In The 400 Blows (1959) and Pinocchio (1940), they both share a shocking film subtext along with clear similarities and differences about the visual styles of each that guides why the directors might have chosen to tell their story through myths.

Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959) and Walt Disney’s Pinocchio (1940) share and differ some visual styles in formalist perspective. In The 400 Blows, Antoine gets in trouble a lot by his parents, teachers, police – you name it. It is clear he is a troubled kid due to lying, stealing, and running away; in a way to not take responsibility for his actions. In Pinocchio, Pinocchio gets in lots of trouble as well, but in a different way. He does not know what is right from wrong which leads him down a dark path and plot. He does not listen to his conscience (Jiminy Cricket), he lies, and he goes with people, for which he does not know, to ‘act’. 

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Pinocchio and Antoine have similar behavioral actions such as they lie to others and face the consequences. Consequences are different to Antoine and Pinocchio, but the constant lying is a main theme throughout both films. For example, Antoine lies to his teacher about faking his mother’s death and gets slapped by his father. Pinocchio lies about why he did not go to school to the Blue Fairy and his nose grows longer and longer. The constant lying and disobeying continues to grow as does the consequences towards the end for both plots of each film.

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Another theme that both films share is everyone is hiding something. In The 400 Blows, Antoine’s lying, his mother is having an affair, his stepfather (I believe) has a unconscious affection towards Antoine (but his mother does not like it or likes Antoine since she is trying to resume her lifestyle before Antoine), and Rene and Antoine is sneaking around smoking, stealing, skipping classes and causing trouble under their parent’s noses. Even in the scene, shot from a bird’s eye view, when the kids are jogging around the streets of France and kids one by one (or two by two) drifts from the gym teacher without being caught. There is a theory about Walt Disney films that when a character wears gloves, they are hiding something. Well, in Pinocchio, almost everyone is wearing gloves, Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket, Honest John, Stromboli, except Gepetto and Lampwick (since they are open books). There is a scene with Pinocchio and Lampwick drinking, smoking, and playing pool at Pleasure Island where there are no adults, all kids. They are both acting like adults because they are hiding the fact that they are irresponsible (going to Pleasure Island with a stranger).

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The settings of both films are much of the same. Both films have scenes in amusement parks, streets in the city, a theater, home, ocean, city, etc. The lighting in both settings are low and dark towards the end with little to one source of lighting. In The 400 Blows, the one source is a lamp or natural light from the windows. In Pinocchio, the one source is a candle, torch, or natural lighting. 

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Camera movement, angle and shot is also similar in both films. There are aerial/ panning shots of the city, tracking movements of characters, and zoom ins and outs. The iconic unstable camera movements in The 400 Blows are noticeable since handheld cameras were used early in the French New Wave and in The 400 Blows. However, there are unstable, patchy, and rough camera movements in the animated Pinocchio. Since this animated film was made in the early days of the new technology of film making, some of the animation in Pinocchio are noticeable where the scenes looked like jump cuts due to the glitches or patchy animation. The framing of the camera in both films in the beginning had lots of negative space; furthermore, towards the end of each films, the frame was always filled with people, props, etc. I also noticed that the characters are mostly framed in the center throughout both films, but sometimes are camouflaged in certain scenes. When Antoine is out in the streets, the camera zooms out and the viewer loses Antoine to the city of Paris. In the Pleasure Island scene in Pinocchio, Pinocchio is in the group of children, treated the same way and the camera zooms out losing Pinocchio in the herd of children.

 **There is an example of Pinocchio's unstable camera movement at the end of the post**

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The instrumental music in both films are so similar. They both are simple, mostly a few or one instruments used, and the music sounds like a 'music box.' Whistling is used in both films for help or aid. Most of the music is upbeat while still being calm. In particular scenes (amusement park, theater), the music in both films match the scene and are not too complex (depending on the scene). 

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Disney’s story of Pinocchio was released in 1940 while Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows was released in 1959. I believe that Francois Truffaut might have chosen a similar story, like Pinocchio, to tell his story. The link between both films is realism; to show childhood realism, childhood abuse in the real world. Truffaut did have a troubled past just like Antoine and presented it through a myth or fairy tale like Pinocchio. In Truffaut’s film, the audience is shown childhood neglect. Punishments such as slapping, poor parental ways, communication problems, one-sided truths, and ‘lost causes’ are some (not all) of what the audience sees which, overall, conveys realism. In Disney’s film, the audience is shown childhood slavery and trading (yes, just like the film Taken). Pinocchio is taken by money-hungry people, directors, and traders uses Pinocchio and other children for money, performances, and trading. Even though Pinocchio is a children’s film, rated G, it still has a deeper subtext which is childhood issues in the real world. The creators of Pinocchio just turned childhood realism into a kid friendly movie so it is easier for children to understand what can happen when they lie or not listen.

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Overall, these films are famous in the film industry. They share lots of visual styles, themes, plot and characters and differ in ways like black and white and color, and drama and children films. Realism is the link between these films and builds from one another to convey what is going on about childhood issues in the real world. Pinocchio might be far-fetched when it comes to The 400 Blows, but they do leave an mark in the film industry.

Below is the video that shows an example of unstable camera movement in Pinocchio. Let's see if you can find it! Hint: look at the buildings and how they 'move'. (You may need to switch browsers (to internet explorer or Windows Edge) to view the tube chop)

Credits:

The 400 Blows (1959)

Pinocchio (1940)
TubeChop/ YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD78dtBhwtw | http://www.tubechop.com/watch/8622437