Bambi: The Movie and The Book

Walt Disney’s Bambi is NOTHING at all like Felix Salten’s book. Now that Bambi is back in the public domain, Princeton University Press is releasing The Original Bambi on Tuesday.

I cheated on Dana Stevens’s Buster Keaton book to quickly read the new translation. When you read this book and then watch the film, you begin to wonder what book is being adapted to the screen. There’s no Thumper or Flower. While Faline and Bambi’s mom has a presence, there’s no happy ending. The old prince takes Bambi under his wing and by the end of the book, Bambi is basically the old prince living alone in the forest. Throw in some of the conversations between leaves and one squirrel’s experience and Bambi is really just an allegory about the Jewish experience in Europe. Salten hid antisemitism right in front of our eyes.