History NightmareFuel / Bambi

[[caption-width-right:350:"''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons The hunt is]]'' '''''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons on.]]'''''"]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The hunt is on.]]

* The first scene in the meadow, the first appearance of Man. Having been warned that hunters are on the way to kill them all, the animals immediately evacuate. Except, Bambi hasn't been warned about the terrible danger Man possesses. He has no idea what's happening or why he should be running, and he can't find his mother in the chaos, causing a literal DeerInTheHeadlights. Before Bambi knows it, he's seemingly the only deer left in the meadow, the only target in plain sight, as Man's theme becomes unbearable tense. Thankfully, the Great Prince doubles back and rescues him, but it's very apparent what would have happened to Bambi if his father had been a few seconds slower. He was only a few months old at the time and he was already almost killed.

* The first scene in the meadow, the first appearance of Man. Having been warned that hunters are on the way to kill them all, the herd Bambi belongs to clears out of the meadow rapidly. Except, Bambi hasn't been warned about the terrible danger Man possesses. He has no idea what's happening or why he should be running, and he can't find his mother in the chaos, causing a literal DeerInTheHeadlights. Before Bambi knows it, he's seemingly the only deer left in the meadow, the only target in plain sight, as Man's theme becomes unbearable tense. Thankfully, the Great Prince doubles back and rescues him, but it's very apparent what would have happened to Bambi if his father had been a few seconds slower. He was only a few months old at the time and he was already almost killed.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/forest_fire.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[PublicServiceAnnouncement Only you could have prevented this forest fire.]]]]

* Do we need to say it? The mother's death, while sad, is also kind of creepy in that it [[NothingIsScarier happens offscreen]]. [[http://youtu.be/JTZPMJj-X9M A whole generation of kids was traumatized.]] Now, movies for kids don't always sugar-coat reality nor should they start now, but [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath the death of a parent is quite disturbing to any child]]. This one is fairly famous for all the denial associated therewith. Apparently, they were going to show Bambi's mother lying in a pool of blood, but they decided that would be ''far'' too traumatizing.

* If you thought the scene where Bambi's mother died was frightening in the movie, the novel made it even '''worse''', because in it, she isn't the only victim of the hunter's wrath. The scene is almost like a proto-''Film/{{Predator}}'' scene, where many innocent animals, deer, rabbits, bird and [[EnemyMine even their common enemy the fox]] are at the mercy of an unseen hunter, all of them scrambling and fleeing in a desperate effort to evade his wrath. And unlike the movie, where the poacher's intentions are left ambiguous, his feelings are made crystal clear here--he sadistically ''[[EvilLaugh laughs]]'' the whole time while he's mercilessly slaughtering the animals. And to say nothing of Faline and [[AdultFear Aunt Ena's]] terror when they believe that Gobo, who Bambi was forced to leave behind, was killed and his body was hauled away.

** Related: Bird dogs serve the same purpose, running afield to sniff and flush out any foul hiding in the brush while their masters wait at range. The poachers likely brought dogs later in the movie for exactly that purpose, to find and flush their prey - and, depending on the creature they found, either cripple or corner it until the poachers could arrive to finish the job.

* The first scene in the meadow, the first appearance of Man. Having been warned that hunters are on the way to kill them all, the herd Bambi belongs to clears out of the meadow rapidly. Except, Bambi hasn't been warned about the terrible danger Man possesses. He has no idea what's happening or why he should be running, and he can't find his mother in the chaos. Before Bambi knows it, he's seemingly the only deer left in the meadow, the only target in plain sight, as Man's theme becomes unbearable tense. Thankfully, the Great Prince doubles back and rescues him, but it's very apparent what would have happened to Bambi if his father had been a few seconds slower. He was only a few months old at the time and he was already almost killed.

** What helps make it work is the build-up. The music switches to chilling strings, like out of ''{{Film/Jaws}}'', and is followed by Bambi's mother looking bolt upright and scanning the area with wide open eyes, before she tells Bambi to run, suggesting she didn't even spot Man herself. These two elements combine to create a building feeling that something is ''wrong''.

** The [[FamousLastWords last thing that poor bird says]] just before it happens...

* There's also the scene where Bambi wakes up in the middle of the night, walks through the forest and looks down a cliff showing Man's camp. It doesn't help that the music playing in the background is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUEzrs3zrwA downright chilling]].

* There's also the scene where Bambi wakes up in the middle of the night, walks through the forest and looks down a cliff showing Man's camp. It doesn't help that the music playing in the background is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-h1UuT1Gd0 downright chilling]].

* The discussions about Man in the novel are truly chilling because, unlike the movie where they only vaguely comment on Man and we never see or hear him, the book goes to great length to show just how alien and terrifying a human is to a wild animal, to the extent that their mere ''presence''--or even the ''thought'' of them encountering man, is enough to freeze the animals in fear and make them exercise extreme caution when going through the woods. Their interpretations of what man even ''is''--such as the in-universe stories of him having fire in his body or having a "third hand" that shoots thunder and fire (a gun)--[[EldritchAbomination make them seem like horrifying, godlike entities to them.]]
* If you thought the scene where Bambi's mother died was frightening in the movie, the novel made it even '''worse''', because in it, she isn't the only victim of the hunters wrath. The scene is almost like a proto-''Film/{{Predator}}'' scene, where many innocent animals, deer, rabbits, bird and [[EnemyMine even their common enemy the fox]] are at the mercy of an unseen hunter, all of them scrambling and fleeing in a desperate effort to evade his wrath. And unlike the movie, where the poachers intentions are left ambiguous, his feelings are made crystal clear here--he sadistically ''[[EvilLaugh laughs]]'' the whole time while he's mercilessly slaughtering the animals. And to say nothing of Faline and [[AdultFear Aunt Ena's]] terror when they believe that Gobo, who Bambi was forced to leave behind, was killed and his body was hauled away.

** Fun fact: This sequence was storyboarded to be included in the animated movie. Walt Disney himself intervened to say he found it too graphic and wanted it cut. Well, thank the gods for that.

** Something that might be scarier? Bambi was following Faline into the territory of Ronno, this is how bucks begin fights over potential mates. Had they been in a different part of the forest, they could have entered the territory of a more powerful buck that could have killed Bambi, as bucks will sometimes fight to the death for a doe.

** Here's a fun fact: The music that plays for that scene? Music/JohnWilliams was inspired by it for another [[Film/{{Jaws}} famous movie score...]]

** It'll cause a good bit of discomfort if you're an actual hunter because that really is how you hunt birds if you dont sit in a sniper nest the whole time. You move around the area where you think the birds are hiding ''slooooowly'', and eventually, they'll freak out and try to make a break for it, and that's when you got them. It's unpleasant to think about but you have to lure them out somehow...