Line #37 Music/PeterAndTheWolf


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Peter_and_the_Wolf_4992.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_the_Wolf_(2006_film) One of many adaptations]]]]
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4	''Peter and the Wolf'' (''Пе́тя и волк'' in Russian) is a combination of children's story and musical composition by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. During performances, a narrator tells the story while accompanied by music played by an orchestra. Each character in the story is represented by a {{Leitmotif}} played on a unique instrument.
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6	The story tells the tale of an encounter of a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin young boy named Peter with a wolf.]] The other characters are Peter's grandfather, a duck, a bird, a cat and an unspecified number of hunters.
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8	The work has been recorded numerous times by many different orchestras, and has also been adapted to a variety of other media, including animation, stop-motion animation (namely, [[WesternAnimation/PeterAndTheWolf2006 a 2006 animated short]]), theatre and ballet. It has also inspired many variants and parodies, some of which include different characters and instruments. The best known of these adaptations in Western media is probably the one from Disney's ''WesternAnimation/MakeMineMusic'' (1946), which gives the animals and hunters names.
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10	!!This work provides examples of:
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12	* AdaptationalHeroism: In the Disney version, the cat (described as "a peaceful, fun-loving sort, maybe a little shy on brains -- you know the type") takes on a much more heroic role. While initially trying to eat the bird, he afterwards teams up with Peter to capture the wolf and save the bird's life.
13	* AdaptationalVillainy: The cat, in at least one version, is in cahoots with the wolf.
14	** A similar situation occurs in the Sesame Street version, where the cat is played by Oscar the Grouch. Here he is more interested in causing trouble, reluctantly helping Peter and the Bird (Elmo and Zoe respectively) catch the wolf. He later comments on the eventual happy ending, saying that he doesn't like where the story is going, preferring that Peter get punished by Grandfather (played by Big Bird).
15	* TheAlcoholic: In one adaptation (the one narrated by Music/{{Sting}}), the duck nearly misses her cue because she's too busy drinking at the bar, and she is literally thrown onto the set by the production crew. She then offers her drink to Peter, who responds with a scolding finger. She continues to carry the bottle with her for the rest of the scene until she accidentally drops it in the pond while arguing with the bird.
16	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The wolf, except in the 2006 version. In the Disney version, the wolf is pure evil, and the only character in the film without any personality or sentience.
17	* AndIMustScream: "If you listen very carefully, you'll hear the duck quacking inside the wolf's belly, because [[SwallowedWhole the wolf in his hurry had swallowed her alive.]]"
18	* AvianFlute: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITBphW3qB0s The bird is represented by the flute]]. While this may not be the TropeMaker, it is almost certainly the TropeCodifier.
19	* TheBigBadWolf: The titular wolf of the story is the villain and antagonist of the story. He eats the duck and attempts to eat the other characters.
20	* BigThinShortTrio: The hunters in the Disney version.
21	* ButtMonkey: The duck. The clumsiest of the characters, gets embarrassed by the bird, and in all versions but the Disney version, [[AndIMustScream is devoured alive]] - and is ''still'' alive, inside the wolf, at the end of the story.
22	* CatsAreMean: The main role of the cat is to serve as a pursuer to the bird, though the wolf is the BigBad of the story. The 2006 version of the cat is a more of a [[FatBastard Big Fat Jerk]] who gets his by first plunging into the icy pond when going after the Sparrow, and then getting [[BirdPoopGag pooped on]] by the Sparrow when he gets out of the water.
23	* CatUpATree: In this case, the cat is up the tree to escape the wolf, not to get rescued by the fire department.
24	* TheCavalry: Subverted in the Disney version, where the hunters appear while Peter struggles with the wolf. But as they come to aid, Peter has already overpowered the wolf.
25	* CelebrityCameo: The fairy tale has been narrated by countless celebrities over the decades, including Basil Rathbone, Sterling Holloway (voice of [[WesternAnimation/TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Winnie the Pooh in the original Disney cartoons]]), UsefulNotes/EleanorRoosevelt, Creator/AlecGuinness, Peter Ustinov (twice!), Creator/BorisKarloff, José Ferrer, Series/CaptainKangaroo, Music/LeonardBernstein, Creator/SeanConnery, Creator/RichardAttenborough, Creator/DavidAttenborough, Music/JacquesBrel, Mia Farrow, Music/DavidBowie, Terry Wogan, William F. Buckley Jr., Paul Hogan, John Gielgud (twice!), Music/{{Sting}}, Music/WeirdAlYankovic, Creator/PatrickStewart, Creator/DameEdna, Creator/BenKingsley, Creator/AntonioBanderas, Creator/SophiaLoren (twice), UsefulNotes/BillClinton and UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev.
26	* CompilationRerelease: The 1946 Creator/{{Disney}} short got a ClassicalMusic[=-themed=] VHS release alongside ''WesternAnimation/MusicLand'' and ''WesternAnimation/SymphonyHour''.
27	* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Possibly. It is never implied that Peter is an orphan, but at the same time we only know he has a very protective grandfather. His parents are never mentioned.
28	* CowboyEpisode: [[Music/PDQBach Peter Schickele]] wrote a comical alternate text, "Sneaky Pete and the Wolf," which recasts the story as a showdown between Pete and a desperado named El Lobo. HilarityEnsues.
29	* DarkerAndEdgier or LighterAndSofter: These tropes apply to some adaptations. For example, the Creator/WaltDisney adaptation has Peter hunting the wolf using a [[NerfArm pop gun]] and makes it clear that [[spoiler:the duck survives]], whereas the Music/WeirdAlYankovic version makes it very clear that [[spoiler:the duck dies a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrible, painful and]] ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath slow]]'' [[CruelAndUnusualDeath death]] inside the belly of the wolf]]... and then there's Neil Torbin's ''Peter and The Werewolf'' where [[spoiler: the [[AdaptationSpeciesChange duck (now a raven)]] is practically the SoleSurvivor]]... [[SincerityMode which was played for laughs]].
30	** Then there is a middle ground of sorts in the 2006 version, where Peter is sullen and lonely boy living in a poor town, the hunters are drunken bullies, and the duck (Peter's best friend) is killed by the wolf and we see the whole thing. But then somewhat subverted in how the wolf is portrayed - she is dangerous since she is a hunter looking for a meal but also somewhat noble [[spoiler:in that she does not hurt anyone when Peter sets her free, walking beside him with an identical expression until they reach the city gates. The script reveals the intended unfilmed ending: The wolf was ''[[MonsterIsAMommy trying to find food for her pups,]]'' and returns to them after she is freed.]]
31	* DeadHatShot: In the Disney animated adaptation of ''Peter and the Wolf'', the wolf chases the duck into a tree, and comes out with feathers flying, licking his chops. [[spoiler:Subverted when the duck turns up alive at the end.]]
32	* TheDitz: The duck, in the Disney version.
33	* DramaticTimpani: When the hunters enter, there are intermittent menacing timpani outbursts, meant to symbolize the firing of their blunderbusses.
34	* EmotionalBruiser: The hunters in the Disney version [[EverybodyCries start crying]] [[InelegantBlubbering rather messily]] when it briefly looks like Peter got eaten alive by the wolf.
35	* GettingEatenIsHarmless: In the original, the duck survives being swallowed by the wolf. When the wolf is later captured and committed to a zoo, the duck is not liberated; instead, it remains imprisoned within the wolf, with the implication that it will survive there indefinitely. According to the story, the duck can still be heard quacking inside the wolf's belly.
36	* GrandparentalObliviousness: The quest is done while Grandpa's asleep and oblivious of his grandson's disobedience.
37	* HammerAndSickleRemovedForYourProtection: In the original version, Peter is a Young Pioneer, i.e. a member of the Soviet Union's communist youth organization. Western adaptations always drop this detail, even when they maintain the Russian setting.
38	* HappyEnding: Depending on the version ...
39	** BittersweetEnding: In the original Peter and the Wolf the story ends with the wolf captured and marched off to a zoo by the hunters. However, it is revealed that the duck that had been eaten was [[SwallowedWhole swallowed alive]] by the wolf, with his final fate uncertain.
40	** HappilyEverAfter: Because of this, many adaptations [[SparedByTheAdaptation add the wolf vomiting the still-alive duck back up]] at the end. In the Disney version, the duck is [[DisneyDeath revealed to have hidden]] inside a hole in the tree all along.
41	** Averted in "Weird Al" Yankovic's version. He goes for undiluted BlackHumor, where the duck dies a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath realistic and]] ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath slow]]'' [[CruelAndUnusualDeath death]] inside the wolf's stomach [[spoiler:then gets reincarnated as... Creator/ShirleyMacLaine]].
42	* HostileWeather: Some adaptations play up the Russian setting by having the tale take place in the middle of winter, adding another danger in the elements.
43	* InkSuitActor: Or rather, foam rubber suit actor. The version with Sting as narrator was turned into a puppet/live action TV special with characters designed by Roger Law. Sting himself is represented by his own ''Series/SpittingImage'' puppet. The Italian dub narrated by Roberto Benigni replaces the puppet with a Benigni caricature.
44	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: [[DownplayedTrope If you dig deep enough.]] Grandfather is a bit hard on Peter, telling him to stay out of the woods. However, seeing how Peter's parents are never even mentioned, it's strongly implied that they are dead. Given that one of them would have to be his own son or daughter, this makes his protectiveness over his grandson all the more understandable.
45	* JumpScare: The moment when the cat slowly approaches the little bird until Peter suddenly shouts: "Look out!" Many children listening to this scene have jumped in their seats. Luckily the bird heard Peter's cry and was able to fly away.
46	* KidHero and TheHero: Peter.
47	* {{Leitmotif}}: The entire story is built on this trope, and it is perhaps one of the best known examples of Leitmotif.
48	** Bird: flute
49	** Duck: oboe
50	** Cat: clarinet
51	** Grandfather: bassoon
52	** Wolf: French horns
53	** Hunters: woodwind theme, with gunshots on timpani and bass drum
54	** Peter: string instruments
55	** [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic Bob the Janitor: accordion]]
56	*** The wolf's {{Leitmotif}} has been re-used a couple of times in other media to create a sense of menace, such as it being the theme of Scut Farkus in ''Film/AChristmasStory'', and in the accompaniment of "The Meek Shall Inherit" from the stage version of ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'', as the unscrupulous salesmen close in on Seymour.
57	* MickeyMousing: The various instrumental groups of the orchestra "voice" the characters and actions.
58	* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: In the Disney version, the wolf is listed separately from the other characters, having a visual introduction rather than having his leitmotif described (it is never mentioned in the film that French horns are used for the wolf, unlike every other character). The narrator simply states, "There is also a wolf", in contrast to the fanfare he gave all of the other characters. This was likely to emphasize the wolf's lack of personality (see AlwaysChaoticEvil above).
59	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In the version narrated by Music/{{Sting}}, the hunters are clearly modelled after [[Creator/TheMarxBrothers Groucho, Chico, and Harpo]].
60	* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the Disney adaptation, everyone (except the wolf and Grandpapa) are given names: Sascha (the bird); Sonia (the duck); Ivan (the cat); and Misha, Yasha and Vladimir (the hunters -- "that's Vladimir in the middle").
61	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: How the HELL did Peter and Ivan go from [[ThisIsGonnaSuck cowering from an incoming wolf]] to [[spoiler: have the wolf bound and completely at their mercy]]? The Disney adaption sure isn't gonna tell you.
62	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Sonia the duck in the Disney version, who is swallowed alive in the original version. In fact, the storybook version of this adaptation has Sonia join Peter and the hunters in the parade through the village with the wolf bound up, with the illustrations showing her holding the wolf's tail.
63	** Subverted in the Sesame Street version. Here, Telly Monster plays the duck, but when Papa Bear narrates the duck getting eaten, he [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere calls it quits]], pulling his bill off and leaving the scene. He comes back later as one of the hunters alongside the the Two-Headed Monster.
64	* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Peter is able to talk to the bird. Lampshaded in the Music/WeirdAlYankovic version which has Peter go [[YouCanTalk "Wow! A talking bird!"]] when the bird appears.
65	* SwallowedWhole: [[spoiler:The wolf swallows the duck whole and alive.]]
66	* ThatRussianSquatDance: Performed by villagers at the end of the Disney version.
67	* TooDumbToLive: In at least one version, the duck was safe from the cat because she was in the pond, but then when the wolf arrives, she [[IdiotBall steps out of the pond]] and promptly gets eaten. As TheNarrator, Music/{{Sting}} {{lampshade\|Hanging}}s this by referring to her actions as "foolish".
68	** This little "plot hole" is averted in the 2006 version. The pond is iced over, giving the duck no shelter at all from the hungry wolf when she comes calling.
69	* TranslationConvention: Surprisingly, averted in the Disney version. All the in-universe writing is in Russian and a narrator talks over the in-universe dialogue, at one point LeaningOnTheFourthWall when Sascha spells out "волк" in the snow, which the narrator reads as "W-O-L-F!"[[note]]The Cyrillic is actually Romanized as "Volk", which is indeed the word for "wolf" in Russian.[[/note]]

Context Music / PeterAndTheWolf