Headscratchers / Bambi

Why Isn't Bambi's Dad King?

• Why is Bambi's dad 'The Great Prince of the Forest' and not 'King'? Bambi gets called "the young Prince" by a couple of other characters, so why are they both Princes?
  • Maybe that's how this forest royalty works perhaps?
    • Yes, but why?
    • Because in the novel they're roe-deer. Prince is an individual term for roe-deer in the books. The Kings are the red deer (and most roe-deer are terrified of them, on account of them being so large and fierce). Disney turned Bambi & Co. into white-tailed deer, but didn't bother to change the hierarchy.
    • In the Disney version, the Kings are elk.

Is "Twitterpated" a Word?

• Is "twitterpated" even a real word?
  • In our world, no. In theirs, yes.
  • It's being used as a word outside of the movie, just as "eyeball" is being used outside of Shakespeare. So, if "eyeball" is a word, so is "twitterpated."
    • If it's not in the dictionary, though, it's still just a Neologism.
  • It can be see?.

Should Be an Adult by Winter

• What's a white-tailed deer mother doing with a fawn that young when there's snow on the ground? Bambi should've been born in late spring and lost his spots by the end of the summer.
  • Dramatic purposes. The younger Bambi seems, it makes his mother's death seem much harsher. And of course we all know Snow Means Death, they wouldn't kill her in a sunny day.
    • If you think about it, it could be a form of Fridge Brilliance, as Bambi really had to grow up after his mother died.

Why is His Name "Man"?

• Why is the villain named "Man"? Is it like "Screw you, humans, some of you are bad so we're naming the bad guy after your very species!" or is it more like "We don't know his name, but he's a dude, so let's just use 'man' as a placeholder."?
  • Man is probably just what they call all humans, who they only know as the hunters.
  • It's "Man" as in "mankind", not just one specific human out to get them for whatever reason. And since the animals only ever really come into contact with hunters and poachers who wish to kill them, it's hardly surprising that they hold a rather dim view of mankind as a species. The book goes into quite a bit of detail as to exactly how monstrous the mere concept of Man is to most of the animals of the forest thanks to the hunters and poachers, and the only two deer (Gobo and Marena) who come to view Man as their friends and not as monsters bent on destroying the animals come to seriously regret it.

Why shoot Bambi's mother?

• Why would a hunter go after a doe with a fawn instead of chasing after bucks, like most deer hunters would do? For one thing, isn't it illegal to hunt a doe with a fawn (as the fawn in the wild would almost certainly die without its mother)? Plus, isn't it also illegal to hunt deer in winter period? It appears then that the hunter was a poacher, which begs the question on what he was hoping to gain from killing Bambi's mother.
  • Food? Or maybe he shot her by mistake.
    • I'm not an expert in fish and game laws but, IIRC, hunting seasons depend on the state's laws and how big the herd is, though, some states (like Texas, Kentucky, and Florida) can have their hunting seasons start in September and end around February if said herd is big enough. Since we don't know where at the movie's set and how big Bambi's herd is, we can't tell if Man is a poacher or not, though, he might be, if we're assuming he's in state where there are laws about hunting in the winter or going after anterless deer (fawns, does, and immature bucks, I'm guessin') Now, if we remember Bambi II, where he tried to trap Bambi, he probably shot Bambi's mom for the hell of it because he can.