"In the year 2022, three different Pinocchio movies were released— two of which were made by Academy Award-winning filmmakers— and I thought, 'That's fine.' In the year 2023, one of the best games of the year was a spin on the popular 'soulslike' genre, except instead of medieval knights or Lovecraftian beasts, the game based its lore on… Pinocchio. And I thought, 'Seems normal to me!' But for some reason, learning that legendary directors Francis Ford Coppola, Federico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick all had dreams of making a Pinocchio film, and were only stopped by death or massive lawsuits has pushed me over the edge. Like, there isn’t some other Pinocchio, right? I haven't missed something? We’re talking about the puppet? The fairy tale?
"In the past 80 years, there have been at least fifteen explicit film adaptations of Pinocchio, even more TV specials and 'guest appearances', countless books for both children and adults, and an ever-growing list of projects that may not have “Pinocchio” in the title but are, in one way or another, twists on the same story of a little wooden boy. What is it about a puppet without strings that requires so many different artistic interpretations? It’s not like Coppola, Del Toro, Fellini, Zemeckis, Spielberg, Calvino, Kubrick were all dying to untangle the mystery of Goldilocks. I want to understand this, I need an answer, and over the past several months I’ve consumed so much Pinocchio-based art I feel like I’m losing my mind. Because here’s the twist: there’s not a simple reason all these artists are obsessed with Pinocchio, because Pinocchio isn’t about anything. It’s about everything!"
