History Literature / Bambi

Bambi has also been confirmed to be appearing in Rhys Frake-Waterfield's Film/TwistedChildhoodUniverse, starring in [[https://www.indiewire.com/2022/11/bambi-horror-movie-the-reckoning-1234785614/ his own horror movie]], and is slated to appear in the crossover film ''Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble''. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer We're not joking.]]

Bambi has also been confirmed to be appearing in Rhys Frake-Waterfield's Twisted Childhood Universe, starring in [[https://www.indiewire.com/2022/11/bambi-horror-movie-the-reckoning-1234785614/ his own horror movie]], and is slated to appear in the crossover film ''Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble''. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer We're not joking.]]

A [[https://www.indiewire.com/2022/11/bambi-horror-movie-the-reckoning-1234785614/ horror movie]] produced by the people behind ''Film/WinnieThePoohBloodAndHoney'' and ''Peter Pan: Neverland Nightmare'' has been confirmed to be in the works. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer We're not joking.]]

* AnAesop: Be alert and independent. You cannot depend on anyone else for survival.
** This gets a particularly grim illustration with [[spoiler:Faline's brother Gobo]], who appeared to have been killed by a hunter in the same winter Bambi's mother died, only to return some time later as a full grown deer. (A human family had taken pity on him and made him a pet.) The Great Prince realizes immediately that the buck's lack of caution will be his doom... and sure enough, he dies in the very next hunting season.

* DisabledBadass: Ronno has a lame leg due to being shot in it, but is still capable and manages to survive fine in the forest.

** This gets a particularly grim illustration with [[spoiler:Faline's brother Gobo]], who appeared to have been killed by a hunter in the same winter Bambi's mother died, only to return some time later as a full grown deer. (A human family had taken pity on him and made him a pet.) The Great Prince realizes immediately that the buck's lack of caution will get him killed eventually -- as it does.

* LesCollaborateurs: The doe Marena believes that humans and deer could live in peace, pairing up with an overconfident young buck who has rescued by humans and has lost his fear. She soon finds out that trying to befriend humans is suicide.

* RaisedInCaptivity: [[spoiler:Gobo]] was taken in by humans as a fawn and reared until adulthood. After being let back into the wild, it's clear that he's lost his self-preservation skills. He also thinks that he's friends with all humans, which leads to his death when he approaches a hunter.

As of 2022, the book is now in the PublicDomain.

* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: Unlike in the movie, the paternity of any of the deer is uncertain. While in the movie, Bambi was explicitly the son of the Great Prince, in the book there is nothing proving that the two are related at all, although they do come to have a father/son relationship. The closest to confirmation given on such things is only an implication that the pair of fawns Bambi meets at the end of the novel are his own.

* NoFathersAllowed: Does [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe usually don't know]] who fathered their children. During the breeding season, Bambi becomes head-over-heels for his [[KissingCousins cousin, Faline]] and rarely wants to leave her side. After she becomes pregnant, Bambi finds his interest in Faline quickly waning until he can't stand to be around her anymore. This reflects real bucks' behavior, who mate and leave without helping to raise fawns.

* AnAesop: [[spoiler:Faline's brother Gobo]] appears to have been killed by a hunter in the same winter Bambi's mother died, only to return some time later as a full grown deer, and it turns out a human family had taken pity on him and made him a pet. This causes him to lose his fear of humans, which is ultimately his undoing.
* AnimalReligion: The animals believe humans to be some sort of god. Bambi eventually learns from the Great Prince that humans are mortal creatures too, and concludes that there must be a higher power which governs them both.

* CapitalLettersAreMagic: Humans are referred to as "He" with a captial H. Interestingly, the term used in the movies, "Man", is only used once, and in the summary for the first book rather than in-universe.

* NatureIsNotNice: The novel does not gloss over the cruel parts of animal life.

* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: [[spoiler:Gobo]]. When Bambi and Faline reunite with him, he no longer has his wild wariness and caution around humans, much to Bambi's consternation. It doesn't help that his girlfriend Marena believes in peace with humans in a borderline-SuicidalPacifist way -- she ends up sadder but wiser when his foolishness does him in.

** The xenofiction aspect is far more pronounced in the original books than in the Disney film. The deer behave in ways that seem unusual or even cruel to humans, but are normal for deer. The fawns' mothers act snappish towards them after weaning them and begin leaving them alone for long periods of time, in contrast to the film where Bambi is always near his mother. Bambi becomes infatuated with Faline during mating season, but finds himself distancing himself from her afterwards.

** The animals believe that humans are some kind of god. Near the end, the Prince [[spoiler:shows Bambi the corpse of a man who was shot by someone.]] Bambi then realizes that humans aren't all-powerful beings, but mortal creatures like the animals, concluding there must be Another superior to them both.
** Also, one of Bambi's cousins, Faline's brother Gobo, disappears for a year before returning with a halter around his neck. He says he is now cared for by a human, and that man is not always cruel but can be a friend. The other animals are confused by this, some believing him, others denying it, and Gobo is also reluctant to admit he's now a pet. Later he sees a human in a meadow, and runs to it to show the animals the kindness of his master, [[spoiler:but the other human turns out to be a hunter who kills him.]]

* LonersAreFreaks: Subverted. [[spoiler:The whole moral of the book is Bambi realizing that, in order to live long and gain wisdom, you have to live alone and learn self-reliance.]]

* NoFathersAllowed: Does [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe usually don't know]] who fathered their children. During the breeding season, Bambi becomes head-over-heels for his [[KissingCousins cousin, Faline]] and rarely wants to leave her side. After she becomes pregnant, Bambi finds his interest in Faline quickly waning until he can't stand to be around her anymore and runs off to live alone. This reflects real bucks' behavior, who mate and leave without helping to raise fawns.