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oxpecker — DrawDeercember day 7: Roe deer
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Published: 2018-12-08 07:02:48 +0000 UTC; Views: 4300; Favourites: 200; Downloads: 0
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#DrawDeercember day 7: Roe deer.European roe deer were the protagonists of Felix Salten's novel "Bambi, a Life in the Woods" (1923). When Disney adapted the book into film the species was changed to something that looked more like a white-tailed or mule deer for American audiences. As much as I love Disney's Bambi, it would have been amazing to see the little roe deer celebrated in such a way on the screen. I sketched this one from a taxidermy specimen on display at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. I also had the pleasure of seeing them wild in the woods near Stockholm.
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Media: Sketched with Polychromos coloured pencil.
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Comments: 24
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beautiful!! I love the texture on the antlers. roe deer were the first (and only) deer I saw in the wild, they're unexpectedly tiny, I thought they were dogs at first 
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Glad you like him! They're definitely beautiful animals, in a modest way.
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Mm, what an adorable guy. Roe deer are very charming and they always seemed pretty fawn-like to me, as in even adulthood they still remind a bit of young fawns. Maybe it's just their face structure or cute big eyes :}
And yes, someone acknowledges Salten's novel in its originality and not Disney's adaptation, yee! "Bambi" is the book that became one of the most influential and important to me and I get very pleased when others give it some recognition. Most folks seem to miss it out thinking that the novel was for children or I dunno. The adaptation always replaces the book in people's minds and that honestly pisses me off. Did anyone ever knew it was a book in first place? Not much to say about "Bambi's children" either. :[
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You're right, they're so gracile and small.
I think I've avoided reading it because it has a reputation for being full of existential dread. It is on my list though. I would love to read it in the original German but my handle of that language isn't good enough yet.
I probably feel the same way about LotR. Anyone who hasn't read Tolkien assumes movie-verse as canon. This was tolerable until we got those horrible dog-shit Hobbit movies tarnishing everything. It breaks my heart.
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I mean yeah it is pretty depressing and dreary for a book about life in the woods. That still didn't stop me from loving it when I was only 9 y/o, I adored it ever since. Seeing the adaptation fills me with... not realized potential. They could have add so much more from the original story and they chose the safest way - turn it kid-friendly and get rid of most dramatic scenes. Not to mention characters.
I'm sure the intention of movie-makers was true to book when they first started to shoot the first movie, it's just that sometimes big franchises have this tendency to play safer with their ideas in future features what resolves in sometimes putting off important but 'too tragic' scenes and situations. It's not always makers' fault but the audience that doesn't usually like 'risky' takes and turns. :{
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You know that Salten originally sold the film rights to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer but they passed it to Disney after failed experiments back in the day. And that Disney targets kids merchandising(being that they’ve turned other adult stories into kids films, but this is a tragedy cause it’s sold to Disney by MGM and not like one of those public domains).
Disney is also rarely close to the sources they base their films on. But mostly it’s their “saccharine reputation” they are well known for living up to.
A majority of the English translations to the book are fairly accurately translated. The second book Bambi’s Children suffered the most with foreign translators toning it down for children and Salten to have complaints and arguments about it, him not wishing to be known as an author for kids stories.
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Somehow Disney are actually still able to take a source material and turn it into a well-crafted and emotional story; I mean when they don't take copyrighted BOOKS, because with fairytales you can have more freedom of artistic choices. Not to blame the company but what they did to some non-public domain books was petty of them. I'd never turn a mature and seriously-themed story into something more child-friendly without a convincing reason if I was them. :{
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The didn’t sell the film rights to Disney, he sold it to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who intended a philosophical approach, but after failed experiments at the time, they ended up passing it to Disney. However, Disney is known for turning any mature story into kids films and kids merchandising in the 1940s has to be cute. How much adult Bambi merchandise do you see? It’s probably the reason they did a midquel as opposed to Bambi’s Children like considered early on while Walt was alive.
In the end, soon after the film’s release, the author reluctantly sells rights to the character’s name because he was in exile from Nazis and was in desperate need of money and it’s said that he expressed regret for losing rights to his character. He only lives 3 years after the film was released.
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I have read the original "Bambi" by Felix. It was, of course, darker than Disney's adaptation, especially concerning...Gobo? I think that was his name. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't remember them being roe deer, however. Was it mentioned in the book and I just somehow missed it or forgot? 
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Well quite often Bambi in Disney would be seen as a cutesy baby critter film. With the fawn Bambi merchandising and barely much adult Bambi who was badass enough to fight hunting dogs and a rapist stag, however we get next to nothing of adult Bambi but get both child and adult versions of Simba(inspired by Bambi) cause the 1940s kids demand it to be that ‘cute’.
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I think it was more clear in the original German, which I haven't read, but apparently he was a Rehbock (roebuck). I noticed that the English translation made the stags' antlers sound more elaborate though. Many of the older German editions had roe bucks illustrated on the covers.
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