Paperin Fracasse and perspectives

Petri Kanninen pkannine at cc.hut.fi
Thu Nov 22 18:39:41 CET 2001


DIM about Paperin Fracassa

>Mysterie".It is one of the worst stories I have. Its plot makes no
>sence.

True, it definitely doesn't make any sense what so ever :-) That's one
part of its goodness. I've always liked stories where anything might
happen.

>What is a castle doing in modern U.S.A in distance from any
>citie? 

Again, here's a difference how we read stories. I never thought, as a kid,
that Duckburg was in USA, or in Finland either. It was in some undefined
place, where you would mountains, seas, forests and deserts if you wanted.
Reading Rosa's stories I think Duckburg is in the USA, but when I
start to read some old story like this, it never bothers me. Duckburg is
now somewhere else, where forests and castles exist.

>reading that you probably know why I dislike the stories which blend 20th
>centurie Disney characters with characters from Disney's animated films
>which seem to live in different ages or countries.It all remind of this
>awful story and the conception behind them all seems to be that every
>Disney character lives together with all the others in the same
>time.Sounds terrible!(

I never thought the use of animation characters too disturbing. Especially
Foulfellow and Gideon who I first met through this story. It seems to me
that I read stories more for their mood than their plot. For me it's just
a minor detail that the princess is Snow White, the important thing is
that she can make Donald do those incredibly courageous acts he does in
the story. Donald's behavior is one the best things in the story: he's
really goodhearted and ready the sacrifice himself for others. I think it
all comes down to that I don't really consider Snow White or the seven
dwarves part of the disney-comics universe, so there is no real or wrong
time for them in this universe.  They are free to visit it when it is
necessary and their presence in the wrong time doesn't matter, because
their just side characters doing their job for the story. It's just nice
to know them from before.
I don't know if you know that this story is an adaption of a book by
Theophile Gautier called "Capitain Fracasse". It really makes sense that
the story doesn't make any sense in the regular Disney-universe because
its source is so different. I just look it as an individual story that
uses Donalds character with a noble way and has an incredible
atmosphere and enjoy it. Can't explain it any better.

>  At least the 1973 version I have has something different.Before the
>storie there are 4 pages by a different artist which explain that this
[...]
>that was a small consolation.Then five more pages from the same,unknown
>to me,artist have Donald waking up and then proceed to link this story
>with another which is a parody of Cyrano de Bergerac.

These extra parts are from the Italian series "I Classici di Walt Disney".
It is a series that reprints the classic tales from the Italian weekly
Topolino. In the old issues they added frame stories around the stories so
they would seem to be linked somehow (and tried to make the stories make
more sense). The drawer is Giuseppe Perego, one of the worst drawers in
Disney-comics history, at least I've never heard anyone saying he was any
good. Is there someone who thinks he's good? There is some information on
Arthur de Wolf's site about this series:
http://www.wolfstad.com/dcw/comic.asp?comicid=88

--
Petri Kanninen (pkannine at cc.hut.fi)
Aku Ankan taskukirja -tietokanta: http:/www.perunamaa.net/taskarit/

"Elokuvataiteen kannalta Van Damme on ollut merkittävimmillään
Replicant-elokuvan loppuhuipennuksessa, jossa hän potki ja
pieksi perusteellisesti itseään." -Mikko Vienonen, IS 13.10.2001





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