Summary and conclusion

[Sigvald Grøsfjeld jr.]

Hi all!

I can now see that more and more people thinks that the ongoing dispute
about Italian VS American Disney culture is boring and that it should be
brought to an end. Due to this I will shortly summarize what this has been
about, and then give my final word about this matter.

1. There has recently been an ongoing debate about the possibility of having
someone doing a "Life of Pete" tale.

2. At a point a person says that he would prefer that such a task should be
given to an Italian. My interpretation of this persons statement is that it
seems that this persons personal taste is his only argument for that
opinion.

3. My thoughts and arguments about the same is:
a)
IMO A "Life of Pete" tale should be a serious work based on thorough
research of all relevant material about Pete - and not just another funny
tale, more or less made up from scratch.
b)
Pete (as most other Disney characters) is American.
c)
Pete's character is well described and developed in the well-known stories
by the Americans Floyd Gottfredson and Paul Murry.
d)
Due to points a,b and c, a "Life of Pete" tale should IMO be written by
someone well familiar with these creators/artists in particular, and the
American interpretation of Pete in general.
e)
Based on what I know about the Italian Disney Culture, I fear that an
Italian writer could accidentally or deliberately ignore parts of the
American tradition when it comes to Pete.
f)
Based on the good impressions I have got of Mr. David Gerstein (I have met
him twice) I have suggested him for such a task.

4. I *like* Italian comics and is a hard-core collector of the DD pocket
books. By reading that huge amount of Italian Disney stories over the years
I have got a clear impression that the Italians are proud of their own
Disney culture which to some extent differs from the American one, just like
the American pan-pizza differs from the original Italian pizza. IMO it's
fully possible - yes even completely normal to love/enjoy both these
versions of the Disney culture.

5. I have never meant to insult the Italians or the Italian Disney culture.
I am thus very sorry if anything I have stated during this last debate has
been interpreted that way.

Hopefully we have now said what there is to be said about this topic. I
always try to faithfully answer if someone in DCML have questions for me,
but I it makes me sad whenever my answers/comments causes upset reactions
among DCMLs readers. Personally I prefer more positive discussions on DCML.
That's why I recently addressed the MLers about what stories they want to
see in print in their own language. Hopefully we can soon have an
interesting discussion about that matter instead of the US/Italian topic
that most people now finds boring.

Sigvald