In the original story, Pinocchio killed Jiminy Cricket

Today I Found Out:

You probably already knew that Disney has a habit of taking dark, twisted children’s fairy tales and turning them into sickeningly sweet happily-ever-afters.

The 1940 version of Pinocchio is no exception. The movie is based on a story that appeared as a serial in a newspaper called The Adventures of Pinocchio, written in 1881 and 1882 by Carlo Collodi. Jiminy Cricket appears as the Talking Cricket in the book, and does not play as prominent of a role.

The Disneyfication of many of our favourite childhood stories might be a good thing. If you read many of the original stories of so much of what Disney has shown us, you’ll find they are not only significantly different but, in many cases, really disturbing.