- “I'm collecting stupid little boys."
"Stupid little boys?"
"You know, the disobedient ones who want play hooky from school.” - ―The Coachman and Honest John[src]
The Stupid Little Boys are characters in Pinocchio. They are children from different towns and villages, who have prolonged misbehavior.
Background
The Stupid Little Boys are disrespectful children who like to disobey rules and hate school. When presented with the offer to go to a place of no authority and endless foods and sweets, among other unsavory pleasures such as tobacco, gambling and fighting, they are all too happy to accept without considering the risks. On the island, the boys become extremely gluttonous and engage in roughhousing and vandalism, among other things. Their extremely foolish nature becomes their undoing as they all end up turning into donkeys on the island, only regretting their behavior after its too late.
Appearances
Pinocchio
The Stupid Little Boys are carried on the Coachman's stagecoach to visit Pleasure Island, a place where they can do whatever they want without anyone telling them to do anything. On the Island, the boys can eat as much food as they desire; engage in violent brawls, drink unhealthy amounts of alcohol, gamble, go on rides, and generally abuse their privileges.
However, what they do not know is that while they are having fun, they turn into donkeys after having acted as such. First, the boys' laughs became the bray of a donkey. Then, they would grow donkey ears, followed by a tail. Then, their faces turn into that of a donkey, complete with a muzzle. Their hands and feet become hooves, with their entire bodies being covered in fur at the same time. Finally, the boys would fall to all fours and their voices would be replaced by full braying. Only a very small handful of boys are fortunate enough to still retain their voices. They are all then rounded up by the Coachman's minions to be taken to the dockyards for inspection.
The boys are each asked by the Coachman for their names. If that answer is a bray, he removes their remaining clothes and throws them into crates that are loaded onto a boat and sold off on the mainland. The Coachman deals with anywhere donkeys are put to work, and the crates are marked accordingly by labels. If they answer with their name, he holds onto them. The boys could only watch sadly as they are forced to work like the donkeys which they have become.
During Pinocchio's trip to the island, most of the boys had been transformed and rounded up while he and Lampwick were left as the only two not yet turned and remained unseen in the island's pool hall. Before long, however, Lampwick fell victim to the island's curse and turned into a donkey and Pinocchio ran away from the hall in a panic. While Lamwick's fate is left unknown, Pinocchio narrowly avoided the same fate due to Jiminy's intervention, with the knowledge of the island's evil curse. Most of the transformed boys were sold to the salt mine, circuses, farms, and among other clients, all doomed to a life of intense and endless labor.
Geppetto
The Stupid Little Boys also appear in the live-action TV special, Geppetto, where they are having fun at Pleasure Island where they get turn into donkeys when there on a rollercoaster, along with Pinocchio.
Pinocchio (2022)
The Stupid Little Boys appear in the live-action remake and not only have boys, but girls as well.
Pinocchio encounters a group of naughty children on the carriage which the Coachman is using to bring them to Pleasure Island, unaware they are being lured into the trap. As Pinocchio feels unsure if he should join, the Coachman sings the musical number "The Coachman to Pleasure Island" just as the children sing along; Pinocchio accepts his plan to go to Pleasure Island, causing the children to cheer for what Pinocchio says just as the Coachman takes them to Pleasure Island. Arriving at Pleasure Island, Pinocchio and Lampwick board a boat looking at what all the children do here. As the two continue riding the boat on Pleasure Island, a naughty boy takes a mug of root beer just as Lampwick shows Pinocchio what being a bad boy is like. Pinocchio and Lampwick arrive at Sugar Mountain - a place full of candy, where the two encounter more children enjoying the attraction, followed by Pinocchio encountering further attractions featuring children doing various sorts of bad habits that good children would not do, which Pinocchio feels nervous that these activities can tempt him to get into trouble. When Pinocchio sees all the negative influences the children are doing, he tells Lampwick that his father Geppetto might be unhappy if he were there just as the two encounter the Coachman serving him more root beer.
Suddenly, one of the children gets turned into a donkey as Jiminy realizes that the place is a trap where two large shadowy creatures capture the donkey. As Jiminy ends up at the area where the caged donkeys are, he encounters more shadowy creatures selling the children who were turned into donkeys to the salt mines under orders of the Coachman. Pinocchio plans to escape with Jiminy before he gets turned into a donkey just like the other children. The two manage to escape from the Coachman and his followers into the sea in time.
Disney Parks
At least two of the Stupid Little Boys as donkeys are still wearing some human clothing have been seen in the Celebrate A Dreams Come True Parade at the Magic Kingdom park for Walt Disney World, marching along with Honest John and Gideon, also one has been seen with Lampwick in human form, except for donkey ears and tail, on the Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade; other than that, they have not been exactly meetable characters.
Trivia
- The reason the kids turn into donkeys is because donkeys are a symbol of ignorance, hence the derogatory term "jackass". By shunning schoolwork in favor of Pleasure Island, the kids go from metaphorical "jackasses" to literal jackasses.
- The Stupid Little Boys originally had a song written for them to sing about Pleasure Island, but it was cut.
- Lampwick and Alexander were the only characters to have names confirmed in the film while the rest of the names are unknown.
- However, it is revealed that 6 boys besides Alexander are in the pen and can talk.
- Despite the rest of them being bad children, it is heavily suggested that they still love their mothers, as shown by Lampwick when he calls his mother before being fully transformed into a donkey and Alexander saying that he wants to go home to his momma.
- Their donkey vocals were provided by Clarence Nash and Mel Blanc.
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