Deer. Until Walt Disney softened their image, deer were best known as the tick-covered, windshield destroyers of the forest. If you hit a deer in your car, there was no way you wouldn’t have to replace your windshield. And god forbid you were driving a convertible, because then you’d have definitely caught Lyme Disease as ticks would have rained down on you like an Old Testament plague. But, Uncle Walt had a longstanding bet with L. Ron Hubbard as to who could rehabilitate the image of deer first – Hubbard wrote Buckskin Brigades and Disney answered back with Bambi.
Disney introduced a faceless villain to make Bambi sympathetic and tug on our heartstrings. For generations, audiences have hated the Hunter for killing Bambi’s mother, but the truth is that the Hunter was trying to protect her from Bambi’s domineering, toxic alpha-buck father; the “Great Prince of the Forest.” Over time, the Hunter’s story has been twisted like many tragic literary figures – Oedipus, Severus Snape, and Goebbels. In truth, after accidentally shooting Bambi’s mother, the Hunter vows to protect this young fawn no matter the cost. Get ready for a lot of revisionist history as we take one part Maleficent and one part Maleficent: Mistress of Evil in this Disney+ Premiere Access timed exclusive.