there’s something particularly demented in the fact that, in del Toro’s version of Pleasure Island, a land of disobedience is instead a fascist youth camp, similarly destructive and damaging to the psyche—only that this was a reality children had to face, making the sight only that more twisted. while the og Disney film ends with the kids as servants and slaves, these kids aren’t even given the choice to live.
both versions had kids trying to act like adults, but while the original had kids transform due to acting out of line, Toro’s aren’t spared. they’re given little opportunity to escape or think for themselves, and are instead killed both by fascism’s cruel instruments and adult arrogance.