"He said that people who loved [animals] to excess were capable of the worst cruelties toward human beings. He said that dogs were not loyal but servile, that cats were opportunists and traitors, that peacocks were heralds of death, that macaws were simply decorative annoyances, that rabbits fomented greed, that monkeys carried the fever of lust, and that roosters were damned because they had been complicit in the three denials of Christ."
— Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera, 1985
pov: you are miguel cervantes after reading the fanfic someone wrote about your little guy and get so mad you write a second book in which the fanfic is cannon and your main character learns about it and he, too, gets so mad he becomes convinced the fanfic was written by his evil wizard nemesis to fuck with him and dishonor his name and also steal his girlfriend
How the "Puss in Boots 2: The last wish" has a very important literature reference
Puss, even his fairytale is Italian, is a obvious reference of a Spanish character: the accent, the swordmaster, ... . But, in this movie, he also embodies a very important figure in the Spanish literature and folklore.
(if you want to know more keep reading)
First a small description of Puss and how he is shown in the begining of the movie. He is an hedonist who loves to drink, eat, flirt and duel without the fear of dying. He doesn't value the things of live and thinks he will live forever as a libertine (licentious).
The most licentious character in the literature is Don Juan.
Even Don Juan is a well-known character, lets talk more abot him and why he is so similar to Puss (not only bc both of them are Andalusians).
Don Juan is not only a literature character from some plays and novels, he is a very popular legend in the Spanish folklore that has two origins in other two tales:
El burlador (The libertine)
El convidado de piedra (The stone guest)
The libertine
Don Juan is an hedonist, it is shown with his lust, gluttony, avarice and his desire for the duels and the scandal. If we notice Puss' deaths we can see this traits:
The flirtatious
The gambling
Gluttony
The 4th, 5th and 6th deaths are related of his pride.
Puss doesn't have the malice that Don Juan does, but the paralelism is obvious.
The Stone Guest
Following most of Don Juan's versions, he goes to the cementary where there is a funerary statue of the Comendador (Commander). He invites the statue to go to his home to have dinner with him in a act of vanity and malice. The statue accepts and joins him for dinner, he will be the one who bring Don Juan to Hell.
To see the conexion with the movie we have to go to the roots of this legend: the oral tradition of el Galán y la calavera (The Gallant and the Skull).
Here some fragments of this tradition (I won't translate this sorry)
These are narrative poems who tells the story of a young man (libertine too) find a skull in his way. He invites the skull to join for a dinner with him while laughing. For his surprise the skull visits him that night and sits with him at the table joining for dinner. The skull didn't eat nor drink anything, but when the protagonist finish his meal, the skull invites him to join for dinner the next day at its/their home. The dinner would be at the grave, meaning that the Skull is Death itself (herself, bc in most Spanish literature Death is she)
This figure evolved into becoming the stone guest but the core is the same. Both, the Skull and the Stone guest are characters which the protagonist mocked and then reveal that they were Death itself.
This scene makes it clear:
The last wish is more close to Zorrilla's version of Don Juan, Puss is saved from Death by the value he learned from his love (and friends).
It also has more references: The movie begins with the fuss Puss makes in the house of the Governor as most of the versions of Don Juan starts with him making fuss in the Comendador's house.
Sooo, here ends this post. I'm not very good at English but I hope you all enjoyed reading this.
I don't belong to any side. What's more, I think flags are nothing but painted rags that represent rancid emotions. Just seeing someone wrapped up in one of them, spewing out hymns, badges and speeches, gives me the runs. I've always thought that anyone who needs to join a herd so badly must be a bit of a sheep himself.