Who is Pinocchio's Mentor: The Blue Fairy or Jiminy Cricket?

Preface

This preface is both a "thank you" and an apology. I'm excited you are interested enough to engage with the topic. I'm sorry this isn't a conversation. This is a bit heavier than most of my stuff. Please only read on if this interests you. 

Where Did This Question Come From?

I was exploring the topic of Campbell's The Hero's Journey when I came across a Disney ad that clearly suggested that Jiminy Cricket was Pinocchio's mentor, but I wasn't so sure. The video's title was Pinocchio | Sidekicks And Mentors | Disney+. According to Campbell, sidekicks and mentors are two very different roles. I wondered why Disney couldn't commit to a single label for Jiminy. "Is he a sidekick or mentor?" To be fair, they probably intended for Jiminy to serve both roles, like Timothy the Mouse from Dumbo (1941), but the question still got my wheels turning. "What about the Blue Fairy?"

Meeting Pinocchio, the Blue Fairy, and Jiminy Cricket

The Debate

Who is Pinocchio's mentor? Jimmy Cricket or the Blue Fairy?

To make this fun I'm going to imagine a heated debate. On one side, you have Joseph Campbell and his purist followers. Campbell was an early 20th-century scholar who canonized the term mentor and the Hero's need for a guide or magical helper to appear before the hero crosses the threshold into the special or unknown world (see The Hero's Journey). These "Campbellians" espouse the Blue Fairy as Pinocchio's mentor. (E.g., See this verbose blogger's opinion). 

On the other side of the argument, you have Christopher Vogler and his less-philosophically-driven lackeys. Vogler was a Disney screenwriter during its golden age in the 90s. He offers a more accessible Writers' Guide simplifying and expounding on Campbell's Hero's Journey. "Voglerites" seem to view Jiminy as the story's undisputed mentor. (E.g., See this Less-verbose blogger's opinion).

Now it's time for you to enter the debate and choose a side (or not). Watch this clip from Pinocchio (2022) if you need to jog your memory about the characters. At first blush, who do you think is Pinocchio's mentor?

• Campbell’s The Blue Fairy?
• Vogler’s Jiminy Cricket?

Let's get into it.

Volgerites

In his book, The Writer's Journey (2007), Christopher Vogler overtly names Jiminy Cricket as Pinocchio's mentor. In fact, Vogler specifically uses Jiminy as a prime example of a mentor. 

Some Mentors perform a special function as a conscience for the hero. Characters like Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio or Walter Brennan's Groot in Red River try to remind an errant hero of an important moral code. However, a hero may rebel against a nagging conscience. Would-be Mentors should remember that in the original [darker] Collodi story Pinocchio squashed the cricket to shut him up. ~Christopher Vogler, The Writer's Journey, p. 42 (emphasis added)

Additionally, Vogler was the first to introduce the "Meeting the Mentor" stage of his interpretation of The Hero's Journey.

In his other writings and interviews, Vogler has outlined the defining characteristics of the mentor:

• A mentor generally shows up in the first act of the story. (Both; depends on the version)
• A mentor generally has a backstory that informs his or her trustworthiness. (Jiminy)
• A mentor is often flawed but lovable. (Jiminy)
• A mentor provides strategic gifts and guidance along the path. (Both)
• A mentor acts as a moral compass and guide for the hero. It should push the hero out of their comfort zone. (Both, but more Jiminy)
• The mentor has a personal reason for helping the hero. A hero needs a mentor to undertake the Journey, but a mentor needs the hero to help complete his or her life’s path. (Jiminy)
• A mentor may be present for much of the hero’s journey, but he or she must abandon the hero at some point. A mentor can never face a final test in the hero’s place. (Both, but more Jiminy)
• A mentor provides essential encouragement or a magical gift to the hero, enabling his journey into the unknown world. (Blue Fairy)
• When the hero makes a difficult choice, they look to their mentor for comfort, strength, and advice. (Both, but more Jiminy)

Vogler's Mentor Characteristics Scores

Jiminy - 3 characteristics

Mostly Jiminy - 3 characteristics

Both (Shared Equally) - 2 characteristics

Blue Fairy -1 characteristic

Note: These categorizations may differ among the various versions of the story.

By my count, eight out of nine characteristics describe Jiminy. These scores speak for themselves. But what if Vogler was chirping in the wrong field?

Campbellians

While writers and scholars have written about the monomyth since the nineteenth century, Joseph Campbell popularized in his 1949 treatise, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The term mentor finds its roots in Greek mythology, specifically from the name of the servant whom Odysseus relied on for his household affairs. Later on, Athena took on the physical form of this servant to lead Odysseus's son in the quest to find his missing father. Campbell used this term to describe one of eight archetypes employed frequently in the hero-story. However, as mentioned above, "Meeting the Mentor" was not one of Campbell's original 17 stages of The Hero's Journey. Instead, he had a stage called “Supernatural Aid,” which provided a similar effect—to share knowledge and gifts with a less experienced hero. Campbell's sources were primarily mythological and religious in nature, which regularly showcased mentors as supernatural beings and mystical forces (as opposed to Vogler's more tangible mentors written for the Hollywood screen).

Campbell and Vogler's Act 1 Stage Comparison Chart

The Blue Fairy neatly fulfills all the essential requirements of the hero's mentor. According to Campbell, a guide or magical helper appears when the call to adventure occurs (e.g., The Blue Fairy inviting Pinocchio to fulfill his grieving father's wish—for Pinocchio to become real). Typically, the helper provides the hero with talismans or artifacts that will prove beneficial along their journey (supernatural aid). The Blue Fairy not only extends Pinocchio a call to adventure; she endows him with the knowledge and equipment necessary to survive it, including a temporary conscience (Jiminy).

Additionally, the Blue Fairy fulfills the role of mentor by revisiting Pinocchio throughout his journey to give warnings, offer encouragement, and bestow gifts. Sounds very mentor-y to me, even from Vogler's definition.

Campbellians agree that it's easy to mistake Jiminy Cricket for Pinocchio's mentor because of his role as Pinocchio's temporary conscience or inner moral voice. Vogler argues that mentor and conscience (or "higher Self") are always the same thing. However, being Pinocchio's conscience does not necessarily make Jiminy his mentor.

In the anatomy of the human psyche, Mentors represent the Self, the god within us, the aspect of personality that is connected with all things. This higher Self is the wiser, nobler, more godlike part of us. Like Jiminy Cricket in the Disney [1940] version of Pinocchio, the Self acts as a conscience to guide us on the road of life when no Blue Fairy or kindly Gepetto is there to protect us and tell us right from wrong. ~ Christopher Vogler, The Writer's Journey, p. 40

If Vogler thinks that Jiminy represents Pinocchio's "Higher Self," I boldly assert that Vogler fundamentally misunderstands the meaning of Self in Jung's process of individuation. According to Jung, one's personal conscience (or lower Self, as Vogler might understand it) is a primary component of one's eventually higher Self. The Hero's Journey is the crucible for the painful integration of one's consciousness and unconsciousness (personal and collective unconscious), which ultimately yields the Self. When viewed from this Jungian perspective, Jiminy Cricket is the boon or aid given to Pinocchio to help him navigate the special world. The Blue Fairy is obviously the supernatural helper bestowing that aid.

Here's an LDS parallel regarding Jiminy as the supernatural aid: The Blue Fairy's gift of Jiminy is not unlike Christ's gift of the Comforter to the 12 Apostles in His absence (John 14:5-26, John 16:7). The Greek word paraklētos, translated “Comforter” in the King James Version, appears exclusively in the writings of John. The title paraklētos is applied to two individuals: the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ (Source). So, like Christ and the Holy Spirit, we might think of Jiminy as a personified extension of Pinocchio's true mentor, The Blue Fairy.

Vogler acknowledges that the mentor's role is defined by the guiding energy the hero experiences. Mentorship is not about ongoing continuous tutelage; it's about giving the hero purpose and general direction. The following Vogler quote describes The Blue Fairy more than it does Jiminy Cricket: 

“Mentors provide heroes with motivation, inspiration, guidance, training, and gifts for the journey. Every hero is guided by something, and a story without some acknowledgment of this energy is incomplete. Whether expressed as an actual character or as an internalized code of behavior, the Mentor archetype is a powerful tool at the writer’s command” ~ Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey, p. 47

Conclusion

Both Voglerites and Campbellians pose strong arguments, and I can see merit in both ontologies.

Ultimately, the decision hinges on your preference for definitions that are either more explicit or abstract. Your choice may also be influenced by the specific version of the tale you choose, as different versions support varying perspectives.

Pro-Voglerite Conclusions

On the one hand, I want to go with Jiminy for several reasons:

1. Given the Argument's Premise, There Is Only One Real Choice—If we're going to insist on using the term, mentor, there really is only one choice. Vogler coined the term "Meeting the Mentor" and named Jiminy in his definition of mentor. Now, if a mentor means the same thing as one providing supernatural aid, then we have a debate.
2. Jiminy Statistics—There is no contest when comparing tallies of Vogler's Mentor Characteristics. Jiminy is the obvious winner. Campbellian note: Vogler's definitions do not account for alternative versions of the story other than Disney's Pinocchio (1940). Additionally, his defining characteristics are tautological (or self-referencing) in nature.
3. The Blue Fairy's Role is Already Spoken For (According to Jungian Archetypes)—The Hero's Journey was heavily influenced by Carl Jung's theory of archetypes. Based on Jung's lesser 12 archetypes, The Blue Fairy clearly represents the Ruler. Gepetto is the Creator/Artist. And Jiminy is the Sage archetype. 
   1. Ruler: The authoritative figure who provides structure and order. Often associated with leadership and responsibility.
   2. Creator/Artist: The imaginative and creative individual who brings new ideas and innovations to life.
   3. Sage: Wise and knowledgeable, the sage seeks truth and understanding. Often portrayed as a mentor or guide.
4. Awesome Dead Mentor—I intentionally did not limit the discussion to a single version of Pinocchio because I love the original fairytale so much. The visceral image of Pinocchio throwing a hammer and squashing Jiminy in a fit of rage adds an additional layer of drama and symbolism to the story. The hero killing off the mentor is a delightfully shocking twist on the dead-mentor trope (E.g., Obi-Wan Kenobi, Gandalf, Uncle Ben). Doing so adds dramatic conflict to Pinocchio's journey. By murdering his mentor, Pinocchio succumbs to his darker nature (shadow self). It makes his ultimate transformation into a real (virtuous) boy that much more meaningful. This gruesome act drives home the message, "We can all change and be redeemed, no matter our natures or what crimes we have committed."
5. Jiminy is Not Just a Sidekick—Disney clearly wanted Jiminy to play a bigger role than he did in the original telling of the story. By giving Jiminy WAY more screen time, providing him with a redemptive backstory, and creating some emotional stakes for his character, Disney is indicating that he is more than a sidekick. 
6. Nagging Plot Hole—Hang with me because this one is a bit complicated. Campbellians and Vogerlites concur that the hero must confront the final test alone (without anyone's help except for what he brings with him, including his boon). For the sake of argument, let's say that Jiminy is not Pinocchio's mentor but rather functions solely as a supernatural boon (conscience), as suggested by Campbellians. In that case, it raises the question of why Jiminy was absent during Pinocchio's Ultimate Ordeal with Monstro. If Jiminy is just a boon, there would be no apparent reason to exclude him from the scene; he should have been alongside Pinocchio, offering guidance throughout the Ordeal. Jiminy's absence is evidence that he is not just a boon.

Pro-Cambpellian Conclusions

Despite these persuasive Voglerite arguments, I lean more towards The Blue Fairy as Pinocchio's mentor for the following reasons:

1. Campbell's criteria are a Better Fit—The only required defining characteristic for a mentor is that the Hero wouldn't survive the unknown world without first meeting the mentor. Vogler's additional characteristics feel superfluous and "overfit" the term, especially when examined outside of Pinocchio. For example, when you look at Disney's Mulan, is Mushu the mentor? Or is it Mulan's lame war hero father, Fa Zhou, who teaches her about honor and (unwittingly) provides her with the sword that saves China? Is Maui Moana's mentor? Or is it her grandmother who frees her from her village's expectations, emboldens her with stories of her ancestors, and shows the hidden vessel she uses to cross the threshold? Though Campbell's criteria are more broad and ambiguous, I appreciate that they are more inclusive.
2. I'm a Purist—Vogler's derivative writer's guidebook will always be a watered-down interpretation of Campbell's seminal work on The Hero's Journey. Campbell's model examines the greatest works throughout all of history. Vogler's model accounts for the last 100 years of American cinema. 
3. Jiminy is the Aid—While Campbell's and Vogler's respective stages, "Supernatural Aid" and "Meeting the Mentor," serve the same function, remember that the supernatural helper is distinct from the aid that force provides. The Blue Fairy is the mentor and Jiminy is her gift to Pinocchio.
4. Mentor Timing—According to Vogler, the mentor's fundamental role is to quickly and generally help the hero learn how to survive the perils of the new world, not to offer the hero specific commentary and feedback as Jiminy does. The mentor's defining trait is describing how the new world works for the hero before the story can progress to Act II. That timing works perfectly for The Blue Fairy but not for Jiminy! Let's look at Jiminy's problematic timing. In the Disney films, we always know right where Jiminy is in proximity to Pinocchio throughout the films. In Collodi's 1883 story, Jiminy doesn't even show up until after Pinocchio has entered the unknown world (the beginning of Act II of the Hero's Journey, The Departure). After Pinocchio is brought to life, he immediately starts causing trouble. Frustrated, Geppetto sends him off to school. Pinocchio encounters the Talking Cricket (Jiminy) for the first time along the way.
5. Vogler's Criteria Are Based on Fallacious Reasoning—Many of you may still be hung up on Vogler's biased traits of a mentor. This list is an example of the logical fallacy, “post hoc, ergo propter hoc,” which assumes that one thing is caused by another merely because the first thing preceded the other. For example, the Kansas City Chiefs won the NFL Super Bowl LVIII because all the players ate chicken the night before. Vogler's traits must be true by the same faulty logic because they describe a story written before the list was created. Even if the list of mentor-y traits accurately describes Jiminy's role in Pinocchio, Vogler's post hoc traits are specific to visual media, not universal stories. 
6. The Blue Fairy as Mentor Follows a Popular Formula—Screenwriters like to follow crowd-pleasing formulae. Pinocchio (1940) and The Wizard of Oz (1939)—perhaps one of the greatest examples of the Hero's Journey in cinematic history—were released at approximately the same time. The writers likely used the same formula. The Disney writers wanted The Blue Fairy to serve the purpose role as Glinda. 

For you math geeks, consider the associative property of arithmetic (A = B = C): 

If Glinda (A) and The Blue Fairy (B) are the same (A = B). 

And Glinda (A) is Dorothy's primary Mentor (C) in The Wizard of Oz (A = C). 

Then, The Blue Fairy must be Pinocchio's Mentor (B=C). 

Likewise, the ruby slippers (A) and Pinocchio's conscience (B) are the boons or supernatural aid (C).

Your Choice?

Did your initial impression change? Which way are you leaning now? Which arguments did you find most compelling? Does Pinocchio have a mentor? If so, who is it? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

01/24/2024 Edit: Two other votes have come in. My older sister initially voted for Team J, but I have yet to hear back from her since I beefed up the arguments for Team BF. And my father-in-law firmly believes both BF and J are co-mentors.

Postscript

Dear Reader,

This section is for philosophical masochists. You do NOT have to read it. However, if you thought Gepetto or someone or something else ought to be assigned the role of mentor, you might find it interesting. This part of the discussion goes beyond the dichotomous choice, allowing for a more comprehensive examination.

If you want more choices than just The Blue Fairy and Jiminy, here you go:

• Both? Can there be more than one mentor? Probably; I don't think Campbell or Vogler are so dogmatic as to not allow for some flexibility. Additionally, based on the original myth from which the term mentor is derived, some scholars think a hero may have multiple mentors, especially if the hero is young. However, while all allies are mentors in a sense, in The Hero's Journey, a mentor and an ally play distinct roles in supporting the protagonist on their quest. It might be worth reinforcing this distinction.
• Someone else? While Campbell and Vogler concur that all heroes need some sort of assistance, you doubtlessly have your own criteria for a hero's mentor. How does your definition compare to Vogler's and Campbell's?
• No one? Is there a compelling reason to reject The Hero's Journey framework altogether for this story? Perhaps...

No-Need-for-a-Mentor Conclusions

Then again, perhaps both Voglerites and Campbellians are wrong. What if the story has no mentor per se? After all, Campbell and Vogler's writings weren't before in 1940 when Disney's Pinocchio was released. A hero can embark on a quest sans a mentor. According to Chat-GPT, a hero's journey without a mentor typically involves the protagonist navigating challenges and growth without the guidance and wisdom of a mentor figure. In such a narrative, the hero must rely on their own instincts, experiences, and internal resources to overcome obstacles, make crucial decisions, and undergo personal development. Without a mentor, the hero may face increased hardships and uncertainties, but their journey becomes a more solitary and self-driven quest for self-discovery and transformation. The absence of a mentor can lead to a more introspective and independent hero's journey, where the protagonist becomes the sole architect of their destiny.

What if Pinocchio's story represents a more fundamental experience than The Hero's Journey? The saddest consequence of focusing on the narrative role of the mentor is that it steals focus from the unique Jungian narrative Pinocchio has to offer. Jung believed that our collective unconscious (an essential aspect of the psyche) contains inherent, universally human experiences, such as belonging, love, death, and fear. The fascinating thing about this story is that, as a non-human, Pinocchio is disconnected from these experiences. (E.g., Pinocchio didn't fear death when he lit his finger on fire after innocently touching a candle.) He, therefore, required a surrogate experience to interact with the collective unconscious, which he found in the shadowy underbelly of the unknown world. Jiminy wasn't a mere mentor; he was Pinocchio's temporary conscience or persona (one of Jung's fundamental four archetypes) or a representation of who Pinocchio wanted to be. Focusing on this role makes Pinocchio's journey much more internal. As an audience, we are drawn into Pinocchio's mind.

Pinocchio is so much more than a half-baked "shoulder angel" story about obedience. It represents the highly symbolic Jungian journey toward individuation of the Self. It's the building blocks of The Hero's Journey; the core of conflict of the monomyth—to accept the call to bathe one's conscious self in the shadow world of the unconscious, experience ego-death, and be reborn an integrated Self ("real boy"). Freud and Jung, two of Campbell's greatest influences, would likely agree that labeling Jiminy as Pinocchio's mentor is trivial compared to the beautifully resonant internal dynamics happening inside Pinocchio. 

From this even broader perspective, the supernatural aid that Campbell would argue Pinocchio receives from The Blue Fairy is really his ego and super-ego, two of the three psychological components of one's psyche. 

• EGO (Conscious self) - Pinocchio plays this role himself. The Blue Fairy bestows Pinocchio with a sense of self when she touches him with her wand. E.g., "Hi! I'm Pinocchio!" "I, I, I, me, me, me, my, my, my..."
• SUPER-EGO (Personal unconscious) - She assigns Jiminy the role of super-ego. "The super-ego aims for perfection. It is part of the personality structure, mainly but not entirely unconscious, that includes the individual's ego ideals, spiritual goals, and the psychic agency, commonly called 'conscience,' that criticizes and prohibits the expression of drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions" (Wikipedia).
• ID (Collective unconscious) - Many other characters of questionable morality represent Id-driven aspects of various archetypes existing in the human collective unconscious (primordial images). E.g., The Sly Fox Mr. Honest John (Greed), Stromboli (Pride), The Coachman (Ambition), and Lampwick (Hedonism).

Pinocchio is awesome because it confronts audiences with the bizarre dilemma, "How does an animate wooden puppet learn to become a virtuous human? Pinocchio must grapple with the complex philosophical underpinnings of the human experience from the ground up: ontology (What does it mean "to be"?), epistemology (How can I know what is true?), axiology (What is of most worth?), and logic (How can I make decisions?). By assigning external influences, like mentors, we cheapen the true gift of self-discovery through inner exploration.