Which infant faced greater hardship in overcoming their demons?

Dumbo, hands down.

A Rudolph.
He was about being born with a perceived weakness, and turning that weakness into an asset.
He did not overcome his red nose. He embraced it, and used it to his advantage.
It is like the movie “Thunderpants”, about a boy that constantly farts, and gets bullied and mocked in school for it. He eventually uses his flatulence to propel a rocket into space and save stranded astronauts.

All the ugly duckling did was grow up, and change appearance.
It abandoned and denied its past, without any effort of its own.
It is also a story about aristocracy being superior by blood.
As such, it is a story to be condemned, and that condemnation should be a part of the story.

Pinocchio… overcame his lying and became a real boy.

Just gonna throw Bambi out there too, floods of tears right now…<quivering lip>

Well..clearly I am biased for the Ugly Duckling who became a beautiful swan. My real life ugly duckling grew up to be a beautiful swan goose. The poor duckling was an outcast and rideculed for his appearance and not fitting in, he perservered and then was more beautiful than his bullies.

~Adolph the Red Nosed Nazi. I waited 29 years for the proper forum to say that.

No love for the ugly duckling.

I agree with loli. Never liked that story. He didn’t do shit. Just because he grew up with some asshole ducks, does not make every duck inferior to a swan. Now if he had grown up to become the most badass duck of the pond, that’s a story I could get behind.

Rudolph was still a flying reindeer when he was being teased. The Ugly Duckling was bad at the one thing ducklings are good for – looking cute. I’d say the Ugly Duckling had it worse off, because the bullies remarks were likely harsher due to this fact.

@ragingloli You’ve got to be kidding. Some people are better off genetically. Why should we pretend people are equal, when they’re clearly not?

@FireMadeFlesh
You have got to be kidding. Some people are born with the right to oppress and rule others?

Jesus Christ?

^^...superstar, wears frilly knickers & he wears a bra.

I’m one for TEAM DUCKY!! Regardless of all the Bad Apples that try to bring us down, only to make themselves feel better, there’s NOTHING better than the beauty of self discovery, inner strength and confidence.

@ragingloli I did not say anything about oppression, and neither does the story of the Ugly Duckling, as far as I remember. The Ugly Duckling matures into a beautiful swan, who is more aesthetically gifted than the ducks. What he/she does with that genetic advantage is not explained.

Any character in a Hans Christian Anderson story is going to have it super rough. The ugly duckling is one of the lucky ones. If it were a typical HCA story, the swan would have died a horrible pointless death—forced to walk on red hot coals or turned into sea-foam.