Blinded by the Magic

Disney films are a part of everyone's childhood, but are we all so distracted by the magic that we are blind to the racist messages? The Jungle Book (1967) may seem like an innocent story on the surface, but are we overlooking the blatant mockery of African Americans? Walt Disney is a household name around the globe with his films and theme parks bringing that extra little bit of magic into everybody's lives. However, much less publicised, has been Disney's conservative views that defined how he represented people that he saw as social outcasts. In the last few years, more people have been writing about the dangerous stereotypes in Disney films and how they can lead to an altered view of reality. But in the Sixties, these views were commonplace. In 1991, scholar Greg Metcalf wrote about this family favourite and suggested that The Jungle Book was a reaction to the changes happening in American society during this raucous decade. Perhaps the most alarming to Disney, was the progress being made towards African American civil rights. So where's the racism? The answer is, right in front of your eyes! The monkeys in the film were consciously voiced by white-American actors to have 'black' accents and a tendency to sing scat. The monkeys were seen as fools who couldn't take themselves seriously, which is a clear reference to the blackfacing and mockery that existed to humiliate African Americans. Perhaps the most obvious racist detail in The Jungle Book, was the monkeys' prominent lips. One of the leading characters, Baloo, then pokes fun at this facial feature by wearing coconut halves to emphasise his own lips as part of his disguise to fit in with the monkeys. This particular stereotype feeds into the longlasting idea by Josiah C. Nott and George R. Gliddon, developed in 1854.These leading 'scientists' claimed that black people were closer to monkeys than white people were, due to the shape of their skulls. They used this to justify slavery, and later segregation. Obviously, this is a very harmful stereotype that unfortunately continues to rear its ugly head in society today.

Metcalf also discussed a link between The Watts Riot (1965) and a scene from The Jungle Book. The Watts Riot was a major event in the fight for civil rights that took place during the production of this film, so it is easy to draw parallels between the two. The monkeys attempt to stop Baloo and Bagheera from helping Mowgli to escape, which led to a big fight. In the scuffle, the monkeys ended up destroying what remained of their home - this is a clear reference to the millions of dollars worth of damage caused in The Watts Riot. The idea of civilisation is important here too, as Disney intentionally reinforces the idea that whites, or animals coded to be white, are more civilised than black people. So what's the big deal? Despite this film being made at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the damaging representations of African Americans in The Jungle Book were forced upon millions of children during their most impressionable ages, 3-12. The subconcious racist messages throughout this film are indoctrinated into the minds of young people, and even in the present day, this is something that is dangerous for society. - Angel Barber Further Reading: Greg Metcalf, '"It's A Jungle Out There, Kid!": The Sixties in Walt Disney's "The Jungle Book", Studies in Popular Culture, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1991), pp. 85-97. Cory Lund, I Wanna be Like You: Racial Coding in Disney's The Jungle Book, December 2017 https://sites.williams.edu/f18-engl117-01/uncategorized/i-wanna-be-like-you-racial-coding-in-disneys-the-jungle-book/ Alex Wainer, Reversal of Roles: Subversion and Reaffirmation of Racial Stereotypes in Dumbo and The Jungle Book