King Louie and the Subject of Race: My View

The legacy of Walt Disney is a contested one, particularly with regards to race. Many maintain he held dubious views of Jews and of African-Americans, though there exists an equally unequivocal lobby that insist he was no more racist or racially insensitive than the mass of white Americans of the 1960s. The record as regards his films is similarly disputed. Though such films as Song of the South (1946) and Dumbo (1941) are a focus of this debate, this blog focusses on The Jungle Book, produced much later in 1967, and which is the subject of a blog post below.

The aforementioned post relies on two articles: one by by Greg Metcalf; and one by Cory Lund. The latter is, in my view, an intemperate rant, so I shall deal in the main with Greg Metcalf's article.

Metcalf applies the issue of racism (and prejudice in general) to a great many characters; including Mowgli, whom he decrees as a stand-in for white Americans by virtue of his skin having only a 'darker tan' and having an apparently similar storyline to white characters like Pinocchio.

He declares that it 'would not be going too far' to suggest that Shere Khan is a stand-in for communism with no evidence proffered, whilst Cory Lund attempts to attach the "yellow peril" trope to a character named Khan (associated with Mongol invaders). The fact that Shere Khan is clearly an allegory of Shir Ali Khan, ruler of Afghanistan, a very real menace and not at all a trope, seems not to have troubled Mr. Lund.

But the accusations of racist characters in the film gravitate towards King Louie. At first glance, this may hold water: An exaggerated, stereotypical, character with a fondness for jazz. However, appearances I would argue are deceptive. Both Metcalf and Lund ascribe his name to Louis Armstrong but this is a bold lie: Not only was Louie voiced by Louis Prima (an Italian) but his apparently African-American voice, mannerisms, swagger and lyrics were all directly inspired by Prima - not black musicians as is so often alleged. In fact, Armstrong was considered for the role, but was replaced by Prima over concerns that a black man voicing an ape would appear racist! Far from an example of racism, the voice of King Louie is an example of the opposite, something Metcalf appears to have overlooked.

Metcalf also suggests that the setting is a slum, reminiscent of Watts (of Watts riot infamy). This is about as convincing as trying to draw a link between Watts and Angkor Wat just because of the name: For you see, the temple-setting was modelled on Angkor Wat which far from a slum is one of history's great marvels, and an icon of human civilisation.

Discussion of the monkeys wanting to be white is a nuanced one, but is predicated on the monkeys being a stand-in for blacks which I reject. Aside from the behaviour of the monkeys, which as I said was modelled on an Italian-American, not an African-American, other of Metcalf's evidences I find similarly unconvincing. He cites a monkey appearing (somehow) like a black manservant - though that character spoke in a Caucasian accent and I saw no similarity in appearance, much as I saw no scene resembling Metcalf's allegations over bananas symbolising marijuana (neither did Alex Wainer, also cited). In similar vein, the bizarre noises of the monkeys were not in fact planned (to make fun of African-Americans), but entirely spontaneous & absent from Disney's script, playing on the utterings that were a trademark of the musicians involved. - DANIEL A. RUSSELL.

Sources:

·      Metcalf, Greg, "It's A Jungle Book Out There, Kid!": The Sixties in Walt Disney's "The Jungle Book", Studies in Popular Culture Vol. 14, No. 1 (1991).

·      Lund, Cory, I Wanna be Like You: Racial Coding in Disney’s The Jungle Book (https://sites.williams.edu/f18-engl117-01/uncategorized/i-wanna-be-like-you-racial-coding-in-disneys-the-jungle-book/) accessed: 12/03/2021.

·      Wainer, Alex, Reversal of Roles: Subversion and Reaffirmation of Racial Stereotypes in Dumbo and The Jungle Book (https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/links/essays/reversal.htm) accessed: 12/03/2021.

·      Scott, Mike, For 'Jungle Book' purists, you just can't spell primate without 'Prima' (https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/movies_tv/article_0bf96fd4-8f8d-57ca-b59b-ce813d1c6f77.html).

·      The Jungle Book: The Making of a Musical Masterpiece (Documentary, 1997).

·      Weinert-Kendt, Rob, Cutting Through a Cultural Thicket (https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/theater/the-jungle-book-comes-to-the-stage.html?_r=0) accessed 12/03/2021.