3/24/2024 0 Comments Dumbo disney dvdAppearing well outside the circus limits, the black caricatures are shown to be anonymous members of a marginal group. Such racism is apparent in the crow sequence in Dumbo. Disney Studios also denied black workers even minimal opportunities, as technicians and support personnel. Not until 1969, two years after Disney’s death, did a Jewish actor, Buddy Hackett, feature prominently in a Disney film, The Love Bug. In retaliation against the studio moguls, who were predominantly Jewish, he refused to employ Jews in high-level positions at his studio or as actors in his live-action features. In his book, Disney’s World, critic Leonard Mosely recalls an incident in which Disney, referring to Cohn, vowed never to “let that fat Jew rescue me from bankruptcy.”ĭisney projected his own sense of alienation onto “others” in Hollywood, namely, Jews, blacks, and union workers. In particular, he resented Harry Cohn’s so-called “ruthless” tactics. Though often pressed for money, Disney refused their offers. Each had a vested interest in Disney’s animation empire and was eager to buy him out. Mayer at MGM, Jack Warner at Warner Bros., and Harry Cohn at Columbia. The studio heads he opposed included Louis B. He felt that the Hollywood studio system of the ’30s and ’40s threatened his creative control. Indeed, Disney saw himself as a victim in the three-ring circus that was Hollywood. In his suffering at the hands of the ringmaster and his own fellow pachyderms, Dumbo functions as Disney’s own alter ego. Significantly, the circus is presided over by a preening, bombastic Italian ringmaster, an apparent caricature of Mussolini (voiced by Herman Bing). With its assortment of jeering clowns and faceless roustabouts, this community exhibits a sinister mob mentality, suggesting Fascism and, by association, Nazism. The rest of the circus community also ostracizes him. They know precisely how big an elephant’s ears should be, and they ridicule Dumbo for not measuring up. At the beginning of the film, the other elephants treat Dumbo with cruel condescension. Key among these is Dumbo’s mother (voiced by Sarah Selby), separated from her son throughout much of the film, just as America was cut off from Great Britain and other allies at the time of Dumbo‘s release.īut the parallels are more complicated than this sounds initially. With his big blue eyes, jaunty cap, and youthful exuberance, Dumbo (voiced by Verna Felton) is set against the other circus elephants, who may be seen as representing the European Allies. It was Disney’s fourth animated feature film - following Snow White, Pinocchio, and Fantasia - and the first with a contemporary U.S. The titular protagonist represents the innocence of the heartland, where Disney himself grew up, and his story reflects how this innocence comes under attack by “political forces” abroad and “subversive elements” at home.ĭumbo was released roughly six weeks before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. According to Schickel, Dumbo reflects Walt Disney’s deepest convictions regarding the United States and its entry into WWII. The book portrays the artist as a paranoid man, and not a little contemptuous of his colleagues, particularly the numerous Jewish moguls who reigned in Hollywood during the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. Published roughly 20 years ago, this book angered many Disney fans by suggesting that Walt - born 100 years ago December 5 - was less than perfect. Only after revisiting the film as a young adult have I been able to see why it was “special to Walt Disney,” according to critic Richard Schickel, in his book, The Disney Version. Watching Dumbo as a kid, I didn’t question its content or probe for meaning beyond the elephant’s tale. And Dumbo‘s compelling narrative provides a forum for Disney’s more extremist views. Indeed, the little elephant with the big ears, who wants only to reunite with his mother, has moved audiences like few other Disney protagonists (a notable exception being the young buck Bambi in the 1947 film of the same name). Despite their merits, however, these other films do not come close to achieving Dumbo‘s raw power. And certainly nothing in Dumbo can match the computerized wizardry of modern Disney “classics” like The Lion King (1994). Nothing in the movie heralded a technical breakthrough, as the studio had done with Pinocchio (1940) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The animated film remains a deeply moving picture and conveys various universal themes - the fear of being separated from one’s mother, facing discrimination on the basis of physical appearance - with a simple eloquence that is neither preachy nor trite.Īt the time of its release in 1941, Dumbo was hailed by critics as Disney’s least pretentious work. Walt Disney’s Dumbo, The Flying Elephant was released on DVD October 23, the 60th anniversary of its first theatrical run.
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