Dumbo (1941)

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Dumbo, the main character of Dumbo Disney's animated movie in 1941

Dumbo was released on October 23, 1941. The American animated film was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The movie is based on the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, and illustrated by Helen Durney for the prototype of a novelty toy ("Roll-a-Book"). The main character is Jumbo Jr., a semi-anthropomorphic elephant who is cruelly nicknamed "Dumbo", as in "dumb". He is ridiculed for his big ears, but capable of flying by using his ears as wings. Throughout most of the film, his only true friend, aside from his mother, is the mouse, Timothy – a relationship parodying the stereotypical animosity between mice and elephants.


Plot

A youthful carnival elephant, named Dumbo, was brought into the world with cleverly enormous ears and given the brutal moniker Dumbo. One day at a show, he is insulted by a gathering of children, actuating his mom into wrath that gets her secured. After Dumbo's ears cause a mishap that harms a considerable lot of different elephants, he is made to dress like a comedian and perform risky tricks. Everything changes when Dumbo finds that his tremendous ears really permit him to fly, and he bewilders everybody at the bazaar with his new ability.

Controversy

The group of crows that assist the titular elephant in Dumbo

The film has been criticized by some for its handling of race. The Encyclopedia of Racism in American Films (2018), notes that "All of the circus laborers are African American, the only time that blacks are seen in any great number in the entire movie."[1] Near the end of the classic, Dumbo and his mouse pal, Timothy, meet a group of five crows who were designed to conveniently match racial stereotypes of African-Americans, at least in retrospect.

The led crow in the movie was voiced by a white actor, Cliff Edwards, imitated a Southern African American dialect. Moreover, he was was named Jim Crow, after the pre-Civil-War minstrel character. The term “Jim Crow” derives from "Jump Jim Crow” - a parody song about African-Americans that was performed by a white man in blackface[2].

Another stereotype of black people shown in the movie is during the first act that includes “Song of the Roustabouts”. The scene shows faceless African-American characters working on the railroad singing some offensive lyrics. The song blatantly features racism by using language that fits racial stereotypes. Some of the offensive lyrics are as follows;

Dumbo “Song of the Roustabouts” (1941)

We work all day, we work all night

We never learned to read or write

We're happy-hearted roustabouts

Hike! Ugh! Hike! Ugh! Hike! Ugh! Hike!

When other folks have gone to bed

We slave until we're almost dead

We're happy-hearted roustabouts


References