Feminisney: “Dumbo” and “Bambi”
In which Disney reveals its penchant for single motherhood and violent animals.
New to this series? Figure out what’s going on here!
Here we are on week 2 of my Feminisney project, and already I’m starting to feel some existential dread. A lot of these early movies are… bizarre and upsetting for several different reasons. Or are just kinda boring and plotless. Personally, I can’t wait for the Disney renaissance, talking about the princess films, and unveiling what I’m fairly certain is Disney’s only openly gay character in its animated films. But more on that way down the line. For now, nature calls, because Disney’s 4th and 5th animated features are the first that focus fully on the animal kingdom. But just because the characters aren’t humans doesn’t mean there aren’t things to discuss. And a decent amount, too.
(By the way, regarding last week’s Pinocchio viewing, I left out an awkward part about a female fish with a distinct interest in Jiminy’s junk… but Cracked.com didn’t! Watch this entertaining video (NSFW: Language) for a different look at how messed up Pinocchio is.)
Dumbo
So, here’s the refresher on the flying elephant flick. Mrs. Jumbo gets delivered a baby elephant boy that has big ears. People make fun of him. Kid aggressively “plays with” Jumbo Jr. (nicknamed Dumbo because his obnoxiously large ears are dumb), so Mrs. Jumbo spanks kid. Is locked up as a mad elephant. Dumbo fails at being a circus elephant because apparently there is 0 practice had for these stunts, is turned into a clown (insert Shame Nun here), gets drunk, ends up in a tree, finds out he can fly, flies, makes tons of money, gets mom out of circus jail.
I mean, it’s a story of sorts, though the goal of the story is… vague, at best. Still, this is mostly a story about the love between Mrs. Jumbo and her son, even though there isn’t enough time spent on it. With that, there are things to discuss.
Number of named characters with speaking lines: This time, we have a majority of characters with lines that are never named, especially not audibly. Several female elephants, the Ringmaster, the big-eared kid that’s a bully to Dumbo, four of the five crows, the stork that delivers Dumbo (unless all the storks are called Mr. Stork), and several clowns have no names given. The names go to Mrs. Jumbo, Joe (a guy hanging out with the Ringmaster), Jim (a crow… Yes, Jim Crow, and that’ll come up later), Joey (a clown… and what’s with all the J names?), Casey Jr. (the train), and Timothy Q. Mouse, unnamed audibly but his signature appears in a photograph at the end of the film. Note: Dumbo has 0 lines.
Number of named female characters with speaking lines: One, Mrs. Jumbo. Who has fewer lines than THE TRAIN.
Does the film pass the Bechdel Test? No. Through the power of gossiping about Mrs. Jumbo, there are women talking about something other than a man… but they have no names.
Number of named non-white characters: Most of the characters being animals, there are 0… but we’ll come back to this.
Number of named non-white female characters: 0
Number of openly non-heterosexual characters: 0
Number of openly transsexual characters: 0
Is there a heterosexual romance? None shown, but the film begins with a lot of babies being born… and a lot of no fathers. Seriously. They’re all single mothers, as far as the movie infers.
True Love’s Kiss? No.
Number of female mentors or rulers? You could argue 1, since the leading elephant is female. But really, 0.
Number of named female characters wearing “men’s clothes” (pants instead of dresses): 0 (With 0 men wearing “women’s clothes”.)
Main character male or female? Male
Number of named female characters saved from peril by male characters: A possible argument exists in Dumbo getting his mother out of circus jail.
Number of times named female characters saved from peril by male characters: Just the once.
Number of named female characters breaking gender stereotypes with their actions (performing “masculine” feats): 0
Number of named male characters breaking gender stereotypes with their actions (performing “feminine” feats): 0
Dumbo is interesting because it’s the first Disney film to show a mother. A direct mother as opposed to an evil stepmother (another favorite trope of Disney’s and possibly the stories of origin). In fact, the mother/son relationship is the heart of the film. Mrs. Jumbo’s desire to have a son is made apparent by her downcast look when she is the only animal at the circus to not receive a child on time. She is placed in jail because she went “wild” and spanked a boy for messing with Dumbo. And Dumbo conquers his fear of mice to follow Timothy Q. Mouse’s advice and try to get his mother out of circus prison.
Now, from a feminist perspective, it’s a little unfortunate that Mrs. Jumbo is so wholly defined by her motherhood. Her only spoken line is to name her child. The inanimate object of the train has more lines than she does. So our only named female character is treated fairly poorly in this film… but on the other hand, it is nice to see a maternal figure that isn’t evil, unlike the last one we saw from Disney in Snow White (no, I haven’t gotten to that one in this series yet, but we will). So Disney didn’t settle in to a pattern about maternal figures. That’s a point for them. I’d also call the general message of body positivity (the haters and bullies gain nothing and the “freak” Dumbo is the most successful character specifically due to his abnormal body type) a point in their favor.
Points against the film include the incredibly small number of lines and named females, the only other major females being gossipy and all-around jerks, sticking with archaic ideas of what’s proper for genders (one female elephant chastising Mrs. Jumbo’s actions says, “One mustn’t forget one is a lady”), and using a lacy pink bonnet to signify the motherly elephant. Also, we need to talk about the racial imagery. Other than the roustabouts building the circus all appearing to be black, we have the incredibly uncomfortable group of crows.
In case you’re unaware of what minstrel shows were, they were a very popular 19th century form of entertainment in which typically white men in blackface acted and sang and danced in extravagant mannerisms meant to emulate and mock black ways of talking, singing, and just black culture in general. It was incredibly offensive, racist, and stereotypical. Now, if you’re wondering about Jim Crow, Jim Crow laws were a set of laws created after the Civil War to curtail black rights in America, especially in the south. The name was derived from an early minstrel show caricature and song called “Jump Jim Crow.” As we just mentioned, minstrel shows were incredibly offensive and mocking of blacks, and to be referenced as Jim Crow was another way to demean black people. Normally in a Disney film, I’d be applauding Disney for casting black voice actors… but they were literally cast to be offensive stereotypes. Think I’m making this up? I’m not the only person to notice this. (This post mentions a scene from Fantasia that was cut from the version I watched.) But if you’re still not convinced, just listen to their song and watch the scene.
It’s pretty bad. Women and people of color do not come out of Dumbo too favorably, unfortunately. This is definitely not a solid entry for the prize of “most feminist film.”
Fun notes: We need to talk about the elephant in the room. Not the one with big ears. The pink one. Last week, I talked about Fantasia and how bizarre it was that Disney included literally Satan in what is ostensibly a children’s film. I thought about calling it nightmare fuel. But I decided to save that term for the very next film in the Disney library because LOOK AT THIS MONSTROSITY AND TELL ME IT IS NOT PULLED STRAIGHT FROM THE ABYSS OF HORRORS.
This thing is so evil and frightening it is considered to be the villain of the film. Now, it’s supposed to be teaching kids about the evils of drinking, I guess, since the song starts after Dumbo and Timothy accidentally get wasted on champagne, but I dunno if kids made that connection. I certainly don’t recall making that leap as a child. I just remember sheer terror. Clearly, Disney was a den for a lot of illicit drug use, because how else did this happen? Watch the full song. It doesn’t get any better. It may be Disney’s most frightening imagery ever.
Bambi
For Disney’s second animal story… we have even less of a plot than Dumbo. This is more like an animated nature documentary. There is no goal. Just… live and be animals. But in case you forgot, the story focuses on a deer named Bambi. He meets animals, he befriends a rabbit and a skunk, he grows up, he fights for a female deer, hunters show up and manage to burn the entire forest down, life moves on. Oh, and his mom gets shot and killed.
So you just know this’ll be good!
Number of named characters with speaking lines: 6 given names (Friend Owl, Thumper, Bambi, Mrs. Quail, Flower, Faline). One given a title (Great Prince of the Forest). Bambi’s mom, Thumper’s mom, Feline’s mom and assorted other animals are unnamed.
Number of named female characters with speaking lines: 2, Faline and Mrs. Quail.
Does the film pass the Bechdel Test? No. Not enough named females, and they tend to talk about Bambi.
Number of named non-white characters: 0. This time, all animals and no obvious racial equivalents.
Number of named non-white female characters: 0
Number of openly non-heterosexual characters: 0
Number of openly transsexual characters: 0
Is there a heterosexual romance? 3 shown with Bambi and Faline, Thumper and an unnamed lady rabbit, and Flower and an unnamed lady rabbit. Plus lots of birds that are presumed heterosexual getting it on.
True Love’s Kiss? No.
Number of female mentors or rulers? Unlike in Dumbo, Bambi spends a lot of time learning from his mother, so I’m counting 1.
Number of named female characters wearing “men’s clothes” (pants instead of dresses): 0 (With 0 men wearing “women’s clothes”.)
Main character male or female? Male
Number of named female characters saved from peril by male characters: 1: Faline (though the Great Prince of the Forest sounds the alarm to get lots of people out of the meadow at one point).
Number of times named female characters saved from peril by male characters: Just the once.
Number of named female characters breaking gender stereotypes with their actions (performing “masculine” feats): …we’ll talk about this.
Number of named male characters breaking gender stereotypes with their actions (performing “feminine” feats): 0
This one is even simpler than Dumbo. Again, it’s basically a nature documentary. Other than the strong heterosexual romance implied as the sole order of things, there’s not much to talk about here. The most important woman is never even named, and is killed off (Forcing a man into action… is this Disney’s first instance of fridging a woman? …probably not, but it’s something to thing about.) But I will mention a few things. First, even female animals are given makeup and curves? That’s just bizarre. And the women in this forest are INCREDIBLY aggressive sexually. The men all initially act like stereotypical “Girls are gross!” teens/preteens… and then are immediately seduced by some very aggressive women. (Flower, who honestly came off as feminine to me until they made his voice more masculine after he grew up, is kissed and goes stiff, being engorged with blood; Thumper gets slowly hip-swayed at by a lusty bunny; Bambi gets face-licked by Faline.) Bambi, of course, almost immediately gets into a fight with another man… either over Faline or just because men fight? Nature, man. We also have Faline being saved from dogs by Bambi, and this awkward thing where Bambi’s mom is shot and killed, and Bambi is ALSO shot… and walks it off because that’s a thing one can do with bullets? Oh, and once again, we see Disney having a thing for single motherhood… but unlike in Dumbo, we actually know the fate of Bambi’s dad… He’s alive! We see him! He talks! He’s the Great Prince of the Forest! And… he doesn’t help raise Bambi until Bambi’s mom dies… and there’s no reason given. What the hell, dad? But Bambi’s mom was doing a pretty great job, so good on her. Too bad dad showed up to teach his son how to shirk responsibility.
Fun notes: Did you know that Bambi is a prince, and technically the first of only 2 Disney princes to get a movie where they’re the sole titular character? And just how old is Bambi anyhow? His mother tells us “Winter has come,” and that’s the only winter we see. Anyway, other than Bambi being Azor Ahai, the Prince who was Promised (Two Game of Thrones references in one post? I’m on a roll.), other fun comes from the best euphemism for sex I’ve ever heard in a film. Friend Owl, grumpy old man that he is, talks of the animals “twitterpating” in the springtime.
Oh, and does anyone that reads this happen to watch Film Theory on YouTube? If you don’t, you should. There’s some fun stuff in there. And if you do, you should find a way to bombard MatPat with the suggestion of doing a theory on Bambi… specifically, a theory that the hunter that killed Bambi’s mom committed an actual crime. Because based on my extremely limited research, I’m pretty certain he did, as he was hunting deer out of season. But I’m lazy and like MatPat’s research/presentation better. So get him on that! Oh, and speaking of the hunters… I’m also fairly certain they’re crap hunters. We see them shooting at every type of animal with the same gun. Shots are taken at quail, chipmunks, AND deer with what seems to be the same ammunition. I’m no hunter, but I’m pretty sure that’s a terrible way to actually do things.
Next week, I may end up doing 3 or 4 of these in a single post, because we’re getting to the Disney films absolutely no one watched that are more edutainment or documentaries than narrative films. But them’s the rules I made for myself. (By the end of this, I will be CineNation’s Disney expert, dangit.)
As always, I’d love to hear feedback and any suggestions for additions/things to consider. If I can do most of these movies in double or more posts, I might just get through this before, y’know, next summer.
