Dumbo

As the fourth animated feature film for Disney (I’m skipping Fantasia), Dumbo just had to be the next Evangeline Files review.  While Dumbo himself is one of the most adorable characters Disney has ever created, I think, the movie does have some content that makes me more than a little uncomfortable; and I have to believe that my friends would agree, most especially my friends who are not Caucasian.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this Disney film!

Dumbo is about an elephant who is born with much larger ears than your average elephant and is bullied because of the size of his ears.  Dumbo has his mom taken away when she tries to protect him but, with the help of a little mouse named Timothy who befriends him, he learns to embrace his uniqueness.  This film does have its nice moments (like when his mother comforts him from outside of her prison it’s sweet yet heartbreaking all at once), and I love Dumbo and think he’s very adorable.  One of the lessons I think the movie was trying to teach is that you should embrace what makes you unique and not try to hide it, which is a great lesson for us all; but I struggle with my love for the film because there is some very uncomfortable racial, racist actually, stuff in it (like a crow in the film named “Jim Crow”).  For anyone who doesn’t know, the Jim Crow laws were a group of laws created after enslavement was abolished that made segregation legal.  Needless to say, this is very bothersome.  While Disney+ has added a warning of sorts to the film to reflect “outdated” material, I just didn’t think this was a strong enough action to take, especially since this is a movie made for kids (and Disney added another stronger and more obvious warning just this month.).  I will also mention that Dumbo and Timothy do, accidentally, get drunk on wine and start seeing pink elephants everywhere (yes, I know, weird for a kids’ movie).  So, I’d give a strong caution for all kids, due most especially to the racist scenes, which I really do wish could be removed (and for the very famous pink elephant scene too).

“The very things that held you down are gonna carry you up and up and up.”

Timothy Q. Mouse