REVISITING DISNEY'S "DUMBO" (Part One of Two)
Walt Disney's Dumbo, The Flying Elephant is a moving picture of the highest order. Unlike more recent animated features which, quite frankly, leave me cold, Dumbo succeeds in bringing childish fare to the level of pathos.
Dumbo conveys universal themes - isolation from one's mother and discrimination on the basis of physical appearance - with a simple eloquence that is neither preachy nor rhetorical. Likewise simple in terms of plot and visual imagery, Dumbo, at the time of its release, was called Disney's least pretentious work. Nothing in the movie was considered an animation breakthrough such as was achieved in Pinnochio (1940) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And certainly nothing in Dumbo can match the computerized wizardry of modern Disney "classics" like The Lion King.
Despite their merits, however, these other animated films do not come close to achieving Dumbo's raw emotional power.
Because Dumbo works on such a basic, emotional level, it is a less-likely subject for analysis than other animated films. Mature viewers who may spot the underlying allusions in The Lion King and Aladdin tend to take the obvious, aforementioned themes in Dumbo at face value. They laugh and cry without thinking, just as they did when they saw the movie as children.
Like them, I used to see Dumbo as a "kid's movie," not a film I could scrutinize in any way. I didn't question its content or probe for hidden meanings. Watching the movie, I was like a four-year-old again, with my heart wide open and my brain shut off. Never did I dream that Dumbo, in all its sweetness and simplicity, could contain anything in the least subversive. Only after revisiting Dumbo as a young adult was I able to look past its sugar coating. I saw why the film was "special to Walt Disney," according to critic Richard Schickel in his book The Disney Version.
Dumbo reflects Walt Disney's deepest convictions regarding America. The film both idealizes and affirms all that Disney held dear about American society. The protagonist in Dumbo represents the innocence of heartland America, the America in which Disney himself grew up. In the course of the film, this innocence is shown to be under attack by political forces abroad.
Dumbo also reflects Disney's beliefs regarding his own place in society. The little elephant is the embodiment of the "true American," which Disney saw himself to be. Both are victims of elements in society which Disney held to be subversive.
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