As is the case with many of Disney's classic movies, The Jungle Book is based on a few of the stories written by Kipling in his book The Jungle Book. One of the main difference between the two versions of the stories about the indian jungle are reflective of the audience. Disney selected only stories about Mowgli, since he is a kid growing up, that their audience of children to young adults could relate to. Some of the elements of these stories were either too complex for children to understand or too violent and not age-appropriate. As a result, the stories about Mowgli are dumbed down a bit. Examples of this include the wolf packs treatment of Mowgli. In the book, Mowgli's inclusion in the pack seems to only be supported by the Lone Wolf, Akela, his parents, and Baloo, who is a member of the wolf pack despite being a bear. The movie changes the story a bit and set us the wolf pack as a supportive base for Mowgli with other dangers surrounding him.
In both the book and the movie, the chief danger is Shere Kahn, the tiger. Shere Kahn wants to kill Mowgli since the moment he hears about his presence in the forest. Even Shere Kahn's character is presented very differently between the book and the movie. In the movie he is presented as a fearsome wandered, while in the book Shere Kahn actually integrates himself into the wolf tribe where the younger wolves begin to follow his lead in wanting to kill Mowgli. In addition, Shere Kahn is lame in the movie do to damage to one of his paws. Kaa, the python is the secondary villain that appears in the movie. However, Kaa is a good character for the most part in the book. When Mowgli is kidnaped by the monkeys, which also occurs in the movie, Baloo and Bagheera find Kaa to recruit his help in rescuing Mowgli due to monkeys lone fear of the huge snake. Kaa does so and most likely saves all of their lives in the process as the monkeys outnumber them about 100-1. However, we do get a small taste of Kaa's ability to hypnotize in the books that makes him one of the dangerous characters in the movie during this part of the story. Oddly enough, only Baloo and Bagheera seem to be effected by the hypnosis and not Mowgli.
One of the main differences between the book and the movie, is in how things are portrayed, especially the law of the jungle. Although Baloo teaches Mowgli about this in both, the law of the jungle is a much more serious matter in the books. Baloo is frequently freaking out over whether Mowgli is going to forget the laws and how to speak to the different animals. Mowgli is perceived to be protected as long as he is able to talk to each animal in their own language by the laws of the forest. The laws of the forest seem to be followed by every animal except for Shere Kahn, but even he has some regard for them as is shown during the wolf pack meetings. Another element not presented in the movie, is that of the use and power of fire. Bagheera sends Mowgli to find the "red flower" in the human village and this enables Mowgli to survive the second meeting when the wolves and Shere Kahn wish to kill him. As with many Disney movies, the story of The Jungle Book is dumbed down in order to appeal to its audience and to set up a more simple moral situation in which Disney teaches a lesson. The book is much more sophisticated with adult themes and a complex plot.
Reading The Jungle Book brought me back to one of my favorite childhood movies. That being said, I agree that many of the stories and characters in the book were changed for the cinematic adaption. First and foremost were their respective treatments of Baloo. In the book he is Mowgli’s teacher who uses tough love, often beating him all black and blue, whereas in the film he leads a simple life concerned with only the “bear necessities. This change may have been done for two reasons. First was that it was a children’s movie where violence is very limited if not unnecessary and second of all, the concept of beating you children to teach them a lesson seems to have played a much larger role in Kipling’s day than in the latter 1960s. When it comes to Kaa, however, I do not think that he is either good or bad in the book. Having not eaten in a while, he agrees to help Baloo and Bagheera because of the food they had promised him. Furthermore, Bagheera tells Mowgli that had they stayed any longer with Kaa, Kaa would have eaten them as well (55).
ReplyDeleteI agree with the differences that you presented and wanted to expand the thoughts you had. The stories in the book are much more complex and have more danger in them. When talking about the differences I wonder why Disney failed to mention stories such as Riki Tiki Tavi and The White Seal. I understand that they did not necessarily go with the theme of the jungle, but perhaps include them in a different version. I think these two stories are important additions in the book because they are relate to humans. In Riki Tiki Tavi, the mongoose, keeps a human family safe. Riki keeps dangerous animals, like the cobra, away. When the cobras decide to attack the humans, Riki must decide to save his family and fight back. This story displays so many lessons. It shows loyalty and love between Riki and his owners. This is also a theme seen in the Jungle Book movie. I wonder why this would not be included in a sequel of the movie. This is neither scary nor bad. The White Seal has a theme that could also be addressed. The theme encourages readers to break away from the norm. When humans begin to kill seals, one determined seal leaves the group and looks for happiness. I think this lesson would show children it is okay to follow a different path. In conclusion, I think more should have been done to take these stories to film.
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