Popular Culture Review Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994 | Page 36

34

Popular Culture Review

intellectuals in general (Laski 123; and Wilson "Kim" 26, and Strange
Ride 125), or, more specifically, of the London "intelligentsia" (Wilson,
Strange Ride 282) or "Literati" (W. J. Lohman, Jr. 252-53). Daniel
Karlin additionally suggests that the Bandar-log may represent "the
democratic mob" or even "all humankind" (24). Louis Cornell sees them
more specifically as a "glance at American habits and institutions" (76).
In their unproductive chatter, the Bandar-log also echoes Kipling's
impression of the Indian municipal government in Calcutta as well as
of the Indian nationalists who participated in the Indian National
Congress (for this information we are indebted to John McBratney). In
any event, if Kipling did have a specific ethnic referent in mind for the
Bandar-log, it is not immediately identifiable. By contrast, Disney
identifies King Louie and the monkeys immediately as AfricanAmerican by means of a cluster of traits that Kipling could not
possibly have been aware of, let alone intended, since many are
stereotypes of African-American culture of the 1960's.
Although the film has been widely praised (see Schickel 298;
Thompson; Rider; Finch 309; and Maltin 255), those who find fault
with it have focused mainly on its animation, characterization, and
lack of excitement (see Britt; and "M urf 420). Only one critic has seen
fit to criticize the film for its sexist ending (Crist). No mention has been
made of its racist characterization.
"Lay it on me" and "Cool it" are both listed in David Claerbaut, Black
Jargon in White America, while Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg
Flexner show that "c-r-a-z-y" has its origin in bebop (jazz) jargon.
As St. John notes, "The Disney Staff was dominated by animators who,
before migrating to California, had learned their trade with Max
Fleischer in Manhattan during the Harlem Renaissance of the twenties.
Reischer's cartoons often featured the voices and the talents of famous
black performers, such as Louis Armstrong... [and] referred directly to
racial and sexual tensions. In sunny California, these concerns were
retained~but masked-by the slyly innocent charm which later became
the Disney trademark" (64). In addition, St. John recounts that "Friz"
Freleng, a former Disney staff member, went on to caricature Louis
Armstrong in "Qean Pastures" (69).
By contrast, other animals affirm their kinship to, and commonality
with, Mowgli in Disney's version. Rather than sharing King Louie's
envious desire to cross over the boimdary and become human, their
words or actions ultimately tend to diminish [suggest a reduced
awareness of?] Mowgli's difference from them. For example, despite
Bagheera's claim that "Birds of a feather should flock together," and
that the place for man-cubs is the man-village, Bagheera belies himself
by coercing the wolves into raising Mowgli at the outset (rather than
taking him to the man-village at once), as well as by in effect "flock[ingl