Rough+Draft

Margaret Nelson ECI 430/435 Inquiry Project

What's with All the Singing?: A Musical Analysis of a Disney Classic

 I have grown up with the surge of the Disney franchise and with that has come the knowledge of the plots, characters, and most importantly, music lyrics of over 30 animated feature films, with no real end in sight. There have been many occasions where I have heard someone singing a Disney song, and within a few notes another person will join in seamlessly, continuing together to finish the song. However, I began to wonder why music was such an important part of these feature films and whether they served a higher purpose and if so, what that higher purpose could be. I chose The Jungle Book(1967) specifically to watch and analyze the use and purpose of music, as well as the historical, cultural, and social implications shown through the music. I watched the movie thoroughly, taking note of the frequency, purpose, and genre of music played throughout the movie, as well as looking at articles that have also addressed this question.

The Jungle Book  Starting chronologically, I analyzed The Jungle Book first, which was made in 1967, with Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman writing the music and lyrics for every song but one, which was named “The Bare Necessities,” written by Terry Gilkyson and nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars in the same year. Overall, the soundtrack, performed by the characters of the movie were portraying at least some form of social or racial issue present during the time of the movie's setting or creation. The Jungle Book is the story of a young boy, Mowgli, who having lost both his parents, is raised by wolves in the jungles of India. As Mowgli reaches adolescence, the wolves force his family to send him back to the “Man-Village” to be with his own kind. Led by a black panther, Bagheera, Mowgli sets out on a journey, unwillingly, to return to his village. Throughout his journey, Mowgli encounters many different animal groups, each with a special song that may represent something much more important than a simple sing-along. Beginning his journey, Mowgli comes across Colonel Hathi and his Dawn Patrol, who are Elephants, and whose song is simply referred to as “The Elephant March”. These elephants seem to clearly show the presence of British military in India, and specifically their destruction of the land. The company speaks with a British accent, and Hathi inspects each elephant, referring to their trunks as muzzles and their tusks as bayonets, which would be weapons used during that time. In the song Hathi and his company march and sing, “By the ranks or single file/Over every jungle mile/Oh we stamp and crush/Through the underbrush/In a military style!/ In a military style!” The music accompanying the lyrics are that of horns, shown in the movie as the elephants' trunks, which relates back to the music of a military band or company. As Colonel Hathi and his company enter and exit a scene they use the military chants of counting off, “Hup, two, three four/Keep it up two, three, four,” showing the strong sense of the military influence on their way of life. As Bagheera and Mowgli move through the jungle, they run into Baloo the Bear, who is a fun-loving bear who uses everything that Mother Nature provides for him. Baloo is described by Bagheera as “that shiftless, stupid jungle bum,” and his personality is shown even more through his song, “The Bare Necessities”. Baloo's song seems to show a life without cares, forgetting about “your worries and your strife,” which may seem to be the best life for him, but could show how that lifestyle is looked down upon by others, like Bagheera. This could also show a lifestyle of those living in India who have to learn to live with what they can find, shown in the lyrics, “And don't spend your time lookin' around/For something you want that can't be found/When you find out you can live without it/And go along not thinkin' about it...The bare necessities of life will come to you.” Whether it's for survival or a personal choice, Baloo and Bagheera give an insight to the lifestyle of those living in India during this time.

Just as Baloo is teaching Mowgli his laid-back lifestyle, Mowgli is abducted by a group of monkeys, who live in a site of ancient ruins and are ruled over by King Louie, an orangutan. King Louie and his subjects attempt to persuade Mowgli to help them learn the secret of fire through the song, “I Wanna Be Like You”. The song's music and lyrics may seem like an upbeat jazz number with a catchy chorus, but when really listening to the words and the characters themselves there is a much more sinister idea involved. The song is sung with jazz and scat singing, things specifically associated with African-American musicians during the 1960s. Trumpets, whistling, and other brass instruments are used in the song with the monkeys and King Louie using their hands and lips to make the sounds. This representation seems to show the unflattering view of African Americans in the 1960s through the music associated with them, as well as the use of African American actors to voice the characters of the monkeys and King Louie. The Jungle Book was the last movie Walt Disney oversaw before he died and it was well-known that Walt had certain prejudices towards certain ethnic groups, which was well played out throughout this movie and its music.

 As the movie reaches its climax, Mowgli is wandering through the barren land of India alone, searching for some place to belong. What is barren land without vultures? But these aren't just any vultures, looking closely at the mop-topped scavengers, with a thick British accent, there's a distinct resemblance to a certain rock group of the 1960s, The Beatles. The vultures sit on a branch trying to figure out what to do and one suggest a part of the jungle that's “always got a bit of action, a bit of a swinging scene,” showing their inclination toward the social, party scene. But as the vultures continue to joke around they see Mowgli sitting on a rock, looking as pitiful as possible, and fly over to see what this peculiar creature might be. After hearing of Mowgli's loneliness, the four vultures sing to Mowgli to cheer him up and show him “That's What Friends Are For”. Guitars are the main instruments used for the music, just like that of the The Beatles, as well as the harmony sung by the quartet. It's interesting to see the picture of the most depressing animals singing with such heart about something as important as friendship. I think to make the connection to The Beatles, there had to be an aloof part of the characters to play up the celebrity distance, but also a softer, more personable side to sell them as real people. This may be the biggest showing of pop culture through music in the movie and would have made for a very popular allusion for young adults in the 60s.

The end of the movie provides a soft, but powerful look into Indian culture through song. As Mowgli, Bagheera, and Baloo move through the jungle, Mowgli hears a light, soft song in the distance. As he moves to the sound he sees a young girl filling a pail with water, singing a sweet, soft melody. The song is a clear look into the gender roles of India, “Father's hunting in the forest/Mother's cooking in the home/I must go to fetch the water/'Til the day that I am grown.” From this short song, we can see not only the gender roles, but how those roles change with age. As she continues, she finishes by singing how she sees her future, “Then I will have a handsome husband/And a daughter of my own/And I'll send her to fetch the water/I'll be cooking in the home.” These lyrics go perfectly with what may have been the stereotypes of the time, although some aspects of it may still be present in the current Indian culture. This song could also be seen as a parallel to American nursery rhymes that held the moral and traditions of the society, which are still used throughout the world today.

 Walt Disney knew how to make movies and how to sell movies to every person, at every age, but not only that, Disney had a purpose for everything, nothing was done by accident. He made sure his views, whether popular or morally right, were always in his films, to make sure his beliefs lived on through his films. It may be that there was a push for this film to be just what he wanted, since it was his last before his death, or it was something he always did with each film he made. There were certain aspects of the film and its songs that I never thought about until this inquiry, but the more I watched and listened to the music, the more that came from it, and the more questions I had about Disney, music, and all of the social, political, and racial ideals that went into my beloved childhood classics. Hopefully, deep-down, that's what Disney wanted his movies to do, to help children of all ages watch and learn and cherish what he has left behind.