THE JUNGLE BOOK: FROM STORY TO SCREEN

BATMAN VS SUPERMAN: DAWN OF SWEETNESS THE LEGEND OF TARZAN: LIVE-ACTION DIS...

THE JUNGLE BOOK: FROM STORY TO SCREEN

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dJZ_rDy_K-c..." imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dJZ_rDy_K-..." width="640" /></a><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">David Robbins</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">© 2016</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Disney has a new live-action version of THE JUNGLE BOOK out. Heavy on CGI, it’s become a huge hit. Estimates are it will reap over a billion dollars. A sequel is already in the works.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>THE JUNGLE BOOK has been on the screen before. At least nine times, ten if you count 1937’s JUNGLE BOY. Disney studios alone produced two earlier adaptations. There was an animated version way back in 1967, and a live-action that came out in 1994.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>To complicate current matters, Warner Brothers is coming out with their own live-action version, slated for 2018.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So why so much interest in making THE JUNGLE BOOK into movies? Simply because their source, stories by Rudyard Kipling, are some of the most beloved in not just the English language, but everywhere around the world.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Which brings us to the point of this post. Shortly after seeing the new movie, a couple of people mentioned that they loved it so much, they planned to run out and get the book. When I remarked that the stories are considerably different in tone, they wanted to know in what way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A little background. The first JUNGLE BOOK, released in 1894, contained three tales, among others, of the orphan boy, Mowgli, who was raised by wolves. The Mowgli stories proved so popular that Kipling came out with THE SECOND JUNGLE BOOK in 1895. It contained five more Mowgli stories. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All of them have since been collected and republished many times by various publishers.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So if you’re thinking of getting a copy, they’re easy to find. As noted above, Kipling’s version and Disney’s latest adaptation do not have a lot in common besides the names of the characters and a few of the plot elements.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s because Disney has done what Disney always does. They’ve taken their grim and sometimes dark source material and turned it into what one critic described as a ‘feel-good one-world progressivism’ film.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c_a4sLR7rgg..." imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c_a4sLR7rg..." width="640" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">[Mowgli and Kaa the python. In Kipling's stories, Kaa is Mowgli's ally and close friend. In the movie, look out!] </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Make no mistake. Kipling’s stories are not light fare. Their message, their very subtext, is in many instances the complete opposite of the subtext Disney frames its movies around.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let’s look at a few examples.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">First: How about if we start with the ending? (SPOILER ALERT!!! Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen the new movie and intend to.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Disney Version: The film ends on an upbeat note with Mowgli uniting all the animals to defeat Shere Khan and save the jungle.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kipling Version: Mowgli is cast out of the wolf pack, and when he goes to live with Man, he is cast out of the village. He defeats Shere Khan largely through his own efforts, with a little help from two of his friends.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the Disney version, universal brotherhood prevails, and the world is well. In Kipling’s, the death of Mowgli's enemy is a personal vendetta.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second: That brotherhood aspect.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In Disney’s version---the drought sequence aside---the animals coexist in amiable harmony. There are exceptions. (The monkeys, for instance.) But you don’t see the wolves or tiger or panther kill game. Which isn’t surprising. In THE LION KING, Disney would have it that lions can get by eating grubs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In Kipling’s version, you get more of the true and the real. Predators kill prey. Meat-eaters eat meat. There is a truce during the drought, but the carnivores are kept on one side of the river, and those they would like to devour on the other. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Disney turns the jungle into a fairyland. Kipling underscores the savagery of tooth and claw.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C0nl9T5B2Ak..." imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C0nl9T5B2A..." width="640" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">[King Louie. This guy isn't in Kipling's tales. The Jungle Folk wouldn't take well to a power-hungry Gigantopithecus.] </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Third: Those pesky monkeys.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In both the book and the movie they kidnap Mowgli. Disney has them do so as part of a plot by their leader to steal man’s most destructive force---in this case, fire---so the monkeys can set themselves up as a rival superpower, as it were. Yes, it’s a thinly disguised nuclear war analogy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kipling wrote his stories decades before nuclear arms were invented. For him, the monkeys---the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bandar-log</i>, as they are known---are the issue. They are an analogy for…..well, here. Read his words for yourself. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">They are very many, evil, dirty, shameless, and they desire, if they have any fixed desire, to be noticed by the Jungle People</i>.’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And again:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But whenever they found a sick wolf, or a wounded tiger, or bear, the monkeys would torment him, and throw sticks and nuts at any beast for fun and in the hope of being noticed. Then they would howl and shriek senseless songs, and invite the Jungle People to climb up their trees and fight them, or would start furious battles over nothing among themselves</i>…..’</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kipling stresses several times that above all else, monkeys wants to be noticed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hmm. Who could Kipling be comparing them to?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Anyway, this gives you some idea of the differences. The movie is fun make-believe. Kipling’s stories are make-believe, too, but with a mature and darker tone that most everyone finds equally enjoyable, if not more so. Except perhaps the monkeys.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MmtqdHPiW_c..." imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MmtqdHPiW_..." width="275" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"> [The version yours truly read as a boy. It has been a top favorite ever since.]</span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DavidR..." height="1" width="1" alt=""/>

View more on David Robbins's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on May 02, 2016 13:12

No comments have been added yet.

David Robbins's Blog

David Robbins's profile
124 followers