Jungle Book Advertising And Representation

First ever Jungle Book was a story by Rudyard Kipling in 1894.

He moved out of India when he was around 7. 

1913- British Empire held sway over 412 million people (23% of the worlds population at the time)

1920- it covered 35,500,000km (24% of the earths total land area) 

Mowgli, the wolf pack, Bhalu and Bagheera (represented the British Empire)

Shere Khan, Bandar-log monkeys (represent colonised India)

Allegory-

Mowgli- human, clever

Wolf pack- democratic, noble, follow the law of the jungle, organised

Bhalu- wise

Bagheera- wise, military leader

Shere khan- wild, killer, rebellious, law breaker

Bandar-log monkeys- uncivilised, wild, lacks discipline, simple 

How the Jungle Book cartoon can be seen as offensive

All the animals speak in posh english accents except for the orangutang which is spoken by a black character and in jive not a posh accent. Jive is associated with black people and so are orangutangs. King Louis sings the song 'I want to be like you' can be seen as racist because he is trying to be a white person which is what most black people in America in 1967 felt like. 

Task 4 

In the 1967 version the director has taken the stereotypical country and landscapes to base the film on but the 2016 version Favreaus is not basing it on any stereotypical country but instead taking elements from every country and designing his own jungle. In the 2016 version the accent in the song 'I want to be like you' by king louis is the same as the other characters. The 1967 version has made the accent of King Louis as a jive accent and being played by a black person, this could be seen as racist because a 'black' actor is wanting to be a white characters. By eliminating the only white actors and one black actor it has gotten rid of the underlying racism in the 2016 version. In the 1967 version the actors are mainly white british actors where as the 2016 version has actors of different ethnicity also eliminating racism.