When I see an elephant fly
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Dumbo was released around this time in 1941, and oh, do I freaking love Dumbo. My family loved Disney movies, and as I've mentioned before my dad loved elephants, so Dumbo was kinda special for all of us. I also loved the idea of a huge animal like an elephant flying, absurd as it was. Hey, in the Land of Make-Believe anything is possible! Like a great many Disney movies Dumbo can make one weep great tears of sorrow, but that makes his triumph in the end all the more delicious. I love it.
Wouldn't y'all know, my two favorite parts of the movie "Song of the Roustabouts" and "When I See an Elephant Fly" are nowadays perceived as racist. I think the public's main beef with "Roustabouts" is at the very end of the song when a hypothetical shirker is called "you hairy ape," which I think is kinda dumb. To me it's no worse (or better) than calling someone a moron, and ANYONE can look like or act like a hairy ape, regardless of race or gender.
On the other hand, I do see the public's beef with "When I See an Elephant Fly." The song itself doesn't have questionable lyrics, but the way the crows are portrayed is...yeah. I think one of 'em is even named "Jim Crow." He was never called this in the film and has since been renamed "Dandy," but in the original notes his name was "Jim." But just the same I loved and still love the word play and puns utilized in the song, particularly since the "baseball bat" was one of my daddy's favorite jokes. I used to swagger around the front yard singing "When I See an Elephant Fly" in a Satchmo-style voice, to the delight and amusement of my parents. I meant no harm and I saw no harm in it, and once in a very great while I'll still strut around the house reciting the lyrics. No...I'll gimp. My strutting days ended when I broke my ankle, back in 2011. But pretending to be one of Dumbo's crows is still on my itinerary every so often.
Goofy love,
RagingMoon1987
Wouldn't y'all know, my two favorite parts of the movie "Song of the Roustabouts" and "When I See an Elephant Fly" are nowadays perceived as racist. I think the public's main beef with "Roustabouts" is at the very end of the song when a hypothetical shirker is called "you hairy ape," which I think is kinda dumb. To me it's no worse (or better) than calling someone a moron, and ANYONE can look like or act like a hairy ape, regardless of race or gender.
On the other hand, I do see the public's beef with "When I See an Elephant Fly." The song itself doesn't have questionable lyrics, but the way the crows are portrayed is...yeah. I think one of 'em is even named "Jim Crow." He was never called this in the film and has since been renamed "Dandy," but in the original notes his name was "Jim." But just the same I loved and still love the word play and puns utilized in the song, particularly since the "baseball bat" was one of my daddy's favorite jokes. I used to swagger around the front yard singing "When I See an Elephant Fly" in a Satchmo-style voice, to the delight and amusement of my parents. I meant no harm and I saw no harm in it, and once in a very great while I'll still strut around the house reciting the lyrics. No...I'll gimp. My strutting days ended when I broke my ankle, back in 2011. But pretending to be one of Dumbo's crows is still on my itinerary every so often.
Goofy love,
RagingMoon1987
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