Ever wonder as a kid what Dumbo was really about? Torrey Kurtzner attempts to find the answer as he decodes the 1941 Walt Disney Animation film.  

Cinema Decoded: Dumbo

By Torrey Kurtzner

Dumbo:

An elephant named Mrs. Jumbo really wants to have a baby, but can’t give birth to one, because the act of sexual intercourse couldn’t be hinted at in early Disney Animated films. Why? They were far too preoccupied on finding ways to be racist.

One day, a stork delivers Mrs. Jumbo a baby elephant wrapped inside a blanket. The stork says the baby elephant came from heaven. How the stork managed to carry the baby elephant in his beak without breaking his neck is anyone’s guess (#physics). Upon opening the blanket, Mrs. Jumbo is greeted by a baby elephant with freakishly large ears. Wow. God must really hate Mrs. Jumbo.

The other female elephants ridicule her baby for having such big ears and nickname him, “Dumbo”. Mrs. Jumbo doesn’t change the name, because for some reason, she can’t talk like the other animals. Neither can Dumbo for that matter. Walt Disney probably saved a few peanuts on that decision. Huhuhuhuhuhuh. #Puns #Stretching4jokes #Pleasekillme

When Mrs. Jumbo is locked away for assaulting a group of boys who made fun of her son, Dumbo is taken under the wing of Timothy Q. Mouse. Timothy promises to be Dumbo’s mentor and protector. What’s that? A small mouse and a baby elephant teaming up? Surely their differences in stature won’t inspire numerous repeated hijinks over the course of the film’s runtime! (screams into pillow)

In reality, Timothy just wants to cash in off the potential success of turning Dumbo into a “climax” circus act. What would a mouse do with all that cash? I don’t know. Buy some cheese?

Some stuff happens. Timothy tries to find Dumbo a “climax” act; Dumbo gets ridiculed some more; Dumbo visits his mother outside of her prison cage; Dumbo becomes a clown, etc.

Eventually, the movie finds the time for our two main characters to get drunk – as all great children’s films eventually do! This lasts for a solid eight minutes, and even includes a singing and dancing elephant hallucination scene. Funny, I had no idea alcohol could warrant hallucinations.

With that family-friendly scene out of the way, our hungover heroes awake the next morning to discover that they’re in a tree. Turning to logic, Timothy concludes that Dumbo must have flown them up the tree by using his large ears as wings, and thus proclaims that he’s finally found Dumbo’s “climax” act. Dumbo of course has his reservations, believing Timothy to be full of shit.

Seeing as how he needs to convince Dumbo that he can fly, Timothy gets help from some racially insensitive crows. The crows give the mouse a “magical feather” that when held by Dumbo, grants him the power of flight. Much like the water that Michael Jordan gives the Looney Tunes in Space Jam, the feather here is used as a psychological trick to boost Dumbo’s confidence.

With the feather in Dumbo’s trunk, and with the accompanying musical performance of “When I See an Elephant Fly” from the racially insensitive crows, Dumbo and Timothy successfully take flight.

From here, our main characters return to the circus. Dumbo (while accompanied by Timothy) performs in an act where he’s supposed to jump off a building and into a trampoline. Rather than jump into the trampoline, Dumbo attempts to take flight, but loses his “magical feather”. As the duo plummet to their doom, Timothy screams:

“Dumbo! You never needed the feather! You could fly all along!”

And Dumbo’s all like:

“…….”

Oh shit – I forgot Dumbo can’t talk…

Internally, Dumbo’s all like:

“Word.”

And then, Dumbo pulls up, and takes flight around the circus tent, much to everyone’s surprise and utter confusion.

The film ends with Dumbo becoming a huge circus star. In the past, he was just an elephant with big ears. But now, he’s an elephant with big ears that can fucking fly! Somehow, this ability makes him respected upon the circus community, but I never understood why as a kid. Are the animals easily amused? Are they afraid of Dumbo now? Wouldn’t they be kinda jealous of his new found ability? It’s never really stated, but then again, I guess it doesn’t have to be. After all, it’s just a children’s film! I’d rather have an eight minute scene where an elephant and a mouse get drunk and hallucinate then have there be any kind of plot resolution – but that’s just me!

The moral to the story of Dumbo in a nutshell: If you have big ears, you’re a piece of shit. But if you have big ears and can use them as wings to take flight, eh, you’re okay.

Play me out, racially insensitive crows!