Can elephants fly? Well, if you’re Dumbo you can! This Disney icon, almost 70 years old, is an emblem of wish fulfillment and the spunky American Dream. Against all odds, taunted and teased, with roadblocks on every path, Dumbo yet succeeds. It’s all about the classic rags to riches story, the underdog whose dreams literally soar.
Bill Tytla was the main animator for Dumbo, and based the animal’s child-like expressions from his two-year old son, Peter. As the mother of two little girls, I know first-hand the honesty of expressions and emotion. Everything they do is real, from the heart, and with no insincerity.
Watching Dumbo for the first time in years, I notice that the little elephant’s expressions are the exact same as I’ve seen in my kids – hope, joy, sadness, the sense of wonder when exploring new things. This is definitely the mark of a true artist. I almost feel that Disney was the same way, back then – the company, though their movies, seemed just as childlike, full of wonder as they charted new ground with animation and story techniques.
Children mimic these characters (I know I did!) and will often have a tickle trunk with some of their favorite toddler animal costumes. I remember receiving a Dumbo elephant costume after watching the movie for the first time and pretending I could fly with big ears!
In the movie, Dumbo doesn’t realize he is the object of ridicule and laughter, though he quickly realizes something is amiss. When his mother is ripped away from him, he is left alone, mistreated and with no “warm trunk” to curl up to. All he has is a mouse to help him through. Taking a leap of faith (and a magic feather), he realizes he can fly, and his source of embarassment, his ears, turn him into a majestic star.
As an adult, we often lose sight of our dreams as a child, or inadvertedly stiffle them our own children with our own cynisism of the world. Disney may not be the childlike business it once was, but they do understand how children see the world, and how the American Dream works – it often starts as a tragedy a kid can not quite understand – the loss of a parent, poverty, bullying and ridicule. But through hard work, perserverience and a little bit of magic (like a feather), anybody, elephant or human, can rise to overcome all.
Filed under: Costumes, Halloween, Kids, Movies, holidays