CC BY
33DOI: 10.24412/2226-0773-2021-10-3-383-400
R. Kipling's epic about a jungle boy in the American and Soviet animation: a comparison of two approaches to the topic
O.V. Stukalova
Центр непрерывного образования, Институт иностранных языков Российского университета дружбы народов
117198, г. Москва, ул. Миклухо-Маклая, 6
Center for Continuing Education, Institute of Foreign Languages, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia
Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6, Moscow 117198 Russia
e-mail: stukalova@obrazfund.ru
Ключевые слова: анимационное кино, версии сюжета, Маугли, Киплинг, эпопея, шоу, менталитет.
Key words: animated film, version of the plot, Mowgli, Kipling, epic, show, mentality.
Резюме: Статья посвящена анализу двух подходов к теме развития личности в дикой природе. Анимационное кино очень популярно среди молодежи. Анимационные фильмы оказывают огромное влияние на эстетический вкус, нравственное развитие и социальный опыт детей и молодежи. Интерес режиссеров анимационных фильмов к образу Маугли, главного героя эпопеи Киплинга, обусловлен большим потенциалом этой темы и ее творческими решениями в анимации. Массовое сознание американской и советской молодежи раскрывается через образ Маугли (этот образ заимствован из одной книги) и совершенно разные идеи.
Дается попытка сравнить два выдающихся анимационных фильма о Маугли:
• Американский анимационный фильм производства Уолта Диснея «Книга джунглей», 1967, режиссер В. Райтерман.
• советский анимационный фильм производства Союзмультфильма «Маугли», 1967-1971, режиссер Р. Давыдов.
Abstract: This article is devoted to the analysis of two approaches to the topic of personnel development in the wild nature. Animation is extremely popular among young people. Animated films have a tremendous impact on the aesthetic taste, moral development and social experience of children and youth. Interest of the animated films' directors to the image of Mowgli, who is the protagonist of the Kipling's epic, due to the large potential of this topic and its imaginative solutions in animation. The mass consciousness of the American and Soviet youth is absorbed through the image of Mowgli (this image was borrowed from the same book) absolutely different ideas.
It is attempt to compare two outstanding animated films about Mowgli:
• American animated film produced by Walt Disney Production “The Jungle Book”, 1967, director W. Reitherman.
• and Soviet animated film produced by Soyuzmultfilm “Mowgli”, 1967-1971, director R. Davydov.
[Стукалова О.В. Эпопея Р. Киплинга о мальчике из джунглей в американской и советской мультипликации: сравнение двух подходов к теме]
Walt Disney Animation Studios' animated film version, inspired by the Mowgli stories, was extremely popular, though it took great liberties with the plot, characters and the pronunciation of the characters' names. These characterisations were further used in the 1990 animated series TaleSpin, which featured several anthropomorphic characters loosely based on those from the film in a comic aviation-industry setting. After the film's success, DisneyToon Studios later produced a theatrical sequel, The Jungle Book 2, in 2003.
Adventures of Mowgli is an animated feature-length story originally released as five animated shorts of about 20 minutes each between 1967 and 1971 in the Soviet Union. They were directed by Roman Davydov and made by Soyuzmultfilm studio. In 1973, the five films were combined into a single 96-minute feature film. The Russian DVD release of the restored footage, distributed by “Krupnyy Plan” and “Lizard”, separates the animation into the original five parts. An English-language version made by Films by Jove was released direct-to-video in 1996 under the name Adventures of Mowgli.
It is interesting that both films were animated at the same time. Both films are extremely loved and popular. Both films are familiar to American and Russian audiences. And both films are quite different in style and problems of its content.
The Jungle Book was the final animated film produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. The plot follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear try to convince him into leaving the jungle before the evil tiger Shere Khan arrives.
The early versions of both the screenplay and the soundtrack followed Kipling's work more closely, with a dramatic, dark, and sinister tone which Disney did not want in his family film, leading to writer Bill Peet and composer Terry Gilkyson being replaced. In The Jungle Book the animators were in charge of whole sequences, since many have characters interacting with one another. The animation was done by xerography, with character design, lead by Ken Anderson. Backgrounds were hand-painted - with exception of the waterfall.
Even though the Russian (exactly - Soviet) movie Adventures of Mowgli was not conceived as a reaction to the Disney adaptation, it proves an interesting contrast, being more faithful to the epic and primal content of Kipling's original work. The Soyuzmultfilm's adaptation appeared more adult and on spirit is closer to Kipling's book. In it there are scenes of mass fights and duels, blood and death are shown, there is a charged atmosphere, a suspense. Subjects of life and death, a debt and feeling, heroism of the soldier and human essence rise.
FATHER OF THE STORY: JOSEPH RUDYARD KIPLING
The creator of stories about Mowgli and The Cat Who Walked by Herself, and otheres was destined to become a writer, famed for exotic travel.
He was born in the Indian city of Bombay. Kipling's father, John Lockwood Kipling, was the rector and professor at the Bombay School of Art. His mother, Alice Macdonald, wrote articles for various newspapers and magazines. The parents gave their son the name in honor of Rudyard Lake, near where they met.
Parents wanted their son to make a military career. Kipling's youth was spent in Devon College, then he entered the military academy.
But Kipling became in 1907 the first Englishman who won the Nobel Prize for literature with the phrase “For observation, vivid imagination, maturity of ideas and outstanding talent of the narrator”. In addition, he has received awards and honorary degrees from the universities of Paris, Strasbourg, Athens and Toronto, as well as Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Durham University.
In the Kipling’s books we can see an idea of the need to have a higher meaning in life. But it cannot be exist without Great Goal. And this Great Goal had to give the benefits and joy to all people.
These are the famous characters of Kipling: fearless mongoose Rikki Tiki Tavi, “wolf of free tribe” - Mowgli, who brought “red flower” to the jungle, clever and resourceful Kim.
The Great Goal unites the most different and dissimilar beings: those who are on four legs or no legs, those who fly or crawl ... But this brotherhood is not built on spontaneous burst of sensual and blind desire to “be together” but on Logic and Reason, Discipline and Order. There are general rules and all of them have obey these rules.
Mowgli knows the Magic Word, and he begins a conversation with every citizen encountered on the trail of the jungle. This word, like a key, can opene the door to the hearts of the bat Manta, and wild bees, and the kite. But Mowgli is a human baby, so he should know more than anyone else. His teacher bear Baloo gives him the lessons of the Law.
Mowgli’s special place in the jungle confirms that none of the animals are not able to withstand his gaze. Mowgli respects the Law of the Jungle, but as a person he is able to impose his will.
Sublime and solemn style of Kipling's books configures a special epic fashion.
This world is full of bloodshed and violence, there is a constant hunt. Otherwise, the jungles’ sitizens have to survive! But in this world nobody kills for pleasure.
In the Soviet animated film this pathetic attitude passed through the music of Sofia Gubaidulina who wrote it for this film.
INTERESTING DETAILS
The first “Jungle Book” appeared after the request of the American children's writer Mary Mapes Dodge, who begged Kipling to write something “about the jungle” for the children's magazine “Saint Nicholas”. In 1894, the tales were typed in a book. So, there was the famous “Jungle Book” and a year later, “The Second Jungle Book” was appeared.
First Kipling wrote a short little story “In the woods”. It was the end of the stories about Mowgli, so the writer started from the end: Mowgli married and lives among the people, working as forester assistant.
In 1907, a retired British Army General Sir Robert Stephenson Smith Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scouts movement in England. Father of Scouts and the creator of “The Jungle Book” were familiar.
Perhaps that is why the trappings Scouts copied from the “Jungle Book”. Scout troop commander called Akela. The youngest group of boys in Scout rank is called the “Cubs” as well as the text of Kipling called Mowgli and his brothers. There is the highest Scout badge of honor - the Order of the Bear.
On the Kipling's bookshelf there was a book of R.A. Sterndeyl “Mammals of British India and Ceylon”, where there were several stories about children who lived with wolves.
Monkey Town, in which Bandar-logs carry Mowgli, Kipling copied from the ruins of the city of Angkor. Now this monument of the ancient Khmer civilization (IX-XV) is in Cambodia.
TWO MOWGLI AND HOW THEY DIFFER
Comparing the two animated films, we do not want to make it in the form of rating. What movie is better? What movie is more professional? What movie is more talented? And so on.
Two animated films are based on two different attitudes and perceptions about the main idea of the Kipling’s book. American animated film aims to entertain the viewer. Soviet cartoon is epic about the personality development.
Let’s consider the opinions of experts.
The Jungle Book received positive reviews upon release, undoubtedly influenced by a nostalgic reaction to the death of Disney. Time noted that the film strayed far from the Kipling stories, but “the result is thoroughly delightful...it is the happiest possible way to remember Walt Disney” (Maltin, 2000). The New York Times called it “a perfectly dandy cartoon feature” (Schickel, 1968), and Life magazine referred to it as “the best thing of its kind since Dumbo, another short, bright, unscary and blessedly uncultivated cartoon” (Schickel, 1968). Variety's review was generally positive, but they stated that “the story development is restrained” and that younger audiences “may squirm at times” (Maltin, 2000).
Retrospective reviews were also positive, with the film's animation, characters and music receiving much praise throughout the years. In 1990, when the film had its last theatrical re-release, Entertainment Weekly considered that The Jungle Book” isn't a classic Walt Disney film on the order of, say, Cinderella or Pinocchio, but it's one of Disney's liveliest and funniest” (Movie Review: The Jungle Book. Entertainment Weekly. 3 August 1990), while the Los Angeles Times thought the film's crew was “near the height of their talents” and the resulting film “remains a high-spirited romp that will delight children-and parents weary of action films with body counts that exceed their box-office grosses” (Solomon, 1990).
In 2010, Empire described the film as one that “gets pretty much everything right”, regarding that the vibrant animation and catchy songs overcame the plot deficiencies (Movie Review: The Jungle Book. Entertainment Weekly. 3 August 1990).
Disney cartoon is aimed at the youngest viewers, there conflict-plot, the characters singing and dancing, there are no scenes of violence and blood screening.
It is known that the storyman Bill Peet claimed to Walt Disney that “we (the animation department) can do more interesting animal characters” and suggested that Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book could be used for the studio's next film (Barrier, 2008). Disney agreed and Peet created an original treatment. Peet decided to follow closely the dramatic, dark, and sinister tone of Kipling's book, which is about the struggles between animals and man. However, the film's writers decided to make the story more straightforward, as the novel is very episodic, with Mowgli going back and forth from the jungle to the Man-Village, and Peet felt that Mowgli returning to the Man-Village should be the ending for the film. Following suggestions, Peet also created two original characters: The human girl for which Mowgli falls in love, as the animators considered that falling in love would be the best excuse for Mowgli to leave the jungle; and Louie, king of the monkeys. Louie was a less comical character, enslaving Mowgli trying to get the boy to teach him to make fire. Disney was not pleased with how the story was turning out, as he felt it was too dark for family viewing and insisted on script changes. Peet refused, and after a long argument, Peet left the Disney studio in January 1964 (Thomas, 1997).
Disney then assigned Larry Clemmons as his new writer and one of the four story men for the film, giving Clemmons a copy of Kipling's book, and telling him: “The first thing I want you to do is not to read it” (Thomas, 1997).
Clemmons still looked at the novel, and thought it was too disjointed and without continuity, needing adaptations to fit a film script. Disney said to focus on doing the storyline more straight. Disney felt that the story should be kept simple, and the characters should drive the story. He took an active role in the story meetings, acting out each role and helping to explore the emotions of the characters, help create gags and develop emotional sequences. Clemmons would write a rough script with an outline for most sequences. The story artists then discussed how to fill the scenes, including the comedic gags to employ (Norman, Ghez, 2010).
Disney frequently brought the composers to the storyline sessions. He asked them to “find scary places and write fun songs” for their compositions that fit in with the story and advanced the plot instead of being interruptive.
Disney was right in his art strategies - the film was a massive success, finishing 1967 as the fourth highest-grossing movie of the year. It is estimated to be the 29th highest grossing film of all time in the United States (All Time Box Office Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation. - Box Office Mojo. Retrieved. 8 September 2011).
The director of Soviet animated film was Roman Davydov. The cycle of five films about Mowgli became his main work. He could focus on the deep philosophical problems because he didn’t think of profit, which should bring his film. Perhaps that is why he didn’t focus on the details that have entertained the audience, giving the opportunity to relax.
In Adventures of Mowgli the main themes are Life and Death, Sense of duty and Heroism of a warrior, the Desire to be a real man. Two series of movie are completed by images of death, and these images are Kaa dance and song of Akela. Kaa is the embodiment of absolute power. In the fourth episode’s final dying Akela is the embodiment of the warrior’s archetype, who adequately met death in battle and went to field of happy hunting.
The authors tell us that childhood when you understand that death exists and youth finishes when your loved people die.
In this context, the image of Mowgli also acquires special features.
Disney’s Mowgli throughout the film is pretty funny character with a funny little face.
Soviet Mowgli goes through several stages of growing up. In the last episode we see a beautiful young man - powerful warrior.
The scale of Disney Mowgli’s emotions is measured in two conditions: he is satisfied or he is angry. In principle, these states include all of his fun and sorrows, joys and troubles. When Bagheera takes him out of the jungle, he just does not want it. He does not say goodbye to the family of wolves, he is not sad at parting. All activities and events are shown as a set of gags and adventures. Nothing and nobody can make Mowgli start to worry, feel sadness, suffering. The world around him is full or hazards or fun. Magnificent paintings, wonderfully illustrated animals’ plastic, wonderful music, a lot of jokes - all of this creates an atmosphere of interesting and unusual adventures. You have watched and immediately forgotten! Went out of the cinema, singing a song of Baloo, laughed, remembering how Bagheera was dragging Mowgli to the tree or Mowgli played with little elephant.
The task - to entertain was made by this film great!
In the Soviet cartoon Mowgli grows not only by the body but by the soul too. Funny kid whose fate always seemed to hang by a thread, became courageous and brave man who could make decisions. Deep relationships connect him with wolves, Baloo and Bagheera. They also love him, proud of him and help him, always and everywhere. Each character has a bright charisma.
The task - to educate, to make to think was made by the creators of this cartoon perfect!
Interesting fact: in the USA the version of the Soviet animated film duplicated into English was issued on video in 1996 under the name “The Adventures of Mowgli”. The American adaptation made numerous changes for which it was subjected to severe criticism by many audience, familiar with the original. The music line was completely replaced, including some songs are added, and also the huge number of the comments of the story-teller and remarks of characters which aren't existing in the original is added. Besides, the animated film was subjected to some censorship: the scene in which Maugli chops off a tail to a wild dog was removed; from a fight scene with wild dogs shots in which Maugli sticks a knife into the opponents were cleaned; in final fight of Maugli with Cher-Hang final shots in which the screen is painted in blood-red color were cut out.
OTHER CHARACTERS
Comparing other characters, we will also see their different interpretations in two films. These interpretations determined by the tasks that creators have chosen.
Akela
The great gray Lone Wolf, who led all the Pack by strength and cunning, lay out at full length on his rock, and below him sat forty or more wolves of every size and colour (Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book).
He is the leader of the Seeonee pack of Indian wolves and presides over the pack's council meetings. It is at such a meeting that the pack adopts the lost child Mowgli and Akela becomes one of Mowgli's mentors.
Akela means “single or solitary” in Hindi and Urdu. Kipling also calls him the Lone Wolf.
Kipling portrays Akela with the character of an English gentleman. This is shown by his recurring references to the honour of the pack. It is large and grey and leads the pack by virtue of his strength and cunning.
In the Disney adaptation of The Jungle Book, Akela only has a brief role at the beginning of the film, when the council of wolves meet after Shere Khan's return to the jungle to decide what to do about Mowgli's future. Acknowledging Shere Khan on their own, they decide to send Mowgli away, with Bagheera volunteering to take Mowgli back to the man-village.
In the Soviet cartoon Akela is wise and just leader too. One part of the film “The Last Hunt Akela” (1969) is dedicated to his fate. Mowgli grew up, and in order that he could take its rightful place in the pack, it is necessary to arm himselve. Python Kaa helped Mowgli to find Iron tooth in an abandoned cave. It is a sharp knife. It happened just in time, because the old enemy tiger Shere Khan raised havoc in the pack, intending to overthrow the leader Akela. Only the intervention of Mowgli saved Akela from deceit of Shere Khan.
Akela is the embodiment of restraint and dignity. The filmmakers have followed in the interpretation of this image to the Kipling’s idea to show character of real English gentleman.
A comparison of visual images shows that Disney’s Akela looks older, in the Soviet cartoons in the Akela’s image it emphasizes the proud posture and slowness of movement. In front of viewrs there is a real leader of the pack.
Bagheera
Born in captivity in the menagerie of the Rajah of Oodeypore, India, Bagheera begins to plan for his freedom after his mother dies. Once he is mature and strong enough, he breaks the lock on his cage and escapes into the jungle, where his ferocity and cunning win him the respect of all its other inhabitants, except Shere Khan the tiger (likely out of his arrogance). Bagheera reveals all this to Mowgli later. None but Mowgli ever learn that Bagheera once wore a collar and chain, explaining the cat's special insight concerning Men.
When Father Wolf and Mother Wolf of the Seeonee (Seoni) wolf pack adopt the human “cub” Mowgli and the pack demands that the new cub should be spoken for, Bagheera buys Mowgli's life with a freshly killed bull and helps to raise him as one of the pack. Because his life has been bought by a bull, Mowgli is forbidden to eat cattle (coincidentally, just as the Hindu villagers of the region are also forbidden).
Bagheera shares in many of Mowgli's adventures as he grows, but eventually the time comes when the man-cub becomes a man and has to return to human society. Bagheera frees Mowgli of his debt to the wolf pack by killing another bull, and Mowgli returns to his adopted human mother Messua.
Bagheera is one of Mowgli's mentors and best friends. He, Baloo and Kaa sing for Mowgli “The Outsong” of the jungle.
In the Jungle Book animated fims Bagheera is shown to be a normal none black colored leopard where as in other appereances he is a black leopard also known as a Panther.
Image of Bagheera is the most controversial and complex issue when compared to cartoons. In the Kipling’s text Bagheera was a man. In the Russian translation a black panther Bagheera turned into a female.
This principle was adopted in the animated film. Bagheera is the embodiment of femininity. Its movements are gentle. It (she) has a beautiful voice - viscous as honey, sweet and playful (it was voiced by Luidmila Kasatkina).
It (she) behaves with Mowgli like an older sister who loves and at the same time criticizing, punishing, teaches his younger brother. Mainly Bagheera is portrayed as friendly, loyal, trustworthy, protective and cunning, yet somewhat tricky.
In Disney's adaptation, Bagheera the panther is, as in the book, male, and voiced by Sebastian Cabot in English. The panther is portrayed as a clever, serious, and responsible character, quite similar to the Bagheera in the novel, except that in the novel, Bagheera spoiled Mowgli more. In the film, it is Bagheera and not the wolves who first finds Mowgli, a young village child, and he is the one who takes him back to the village. During the movie, Bagheera often argues with Baloo, for he knows that as long as Shere Khan is in the jungle, the jungle is not safe for Mowgli despite all of Baloo's attempts to protect him. Bagheera is also the narrator of the movie's story.
Female Bagheera’s image was very attractive. In the 1998 film The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story, Bagheera is portrayed as a female, voiced by Eartha Kitt. A Swedish play version of The Jungle Book spoofed the confusion of Bagheera's sex in the media by portraying him as a transvestite.
In the Hungarian play version Bagheera is yet again a female panther. Her main role is bribing the wolf pack with a bull, so they accept Mowgli as Akela's cub, teaching Mowgli with Baloo about the Rules of the Jungle, and advising him throughout the play.
Bagheera is depicted in both cartoons almost in the same type.
Merely in the Disney animated film Bagheera is a brutal cat - heavy legs, big mouth, broad nose. In the Soviet cartoon Bagheera painted with a long neck, long slender legs, her eyes are languid and almond-shaped, it moves very graceful. It is a sample of femininity. It is interesting, that the image of Bagheera entered into the cultural code of mass culture in Russia. For example, many beauty salons are called “Bagheera”. This can be seen by typing the Internet in Russian word «Багира» ...
Baloo
Baloo is a main fictional character featured in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book from 1894 and The Second Jungle Book from 1895. In the Jungle Book Baloo takes the role of a mentor, and a kind of father figure for Mowgli. Baloo is one of the best experts on the law of the jungle.
He is described in Kipling's work as “the sleepy brown bear”. Robert Armitage Sterndale, from whom Kipling derived most of his knowledge of Indian fauna, used the Hindi word “Bhalu” for several bear species, though Daniel Karlin, who edited the Penguin reissue of The Jungle Book in 1989, states that, with the exception of colour, Kipling's descriptions of Baloo are consistent with the sloth bear, as brown bears and Asian black bears do not occur in the Seoni area where the novel takes place. Also, the name sloth can be used in the context of sleepiness. Karlin states, however, that Baloo's diet of “... only roots and nuts and honey” is a trait more common to the Asian black bear than to the sloth bear (McMaster, 1992). Nevertheless, this may be single observation only; we know from the dietary habits of sloth bears that while sloth bears mainly prefer termites and ants (which is also described as Baloo's special treat in The Jungle Book), their main sources of food are honey and fruits most of the year..
Baloo the Bear is one of two main characters of both cartoons.
But this image in Disney’s film differs from Baloo of Soviet film.
Baloo is loyal, protective; his weakness is that he's ticklish. Disney’s Baloo is a large dark gray sloth bear. As shown in the Jungle Book, Baloo’ s character is very different from its image in the original book of Kipling; he is not sleepy, wise and easy going through life carefree and extremely lazy bear. He loves dancing and various games. He is the best friend of Mowgli, perceiving him as own bear child and ready to protect him from any danger, even Shere Khan, thus becoming more responsible throughout the cartoon.
Graphic design for the Baloo, as well as for the other characters, The Jungle Book, was created by animator Ken Anderson. Animation character was made by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, the two animators from Disney based the number of the “nine old men”. Scenes where Baloo dancing with monkeys were made by animator John Lounsberi. To create believable movement for Baloo, for example carding, Thomas and Johnston thoroughly studied the movement of a living bear. Some dancing moves of Baloo were sketched from Walt Disney. The character of Baloo got quite positive reviews from critics. Newspaper “The New York Times” gave a positive review of Baloo, Charles Solomon in “Los Angeles Times” wrote that “with his free movements, combined with the voice of Phil Harris”, Baloo is a very interesting (Solomon, 1990).
Obviously, Disney's Baloo is arguably the most popular character in the filmed version of The Jungle Book. He was made famous by the song “The Bare Necessities”, sung by Phil Harris, in which he tells Mowgli how, if you know the tricks, you can live off the land and still have a life of leisure.
In an unproduced show called B-Players about supporting characters from Disney movies, Baloo was intended to appear as one of the better-off veterans of Disney films.
Baloo in the Soviet cartoon is the embodiment of wisdom, kindness, honesty and dedication. He is depicted as the Asiatic black bear. He is clumsy, awkward. When Mowgli became a big boy, Baloo could not keep up with him. But he is The Great teacher. He is patient and wise. He genuinely loves Mowgli and is proud of his best student.
In it we see the archetype of young people’s mentor, old and good-natured, with a lot of life experience, but a bit retrograde, who can not keep up with the changes in life.
This image was quite common in the Soviet cinema. There are several films in which the main characters are somewhat similar to Baloo. There are “Sailor Chizhik” (1955), “True Hearts” (1959), “Big Family” (1954), etc.
There is an interesting detail in the character of the Soviet Baloo. He befriends Bagheera. And once they are even discussing the possibility of their marriage!
Каа
Kaa is a fictional character from the Mowgli stories.
Kipling describes him as an exceptionally long, yellowish Indian rock python. Kaa is one of Mowgli's mentors and friends. He, Baloo and Bagheera sing for Mowgli “The Outsong” of the jungle. First introduced in the story “Kaa's Hunting” in The Jungle Book, Kaa is a huge and powerful snake, more than a hundred years old and still in his prime. Despite his polite, unhurried demeanor, animals seem to have a fearful respect for Kaa. Bagheera and Baloo first enlist Kaa's help to rescue Mowgli when the man-cub is captured by the Bandar-log (monkeys) and taken to an abandoned human city. Kaa breaks down the wall of the building in which Mowgli is imprisoned and uses his serpentine hypnosis to draw the monkeys toward his waiting jaws. Bagheera and Baloo are also hypnotized, but Mowgli is immune because he is human, and breaks the spell on his friends.
In The Second Jungle Book Kaa appears in the first half of the story “The King's Ankus”. After it and Mowgli spend some time relaxing, bathing and wrestling, Kaa persuades Mowgli to visit a treasure chamber guarded by an old cobra beneath an ancient city. The cobra tries to kill Mowgli but its poison has dried up. Mowgli takes a jeweled item away as a souvenir, not realizing the trouble it will cause in the second half of the story, and Kaa departs.
In “Red Dog” Mowgli asks Kaa for help when his wolf pack is threatened by rampaging dholes (the red dogs of the title). Kaa goes into a trance so that he can search his century-long memory for a stratagem to defeat the dogs
With Kaa's help Mowgli tricks the dholes into attacking prematurely. Kaa takes no part in the resulting battle (obliquely citing his loyalty to the boy rather than to the wolves, who often caused Mowgli grief) but Mowgli and the wolves finally kill all the dholes, though not without grievous losses. Kaa makes his last appearance in “The Spring Running”, as the teenage Mowgli reluctantly prepares to leave the jungle for the last time. “It is hard to cast the skin”, he tells Mowgli, but Mowgli knows he must cast the skin of his old life in order to grow a new one.
In the 1967 Disney animated film Kaa, voiced by Sterling Holloway is markedly different from his original counterpart. Rather than being a mentor, he serves as the secondary antagonist (after Shere Khan) and comic relief who twice attempts to trap Mowgli in his coils in order to devour him throughout the film. It does this through the use of hypnotic eyes as opposed to the original version, in which he uses a serpentine dance to control his prey. His attempts to eat Mowgli always end in a comical failure. He is also quite cowardly, attempting to curry favor with Shere Khan whenever he is around.
Kaa makes his first appearance near the beginning of the film when Bagheera and Mowgli stop to sleep for the night in a huge jungle tree. Bagheera, exhausted from their journey, quickly begins to fall asleep. Mowgli, on the other hand, is still awake, sleepy and frustrated that he is being forced to leave the jungle where he lives. Just as Mowgli insists he can 'look after himself', Kaa, a long python with luminous eyes slithers down from the foliage towards the young boy. The snake clearly thinks Mowgli will make a tasty meal, smacking his lips and calling him a 'delicious mancub'. Mowgli tries to avoid his gaze before pushing the snake away, telling him to “go away and leave me alone!” Bagheera hears this and assumes the boy is addressing him. He tells Mowgli to go to sleep. Hearing this, Kaa seems inspired as he nods his head and slithers back over to the mancub, his eyes filling with multi-coloured spirals as he whispers “Yesss mancub, pleassse go to sssleep”. Mowgli foolishly stares into the serpent's eyes, still angry at the snake, and finds his own eyes becoming captivated. They fill with spirals as he is pulled forward, his mouth falling ajar as he attempts to get closer to the hypnotic eyes. Kaa continues his lullaby, swaying and revolving his head so as to confuse Mowgli further. Mowgli's arms fall limp by his sides and his legs drop either side of the branch as his eyes follow the snake's, dragging his tired body with them.
Soon, Kaa's tail comes from behind the trunk and slides over Mowgli's lap, curling around his waist and binding his arms to his side before spiraling slowly up the boy's skinny frame. Meanwhile, Mowgli is having a mental battle, struggling between the temptation of sleep and the need to keep staring into Kaa's eyes. As a result, his eyelids droop and reopen constantly, his head lolling. Deep in the recesses of this hypnosis-addled mind he realises he needs to alert his chaperone. At first he merely yawns but manages to stammer out Bagheera's name sleepily before Kaa silences him with his tail wrapped tightly around the boy's neck, making him gulp loudly. Mowgli is now engulfed from the waist to the neck in coils. His eyes spin at an incredibly fast rate and a wide grin forms on his face.
Bagheera, having heard Mowgli's cry for help, tells him “No more talk till morning”. Only for Kaa, in his arrogance, to reply “He won't be here in the morning”. This alerts Bagheera to the danger and he leaps up, seeing Mowgli dangling in Kaa's coils, only his sleeping head and bare feet protruding. He smacks the snake hard in the jaw, making him drop Mowgli. Angered, Kaa turns on Bagheera and hypnotizes him. While Kaa is absorbed in his prey, a confused but awake Mowgli clambers out of his limp coils and shoves them off the branch with his feet. Kaa is dragged from the tree at great speed, landing in a pile of his own coils. He slithers into the undergrowth, only stopping momentarily as his tail gets stuck in some bamboo.
Kaa reappears later on in the film when Mowgli runs away from Baloo, who is trying to return the boy to his own kind. Mowgli comes to rest at the base of a large tree before a long dark tail comes down and pulls him up into the canopy. Up on a branch, Mowgli manages to release himself from Kaa's coils. Kaa twice attempts to hypnotize Mowgli again. Although almost captivated, Mowgli pulls away. Now aware that his prey knows what he is doing, Kaa then uses a different approach. Wrapping his tail around Mowgli's wrist and ankle to stop him from leaving, Kaa pretends to help him stay in the jungle to lower his defenses. Tempted at first, Mowgli rejects and begins walking off down the branch but is stopped by Kaa, fastening a coil over his eyes. Mowgli, bewildered, tries to pry the coil off. He succeeds only to be met with Kaa's spinning hypnotic eyes. Mowgli quickly falls under his spell again as Kaa begins to sing “Trust in Me”, inducing Mowgli into a soothing trance, sleepwalking down his body (which take the shape of a flight of stairs) with a big smiling grin on his face, before coming to rest on a hammock of Kaa's coils. Soon, Kaa throws Mowgli up into the air, balancing the boy upside down on the tip of his tail. Mowgli's body goes rigid and he begins to snore. Kaa berates the mancub before sliding him into his thick, brown coils, yet again with only his bare feet and head poking out. This attempt to eat Mowgli is also foiled, ironically by Shere Khan, who is not convinced by Kaa's bluff, even after searching Kaa's coils and not feeling Mowgli inside. After Khan leaves, Kaa's shaking his coils in anger allows Mowgli to regain consciousness and escape, but not before pushing Kaa's coils off the branch again.
Holloway decided to play Kaa with a lisp, a condition that composers Sherman Brothers brought into the character's song in The Jungle Book, “Trust in Me”.
The difference in approach to Kaa image in Kipling’s book (Kaa is very dangerous, but “wise and humane”) and in Disney’s cartoon (evil incarnate) attracts attention of researches. R. Gupta believes that the Kaa is the most sinister character in the book: in the jungle everybody besides Mowgli is a little afraid of Kaa; even allies prefer to stay at a safe distance (Gupta, 2013). Disney, according to Gupta, could not afford to portray episodes of the ruthless war for supremacy in the jungle, which emphasizes both wisdom and cruelty of Kaa; python in Disney’s film released as silly villain.
According to Roger Sayle, in Kipling’s book Kaa, like many other animal characters, is characterized by few habits, stereotyped for real animals. Features of these animals because resemble the laws of nature, they can not be described in terms of good or evil (Sale, 1979).
In the Soviet cartoon series “Mowgli” the second film - “Mowgli. Kidnapping” (1968) is based on the story
“Hunting of python Kaa” and is dedicated to kidnapping Mowgli by Bandar ravine and his liberation. In the climactic scene of the film Kaa releases Mowgli and hypnotizes monkeys, commanded them to “move closer”. Bagheera and Baloo ordered Mowgli to go out. They did not want Mowgli to see how Kaa cracked down with a bunch of stupid monkeys. These monkeys are disgusting. They kidnapped Mowgli, but to see their death is also terrible.
According to Sergey Kuznetsov, it is “the most vivid image of death throughout the world animation” (Kuznetsov, 2004).
In the Soviet cartoon Kaa is a great friend of Mowgli. A Friend and a Teacher. Mowgli is not afraid of him. They play together, learn life together. Mowgli and Kaa discuss of friendship, mutual assistance, and everyone knows their strong side. Kaa is not engaged in a fight, but it is wise, and offers strategic solutions. Kaa's voice is suave and charming. He looks powerful and beautiful ancient keeper of secrets. Namely Kaa shows Mowgli, where he can take a weapon - a sharp knife, Iron Tooth.
Thus, we again see the difference in objectives and approaches to the interpretation of the text.
And again we must affirm that both teams of animated films’ creators rose to the occasion. They very clearly and expressively solve their tasks.
THE PEDAGOGICAL EXPERIENCE
Interpretation of a literary text arouses the great interest of students - the future movie directors and actors.
For many years, the author was teaching at a one private Moscow university, the Faculty of Cinema and TV. Several years there was club Cinephilia in this faculty. It brings together lovers of cinema and literature. The topics of discussion were
Myth in Film
Potray of Hero
Role of details
The cycle of training was devoted to comparing the interpretations of literary texts. For example, it was comparing the interpretation of the Stanislaw Lem's Solaris - 1972 and 2002.
Disney and Soviet Mowgli interpretations are very popular. Therefore, when the students were asked to prepare an essay on their perception of these films, they did so with great inspiration and responsibility.
Most of the students agreed that the Soviet Mowgli much more accurately reflects the plan of Kipling. It shows strong characters, struggle between good and evil, and the complexity of life.
Disney cartoon is very nice, funny. He raises a smile, a good mood. But this is just an excuse for fun, not for discussion.
At the same time technical excellence, knowledge of the laws of animation as one student wrote, makes you to shout “Bravo!” to team of Walt Disney.
Cartoon by Roman Davydov also affects the technical perfection. Music for both films is great.
It is very important that students are able to understand - you can only judge an artist, knowing the purpose, the artistic goals.
Animated interpretation of Kipling's book are the real miracle of art. It is important to appreciate the work of their creators and enjoy these works!
REFERENCES
All Time Box Office Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation. - Box Office Mojo. Retrieved. 8 September 2011.
Barrier M. 2008. The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. University of California Press.
Gupta R. 2013. Master of the Jungle: Kipling’s Mowgli. HWÆTHWUGU: a literary journal of The Department of English Jai Hind Colledge, Mumbai.
Kuznetsov S. 2004. Go out of the jungle. - The cinema art.
Maltin L. 2000. The Disney Films. New York: Hyperion Books.
McMaster J. 1992. The trinity archetype in the Jungle Books and the Wizard of Oz. - Children’s Literature. 20.1: 90-110.
Movie Review: The Jungle Book. Entertainment Weekly. 3 August 1990.
Norman F., Ghez D. 2010. Walt's People. Vol. 9. Xlibris Corporation.
Sale R. 1979. Fairy Tales and After: From Snow White to E.B. White. - Harvard University Press.
Schickel R. 1968. Walt's Good - and Bad – Goodbye. - Life. 5 January 1968.
Solomon Ch. 1990. Movie review: Kipling Reconditioned in Walt Disney's 'The Jungle Book. - Los Angeles Times. 13 July 1990.
Thomas B. 1997. Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules. Disney Editions.
Thompson H. 1967. Disney 'Jungle Book' Arrives Just in Time. -The New York Times. 23 December 1967.
Your Guide To Disney's 50 Animated Features. - Empire. 29 January 2010.
Получена / Received: 31.01.2021
Принята / Accepted: 15.02.2021
