The Half-White, Half-Colored Elephant Revealed!

Running just a little over an hour, Dumbo is one of those Disney movies that can seem like a passable one, but I’d like to say that you’re wrong. Dumbo may be one of the saddest and shortest movies on this list, but I believe that (behind the racism) that this movie was cute and worth watching. It’s like taking a trip to the circus of 1941 and getting the good seats up front. But that’s just my memory from watching this movie once as a sleepy-eyed adult. As a child, I found this movie to be terrifying and wanted nothing to do with it after the second or third watch. Time to clear up all this mental confusion by seeing what it has to offer us in 2023. And I recommend keeping those subtitles ON.

Highlights

· Fun Fact: Dumbo started in Miami.

· There’s a fake slave song that they try to pass off as if it's “for the elephants”.

· This movie is about a half-white, half-colored elephant who makes the big time despite all the odds stacked against him.

A Radical Overview of the Whole, Darn Thing!

The last thing I expected to watch today was a movie about a half-colored, half-white elephant named Jumbo Jr. who was renamed Dumbo by his hating groups of aunties. He basically was harassed by patrons and protected by his mother. This protection (or rebellion) caused her to be isolated and left Jumbo Jr. alone and an orphan. He’s shunned by his own group and is “adopted” by a carnie mouse, who gets the Dumbo name to stick. After almost destroying the circus and being turned into a clown, he ends up getting a visit from his pink elephant ancestors and meets up with some true black folk, I mean crows. They show him how to hone his special skills and he returns to the circus with the power to be a success and free his mother from isolation.

Now, you can call me out of pocket for seeing such a cute movie this way but let me break it down for you. This movie started in Florida and not just any part of Florida. Miami. Where the colored folks play. Then they have this whole song about storks and how Mrs. Jumbo is expecting. When the stork finally arrives, all the other elephants are offended to be confused with the expecting mother, giving me the impression that however this baby was conceived was taboo. They think Jumbo is cute until he shows an outstanding trait that makes him different and even mention several times that he is part of a “proud race”. The whole point of the movie is obviously “don’t pick on people that are different” and we could just end it there and chalk this movie up to being about a big-eared elephant. But Disney has gone out of his way to make a fun little tune that may make you rethink that Dumbo’s ears are a metaphor for his skin. Sung by nonother than the carnie workers themselves who all were deliberately colored in various shades of brown and tan. This also is the group that Dumbo gets transferred to after nearly destroying the circus. An outcast of characters whose face is never shown aside from in the shadows or in the rain.

“We work all day. We work all night. We never learned to read or write. We’re happy-hearted roustabouts (a worker of non-specific skills working on fairgrounds). When other folks have gone to bed. We slave until we’re almost dead. We don’t know when we get our pay. And we do, we throw our pay away. We get our pay when children say with happy hearts “It’s circus day today.” Muscles achin’, back near breakin’. Eggs and bacon what we need. Yes, sir. Bossman houndin’. Keep on poundin’. For your bed and feed. There ain’t no let up. Must get set up. There is no let up…GRAB THAT ROPE YOU HAIRY APE.”

As a Boricua who’s a mix of European, Taino, and African, I feel it in my bones when something is off. I don’t try to see race because I grew up in a uniquely diverse location; Miami. Even when I watched this back in 2019, I don’t remember being as affected by this theory as I do today. But the recent deep dive into my culture over the last few years has made me more sensitive to picking it up.

With all of that being said, I still don’t think it’s a bad movie. If anything, it’s bloody brilliant. I don’t think Disney intended to make such a deliberate mistake in highlighting the darker-skinned community in the story of an elephant. I think his racist songs are actually meant to depict “real life” in the eyes of a white man of 1940 and the movie is offensive to colored people. But to say that I’m sort of inspired to adapt this theory into a different kind of story is an understatement. Dumbo has found a new respect in my Disney Collection and as one of the firsts, I couldn’t be prouder of how it has aged. Bravo.

Dumbo can be found on Disney+. I look forward to seeing you in whatever form I appear. Until next time!

About the Author

Crystal Cabrae is a storyteller who specializes in writing dystopian, romantic, and adventurous worlds for animation and fantastical fiction. She is a proud graduate of Full Sail University, AMDA, and New World School of the Arts. Her six years of acting training in both New York and Miami gives her a unique perspective when approaching her characters. She has a passion for sharing how to create stories with the world and inspiring the storyteller that lives within all of us. Follow her on IG or Pinterest to know the latest.