Tarzan
is
a unique Disney film. It has a lot of firsts for Disney animation, mostly
concerning death. It was the last big hit of the 90’s, before the slump of the
early 2000’s (ahem, Home on the Range).
The amount of symbolism and allusion alone makes it stand above other Disney
films. The animators had to invent new technology to create the clear look of
2D characters against a 3D background. Technology, story and character
development work together to make this film excellent.
This ‘deep canvas’ technology makes the film visually
stunning. There’s one point in the film, when Jane is running from the crazed
baboons, that she says it can’t get any worse, then gets slowly drenched by a
sudden downpour. Her yellow dress slowly darkens, just as fabric would when
getting wet. It’s this attention to detail that makes the film excel.
Even though Phil Collins sings the music (again), I still
really enjoy the music. I always loved “You’ll Be in My Heart”, but “Strangers
Like Me” always spoke to me more. For one, it is a love song—just look at the
lyrics. “Why do I have this growing need to be beside her…Every gesture, every
move that she makes/ makes me feel like never before” signal the love-song side
of it. But more importantly, I like that it shows that it’s okay to love something,
or someone, different. There are so many cultures and subcultures that don’t
mingle with one another, but that’s dangerous. People should fall in love based
on who the person is, not where they come from or what they look like.
Ironically, Tarzan also
tackles the nature vs. nurture debate. Think about it: a man raised by
gorillas, yet he can still adapt to whatever culture he’s confronted with?
Obviously he struggles with who his family is and who he wants to become. On
the flip side, he was raised by both a strong, overly dominant male figure as
well as a nurturing, kind mother figure. The result was a strong man, with a
gentle and caring side. The only time we saw Kerchak soften was towards Kala,
whereas Tarzan can be gentle with anyone. He often plays with the baby
gorillas, whereas Kerchak only saves them from being stampeded to death. Which,
granted, is important.
There are multiple firsts in this Disney film. The
tragedy that occurs to Tarzan’s parents is explicitly shown much more than violence
in other films. The bloody paw prints is one thing, but if you’re paying
attention you’ll see his parents’ dead bodies lying face down on the floor.
Kala and Tarzan both study the photo of Tarzan and his parents, with the glass
broken only over Tarzan. His parents were no longer in danger; the broken glass
symbolizes Tarzan’s present danger, as opposed to his parents’ safety in death.
Death is a main theme in Tarzan. The film opens with the alternating visuals of Kerchak,
Kala and their baby and Tarzan and his parents. We see his parent’s giant ship
go down, with them barely escaping. We see Kala and Kerchak playing with their
baby as Tarzan’s parents build their tree house. Then we see the gorilla baby
meander into the forest while everyone else is sleeping. Then we hear his
screams. It’s nearly as heartbreaking as Bambi’s mom not making it back to
their little nest in the bushes. Except in Bambi,
we only heard the shot and saw Bambi’s reaction. In Tarzan, we see the predator, we hear the baby gorilla dying, and we
see the reaction of the parents. It’s the trifecta of depression. I know Kala
has to be in the heartbroken mindset to be willing to stand up to Kerchak about
keeping Tarzan, but killing her baby is just too much for me. For the story to
be powerful, this tragedy has to happen. But it was too much to hear the baby
gorilla’s dying screams. That kind of terror is clearly heard, and the sound
department truly hit their mark.
We see more death when Tarzan kills Sabor, the jaguar
that killed his parents and Kala’s baby. It’s an intense and emotional scene. I
couldn’t help but say out loud, “But there are way more gorillas—if they just
work together, they’ll defeat Sabor easy-peasy.” But then Tarzan wouldn’t
finally earn Kerchak’s trust, so I guess I see the story arc. But still.
Even more death comes with the villain. Once again, it’s
implied death. But for the first time, a Disney villain is killed by hanging.
James brought to light an interesting point that I’ve thought about before.
When a villain destroys themselves (Mother Gothel in Tangled, Clayton in Tarzan)
the hero still tries to save them. The hero, in this case Rapunzel or Tarzan,
don’t want the villain to die; they should be served formal justice (I started
to write ‘proper’, but both their crimes are pretty terrible, so death isn’t
improper). The hero’s willingness to save even those who tried to do them harm
demonstrates just how inherently good
they are.
I did like the allusion to adoption. It will always be
hard for people to acclimate to new families and cultures. Tarzan is a terrific
example of that. He struggles to fit in, yet finds close friends (who save his
life) that are true and good. He struggles to gain the support of Kerchak, yet
ultimately succeeds. Regardless of how different the two parties may seem, they
find a balance. I like that.
And how could I not love the (literal) jungle acrobatics? Jane spirals, football-style, through the trees in the conclusion of the film. Tarzan's feet movements were based on skateboarder Tony Hawk (this movie came out back when he was just newly popular, as was skateboarding), but clearly someone was watching some circus videos because those acrobatics are big-tent-awesome.
My main issue with the film is that is seems to take
place in a few dozen different time periods. Kipling, Darwin and Victoria
weren’t in the same places at the same time. Jane and her father bring an
automatic typewriter, a phonograph, a projector and projection screen with them,
yet wear clothing from the 1800’s (Victorian England). The discrepancy in time
periods is jarring, because in so many ways the film is detail oriented.
The opening sequence is a bit off as well. For one, that
ship was HUGE. So were Tarzan’s parents the only two people to survive, or the
only two people on it? And if the ship was on fire, how did they salvage so
much of it (ahem, windows?!) in order to build the most awesome tree house ever
(minus the non-jaguar-proof aspect)? And if Tarzan was an infant (wearing what appeared
to be terribly close to disposable diapers), he would have had to have been
born on the ship—which means a photograph of the three of them wouldn’t have existed.
And where the heck were his parents going when they became shipwrecked? Also, jaguar’s
don’t live in Africa, they only live in South America. Well, there goes my
detail-oriented compliment.
Of course there’s a blatant Lion King reference. When Kerchak dies and Tarzan is taking leadership
over the family, he crouches (gorilla-style) and raises his chin in the air,
then pounds his chest and does his token Tarzan yell. All in the rain, after a
big battle. Yup, someone definitely watched Simba’s taking-over-the-pride sequence.
Surprisingly, there were also quite a few Pocahontas
references. Tarzan’s and Jane’s hair regularly blow over the phases, a la
Pocahontas in the beautiful scene when John Smith first sees her. But, more
blatantly, is Kerchak’s speech about the humans. He tells the family to stay away
from humans, as they are dangerous and different is bad! Sounds awfully close
to Pocahontas’s dad’s speech when the Englishmen arrive.
But
it’s because of these scenes that are so reminiscent of other Disney animated
features that the film is excellent. It’s the same mindset, the same craft that
made the Disney Renaissance such a success. And I’m getting closer and closer
to The Lion King, and thus to the
Disney Renaissance films that began my Disney obsession long, long ago.
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