Popular Culture Review Vol. 5, No. 1, February 1994 | Page 27

_RadsnWnjrasne^|sJ^ 25 and self-conceit that characterize Kipling's monkeys, who believe they are simply the greatest of animals. Finally, Louie's request for the secret of making fire, with its Promethean overtones, also implies his and the monkeys' hopelessly primitive status. This is an especially invidious characterization in light of the widespread belief among whites that Africans were themselves hopelessly primitive. Again, Disney's version differs significantly from Kipling's: in the latter, the monkeys' pretext for kidnapping Mowgli is that he "would be a useful person to keep in the tribe, because he could weave sticks together for protection from the wind; so, if they caught him, they could make him teach them” (36). By contrast, Disney's version exaggerates this wish for a simple comfort into a desire to transcend what mythically served to separate gods from humans (or, in this case, humans from animals)-the divine technology whose illicit revelation Zeus jealously punished. In addition. King Louie's and the monkeys' hopeless primitiveness is seen both in their lack of intellect and in their association with the body and libidinal impulses—two further stereotypes of African-Americans (see Frederickson 53-58; 275-82). For example, Bagheera refers to King Louie and the monkeys as "scatter-brained," and indeed Louie reveals his essential stupidity when he says to Mowgli, "Have two bananas," and then proceeds to hold up three fingers in visual confirmation. Moreover, Bagheera clearly associates their music with mindless bodily reflex. Alarmed that by dancing to jazz Baloo may be surrendering his rationality to rhythm, Bagheera warns him, "This is a time for brains, not brawn." Baloo seems to confirm Bagheera's worst fears: after moving almost uncontrollably in response to the music, he confesses, "1 am gone, man, solid gone!" Similarly, Baloo's disguising himself as a female gorilla (replete with miniskirt) and dancing with hip-swinging abandon is aimed directly at King Louie's libido. This is not only evident in the movie's quick cut to King Louie's face as he eagerly raises his eyebrows and runs to join Baloo in dancing, but also in the following cut to Bagheera's eyebrows raised in shock and disbelief. In this way, the film appeals equally to t he stereotype of AfricanAmerican lustfulness and lack of inhibition, as to that of English restraint, decorum, and public reserve. It is in itself significant that Baloo has recourse to such a subterfuge to deceive Louie, for the