"I Wanna Be Like You"

[SpottyOrange]

Not sure if this is an AIBU but is that song from the jungle book racist?!
Yes: it's dated and awful
No: don't be daft

Oh for Christ sakes this new era of every breathing thing being offensive to somebody is absolutely INFURIATING.
No it's not offensive it's about an ape who wants to be a man.
Just sod off with all this shit.

So you don’t see the point in being offended by the glamorisation of segregation in America, so you’d also be happy for the Holocaust to be portrayed as positive, or apartheidin SA?

Quite.
Perhaps a character called Hippo Hitler - all helpful and clever obvs.

@ThatIsMyPotato

The hyenas in the Lion King are problematic for me. As well as the villan having a facial disfigurement but none of the good guys.

Seriously? Scar would be a shit name for a lion without one wouldn't it? He got it from battle and it's meant to make him look tough, and scary to the other lions. Get a grip.

🙄

I cannot believe there are actual people out there walking around getting mad about a cartoon monkey having a sing song, and a lion getting a scar from a fight.

To quote Alan partridge -
"I hate, the general public."

Can someone explain what King Louie has to do with African Americans, please?! He's an orangutan in India, who has aspirations to become an arsonist. (Well, all right, maybe not actually an arsonist. But he definitely has a very unhealthy obsession with fire!!) I can't see that as racism. More a warning to hide the matches...

FFS. Seriously! Why do people feel the need to find something in everything? The world's gone mad.

@PainterInPeril

Can someone explain what King Louie has to do with African Americans, please?! He's an orangutan in India, who has aspirations to become an arsonist. (Well, all right, maybe not actually an arsonist. But he definitely has a very unhealthy obsession with fire!!) I can't see that as racism. More a warning to hide the matches...

King Louie was voiced by famed Italian-American and New Orleans native Louis Primaa* in the original 1967 film. Initially, the filmmakers considered Louis Armstrongg* for the role, but to avoid the likely controversy that would result from casting a black person to voice an ape, they instead chose Prima, a white singer.

This is very interesting

@wildeverose

I cannot believe there are actual people out there walking around getting mad about a cartoon monkey having a sing song, and a lion getting a scar from a fight.

To quote Alan partridge -
"I hate, the general public."

Yes, all those silly people who dislike racism

@Doghead

FFS. Seriously! Why do people feel the need to find something in everything? The world's gone mad.

Totally agree.

I get the crows in Dumbo being problematic due to the hugely exaggerated way they speak (and I had no idea one was called Jim 😬) but taking offence at King Louis/his song I find a stretch - is it a representation of an African-American wishing he were an Indian boy?!
As a pp said, Baloo is similarly ineloquent to Louis but he's ok because he sounds/is voiced by a white man?

@SimonJT

Have a day off hun

Not to disagree with the general comments, but regarding a PP's comment about Song of the South, I've not seen this for many years but think this was set during the reconstruction era post USA civil war and after slavery. Could be wrong but for the time 1946?, the male lead James Baskett? playing Uncle Remus seemed to portray a Black character viewed generally positively compared with other Black characters in mainstream media at the time? I know there is much wrong with it and deficiencies in it as with most films made 75-odd years ago. I did see a review in The Guardian that also mistakenly seemed to think this was set during slavery and was scathing about the film too.

@ThatIsMyPotato

The hyenas in the Lion King are problematic for me. As well as the villan having a facial disfigurement but none of the good guys.

Furthermore - Kovu, protagonist of lion king 2, marries simbas daughter, also has a scar.

But Mowgli is not white either?

Have a day off hun

From...?

@SmileEachDay

Have a day off hun

From...?

Being bloody ridiculous

Being bloody ridiculous

You..you think criticising a character called Jim Crow, who is presented as helpful and smart, is ridiculous?

Ok.

Finding racism against African Americans in the character of an orangutan in a story about an Indian boy in an Indian jungle does, on the face of it, seem like a bit of a reach as pp’s have commented. No one seems to have actually come up with an answer to that other than calling people racists.
The sad thing is, this is when people start tuning out/switching off, which isn’t helpful.

He got it from battle and it's meant to make him look tough, and scary to the other lions. that's my problem with it. Scars do not equal scary

@whiteblinds

look at the lion king, pale lions good, brave, strong and loyal, dark lions bad, weak, untrustworthy.

This is a reach. That's got nothing to do with white and black humans but everything to do with good and evil.

We have white lies, and black magic, night time is seen as bad/evil and daylight/sun is good/hopeful etc

Wow you ran into the point and still missed it

@Regularsizedrudy I know, imagine pretending you don’t realise why black magic is called black magic etc.

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

Hang on, an orangutan singing about wanting to be human, to a human, in the Indian jungle/forest is racist towards African-Americans?

This

how the heck did that stretch come about .... I just see an orangutan saying that he wants to be a human not any particular colour/race/ethnicity/religion just a 'human'

languising you're right it is an acquired visual difference. Apologies to anyone offended.

@MESSING2

I get the crows in Dumbo being problematic due to the hugely exaggerated way they speak (and I had no idea one was called Jim 😬) but taking offence at King Louis/his song I find a stretch - is it a representation of an African-American wishing he were an Indian boy?! As a pp said, Baloo is similarly ineloquent to Louis but he's ok because he sounds/is voiced by a white man?

It all depends whether you want to look at it as what it is or just a superficial view of a cartoon,funny ,catchy song.

First of all , king Louie doesn't appear in the books, so the character was made on purpose. Secondly, orangutans are not native to India , but that's the animal chosen. You might say it's a coincidence.

Then we have the song , and it's important to remember that laws were still being made regarding the end of segregation when the movie came out.

"I wanna talk like you
I wanna walk like you
I wanna be like you

I want to be a man
And stroll right into town
i want to be like other men"

And so on.

So they introduced a new character, an orangutan that has aspirations of becoming civilised/a man and having access to "towns". One might wonder why.