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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

"I Wanna Be Like You"

274 replies

SpottyOrange · 13/05/2021 16:33

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

OP posts:
AccidentallyOnPurpose · 13/05/2021 19:54

Inference was obviously not an encouraged skill when some of the posters on this thread were in school.

80sThrowback · 13/05/2021 19:57

[quote wildeverose]@SimonJT

Have a day off hun [/quote]
I'm not a fan of culture cancel but there is no need to be so nasty to @SimonJT

TabithaTiger · 13/05/2021 19:57

@SquishySquirmy

He isn't singing "I wanna be be like you" to a white man.... He is singing it to an Indian boy!
Exactly what I came on to post!

On GMB the other day they were talking about Snow White being problematic because the Prince who kisses her to wake her up doesn't have her consent to do so. How do people feel about that?

SkedaddIe · 13/05/2021 19:58

@CirqueDeMorgue

I'd have thought MNers would be clever enough to understand why it could be seen as racist...
I think you're mixing up critical thinking with gender critical. On MN the latter is abundant, the former not so much.
LizzieW1969 · 13/05/2021 19:59

@Honeycombskl

I agree with you. It never clicked for me about King Louie either, but the racist overtones are clear enough, it’s true, now I think about it. It’s hardly surprising, as has been pointed out, Disney himself was extremely racist in his views.

No need to be so defensive, though. It’s the way 1950s America was, a lot of other old Hollywood films are also very racist.

ThatIsMyPotato · 13/05/2021 19:59

TabithaTiger yes I don't like that he has to kiss her without her consent to wake her up. Same with sleeping beauty.

gingganggooleywotsit · 13/05/2021 20:00

I think a lot of the people denying the racism may be older as in 40+.I’m in that age group, and I think maybe younger people don’t realise how innocent/naive/ignorant?! we were as children in the 70s and 80s. Don’t forget we didn’t have the internet, people didn’t leave their home country as often. In some ways that ignorance was bliss as we enjoyed things like Disney purely for the magic and didn’t think much further than that. When people point out the very valid problems in the films I think people feel like they are ruining the magic of their childhoods, and start shouting about ‘wokeness’ and PC gone mad. This is obviously wrong, people need to realise that times have changed, we can’t all live in a happy bubble not knowing that things are racist. People need to face reality and accept that the movies they loved are warped and disturbing in some ways. Sad but true. To those moaning/denying I say build a bridge and get over it.

ThatIsMyPotato · 13/05/2021 20:02

@SquishySquirmy

He isn't singing "I wanna be be like you" to a white man.... He is singing it to an Indian boy!
He is an Indian boy with an American accent though. And he is meant to represent "civilisation" with fire and his return to the village. He is meant to be out of place and more advanced.
riotlady · 13/05/2021 20:04

@TabithaTiger in the original Sleeping Beauty the Prince rapes her while she’s sleeping and she ends up pregnant. Fairytales are generally horrific when you look at them closely- kissing might not be as bad, but it’s still non consensual

AgnesNaismith · 13/05/2021 20:06

Forget the kissing, the fact they need men to save them is enough for me...one lasts a second and the other an entire lifetime!

I don’t understand enough about the racist undertones of the films but I will read and I fully believe it.

Honeycombskl · 13/05/2021 20:06

@LizzieW1969
No need to be so defensive, though. It’s the way 1950s America was, a lot of other old Hollywood films are also very racist.

It was more the comments re:The Lion King I was referring to in the second part of my last sentence. Older stuff I can absolutely see the racism, although maybe haven't realised some of the more subtle stuff until it's pointed out. But I just don't see it in the Lion King and think that's where people are looking for things to be offended by.

DrSbaitso · 13/05/2021 20:06

On GMB the other day they were talking about Snow White being problematic because the Prince who kisses her to wake her up doesn't have her consent to do so. How do people feel about that?

They had a falling in love scene at the very beginning, so I'm fine with it; they knew each other and were already in love. Same goes with Aurora.

I mean, I know it's "true love in three minutes" but still in love.

Also, the alternative was death/endless sleep forever. I think a kiss is fine in those circumstances. No different to the other kind of lifesaving mouth to mouth.

MindtheBelleek · 13/05/2021 20:07

@ThatIsMyPotato

TabithaTiger yes I don't like that he has to kiss her without her consent to wake her up. Same with sleeping beauty.
In earlier original versions of Sleeping Beauty, it isn’t the Prince’s kiss that wakes the sleeping princess up, it’s when she gives birth to twins while still asleep and one of them, trying to suckle at her breast, dislodges the spindle from her finger.

So yes, the heroism sexual predator who impregnates a teenager in a coma.

MindtheBelleek · 13/05/2021 20:08

The hero IS a sexual predator who impregnates a teenager in a coma. Sorry.

OppsUpsSide · 13/05/2021 20:08

to 'be like you' ie a white man.

I don’t think there are any white men in the Jungle Book?

DrSbaitso · 13/05/2021 20:14

He is an Indian boy with an American accent though. And he is meant to represent "civilisation" with fire and his return to the village. He is meant to be out of place and more advanced.

He didn't know how to make fire.

Assuming he had to speak English to make the film accessible to the target audience, I don't know what they should have done with his accent. An affected Indian accent might have been a bad idea. Maybe an Indian actor with a real one? I don't know. Robin Hood was always American or a public schoolboy until Russell Crowe. Even God and Moses were American in The Ten Commandments.

OppsUpsSide · 13/05/2021 20:18

Robin Hood was always American or a public schoolboy until Russell Crowe. Even God and Moses were American in The Ten Commandments.

Yes, anyone would think they were films made by Americans wouldn’t they. Oh, wait...

DrSbaitso · 13/05/2021 20:20

@OppsUpsSide

Robin Hood was always American or a public schoolboy until Russell Crowe. Even God and Moses were American in The Ten Commandments.

Yes, anyone would think they were films made by Americans wouldn’t they. Oh, wait...

Well that's kind of the point. Someone was noting that Mowgli had an American accent...
whiteshark · 13/05/2021 20:21

@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.
That's a fucking stretch 😂
HTH1 · 13/05/2021 20:23

Your voting is confusing. You ask AIBU in thinking it’s racist but then your ‘yes’/‘no’ questions are the opposite way round.

I just watched the video and, although Mowgli looks black, the orangutan comes across as a cartoon ape and does not to me resemble a black person. So I would vote that it isn’t racist.

OppsUpsSide · 13/05/2021 20:24

Well that's kind of the point.

I know, I was agreeing.

APinchOfLOL · 13/05/2021 20:24

Oh FFS Hmm

Triphazards · 13/05/2021 20:26

@HTH1

Your voting is confusing. You ask AIBU in thinking it’s racist but then your ‘yes’/‘no’ questions are the opposite way round.

I just watched the video and, although Mowgli looks black, the orangutan comes across as a cartoon ape and does not to me resemble a black person. So I would vote that it isn’t racist.

And Bagheera the black panther doesn't count!
LittlestBoho · 13/05/2021 20:30

What did I miss about The Little Mermaid? It's been mentioned a few times now.

Hopdathelf · 13/05/2021 20:35

What did I miss about The Little Mermaid?

Sebastian is a poorly drawn stereotype of a Caribbean man.