Many people think that children’s literature is just for a child’s entertainment. They don’t stop to think about the moral lessons that the stories are teaching the children. Little Red Riding Hood teaches kids not to talk to strangers, The Ugly Duckling teaches kids that outer beauty wasn’t the most important thing, and Stone Soup teaches kids the importance of sharing, etc.… The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling is another example to the many lessons that children’s literature teaches kids. What is interesting about this particular set of stories is how they have been told through the years.
The Jungle Books have had many adaptions and retelling of Mowgli’s tale. The most known adaption of Kipling’s stories was Disney’s animated film “The Jungle Book” (1967). The strange thing to consider is that the book and the animated film, while from the same source material, differ in what they offer to the children. The original stories tell vignettes of Mowgli’s life as he grows up and how he learns from the other animals. They teach him how to be a friend to all and how to decide when a fight is worth it or not among other things. In the animated film the focus of the story is just about Mowgli and his friends Baloo and Bagheera.
Using film criticism, Kipling’s actual notes and text, Disney’s animated film, and other archival documents along with a historical timeline I argue that the reason the lessons change inside of Kipling’s stories through the different mediums is because of society and the state it was in when the films were released. This paper will explore how the changing climate of society will affect what we teach our children through the use of storytelling and films.
About the presenterAbigail McMahon
Film Student at Ithaca College. Minor in English.