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A review by devontrevarrowflaherty
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
4.0
Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book—sometimes titled The Jungle Books—is perhaps not what you think it is. It is a collection of short stories. Not all of them are about the jungle. They are all about animals, but some from a human perspective. They are mostly about children, but one is about an adult. Except for the Mowgli stories, no characters or even setting cross story-lines. All but one take place in British-occupied India. Only three of them are about Mowgli. Three! By far, these three are the best stories in the short book, so I can see why they became cultural icons and classic movies (though I also remember a cartoon version of “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” from my childhood). All of the are also quite outdated, though Mowgli’s thread remains the most universal. Honestly, most modern readers might want to skip straight to Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book for a much more modern and relevant retelling (of just the Mowgli part). Or watch the movies and maybe read the Mowgli stories to your kids.
The Jungle Book is a collection of Rudyard Kipling’s short stories. Between each story sits a related poem. The first three stories tell of the life and times of Mowgli, a little Indian boy who is raised by wolves when he runs off after a tiger attacks his parents’ camp. That tiger becomes the through-line of these three stories, for he vows to kill the man-cub when he grows up and his shadow remains spectral at every turn. Mowgli has various adventures in the jungle under the tutelage of Baloo the bear and the watchful eye of Bagheera the panther. He has run-ins with snakes, kites (a predatory bird), and monkeys, and eventually is expelled to the man village where he must decide where he really belongs. The other stories include that of the solitary, white seal looking for a safe place where his colony can hunt and raise their young; the mongoose who is adopted by a family and is just being himself when he saves them from a garden of cobras; a little boy raised as an elephant tamer; a man who hides after a stampede in military camp and becomes privy to the conversation of the various military animals.
The main thing I would warn modern parents about is corporal punishment; though it is framed within nature and tradition, it is perpetrated on Mowgli. Also, some of the stories go nature-show violent on us, especially “The White Seal.” The best part is stepping into the mind of a little boy and also contemplating what it’s like to be an animal. These are things little kids love and have kept the stories around for more than a century. Maybe that’s why, though, people seem to ignore the non-Mowgli stories in the book. Like seriously, the introduction in the version I have doesn’t even mention them, with the exception of “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.” Yet there they all are, and there are probably some kids, even still, who would prefer this book over more candy-coated, sleek stuff. Though the story-telling is a little old-fashioned, it is also poetic—sometimes like a song—and is honest down to the grit of real life in the jungle. Like Roald Dahl in his English towns, kids are meant to come face to face with both the magic and the harshness of real life and to consider feelings and thoughts outside their own head.
The Jungle Book is a classic, and for sure the three Mowgli stories are ones you should read on an afternoon. The rest of the stories are also classics, but ones that seem to be fading with time. For kids and adults who like the older stuff, sure, pick the book up and read the whole thing. Perhaps your kids will really enjoy them; who’s to say with kids. But some modern parents will find this stuff too gritty and too wild. Which is sort of the point. Kids need a little wildness, a little risk, in their life and Kipling brought it into the nursery (as did other authors, like Dahl and Barrie). While I wasn’t sitting around with my copy lost in enjoyment, mostly these stories weren’t meant for me. Still, there is a sweet and tangy tone to the Mowgli stories that swept me away, a little bit.
QUOTES:
“Let them fall, Mowgli. They are only tears” (p31).
“Oppress not the cubs of the stranger, but hail them as Sister and Brother, / For though they are little and fubsy, it may be the Bear is their mother” (p34).
“See, O Bagheera, they never thank their teacher. Not one small wolfling has ever come back to thank old Baloo for his teachings” (p37).
“…‘it is true what Hathi the Wise Elephant says, “To each his own fear”’” (p47).
“If you can imagine a lance, or a battering ram, or a hammer weighing nearly half a ton driven by a cool, quiet mind living in the handle of it, you can roughly imagine what Kaa [a python] was like when he fought” (p62).
“Baloo did not wish to bring Mowgli into any more trouble, but he could not tamper with the Law, so he mumbled, ‘Sorrow never stays punishment…’” (p69).
“One of the beauties of Jungle Law is that punishment settles scores. There is no nagging afterwards” (p70).
“’Now, don’t be angry after you’ve been afraid. That’s the worst kind of cowardice,’ said the troop-horse. ‘Anybody can be forgiven for being scared in the night, I think, if they see things they don’t understand” (p197, “Her Majesty’s Servants”).
“I know just enough to be uncomfortable, and not enough to go on in spite of it” (p205, “Her Majesty’s Servants”).
MOVIES AND SHOWS:
The 1967 animated, Disney version of The Jungle Book would have been what most people (Americans, anyway) thought of in the past decades—like between 1970 and 2000—if someone said “The Jungle Book.” It’s still what many people think of. And this is probably where Mowgli was cleaved off from the other short stories in the book, because this version contains only the three Mowgli stories made into one continuous narrative in vignettes. Fairly accurate to the stories, it was part of a series of these old, animated Disney films based on the classic, children’s stories like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. (There were also all the fairy tales, of course, like Cinderella and Snow White.) It is a classic. It feels pretty old when you watch it now, but it’s that mid-century animation that translates fine into a soft, calm afternoon with infants or toddlers, even now. I haven’t watched it in a very long time.
Talespin was apparently a Jungle Book spin-off that aired in the nineties and actually was one of my very favorite cartoons. I was aware that Baloo was involved, but I didn’t quite understand how it connected to the old movie and even now I’m going to have to look it up because it’s not super apparent… So, there was a deadline and some people pitched the idea to use Baloo in an afternoon cartoon series. They took away Mowgli and replaced him with the anthropomorphic Kit whose mother was based on Cheers’ Rebecca (and named after her). The characters ran an air cargo company in the jungle (but where exactly? Not sure). Louie and Shere Khan were the only other character crossovers. So: a super strange mashup of ideas using just a Disneyfied Jungle Book character and a misfit-paternal dynamic with a kid who isn’t his. (There would be others of these weird crossovers that I loved, growing up, like DuckTales and Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers. They all had an extremely similar feel.)
I have not seen Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1994). Well, that I can recall. It looks like a totally classic 1990s epic movie, complete with big actors, romance, action-adventure (swashbuckling) and lots of white people. The animals are there in the beginning, as actual animals, but then Mowgli grows up and starts to encounter people, some who want him dead and at least one who wants to kiss him. (Some of this might be based on The Second Jungle Book by Kipling, but from what I can tell the romance is completely new.) I am a little mystified that Mowgli is played by an American actor of Chinese-Hawaiian descent and every person he encounters appears to be British occupants of India. The stories in the books have him end up at times in an Indian village with Indian people. Ah, well. It kinda looks good because, let’s face it, I grew up with a steady diet of movies like Indiana Jones, The Goonies, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and this looks exactly along those lines. Maybe I’ll watch it tonight.
And then in 2016 Disney did what it was in the middle of doing and made the old, animated The Jungle Book into a live-action film in 2016. (Some of the other movies that had made the transition around that time were Cruella, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Mulan, Maleficent, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan and Wendy.) Featuring impressive CG and an adorable Mowgli, it’s pretty dramatic and updates a lot of the plot, but it’s also a little closer to the original book than even the old, animated version. (Certainly it’s much closer than that 1994 thing.) I don’t think I did a review for it here on The Starving Artist (and can’t find it, anyhow), but I remember liking it to an extent. It’s really meant to be for kids, but I would have to re-watch it to tell you anything interesting. I remember a lot of fire.
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***
The Jungle Book is a collection of Rudyard Kipling’s short stories. Between each story sits a related poem. The first three stories tell of the life and times of Mowgli, a little Indian boy who is raised by wolves when he runs off after a tiger attacks his parents’ camp. That tiger becomes the through-line of these three stories, for he vows to kill the man-cub when he grows up and his shadow remains spectral at every turn. Mowgli has various adventures in the jungle under the tutelage of Baloo the bear and the watchful eye of Bagheera the panther. He has run-ins with snakes, kites (a predatory bird), and monkeys, and eventually is expelled to the man village where he must decide where he really belongs. The other stories include that of the solitary, white seal looking for a safe place where his colony can hunt and raise their young; the mongoose who is adopted by a family and is just being himself when he saves them from a garden of cobras; a little boy raised as an elephant tamer; a man who hides after a stampede in military camp and becomes privy to the conversation of the various military animals.
The main thing I would warn modern parents about is corporal punishment; though it is framed within nature and tradition, it is perpetrated on Mowgli. Also, some of the stories go nature-show violent on us, especially “The White Seal.” The best part is stepping into the mind of a little boy and also contemplating what it’s like to be an animal. These are things little kids love and have kept the stories around for more than a century. Maybe that’s why, though, people seem to ignore the non-Mowgli stories in the book. Like seriously, the introduction in the version I have doesn’t even mention them, with the exception of “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.” Yet there they all are, and there are probably some kids, even still, who would prefer this book over more candy-coated, sleek stuff. Though the story-telling is a little old-fashioned, it is also poetic—sometimes like a song—and is honest down to the grit of real life in the jungle. Like Roald Dahl in his English towns, kids are meant to come face to face with both the magic and the harshness of real life and to consider feelings and thoughts outside their own head.
The Jungle Book is a classic, and for sure the three Mowgli stories are ones you should read on an afternoon. The rest of the stories are also classics, but ones that seem to be fading with time. For kids and adults who like the older stuff, sure, pick the book up and read the whole thing. Perhaps your kids will really enjoy them; who’s to say with kids. But some modern parents will find this stuff too gritty and too wild. Which is sort of the point. Kids need a little wildness, a little risk, in their life and Kipling brought it into the nursery (as did other authors, like Dahl and Barrie). While I wasn’t sitting around with my copy lost in enjoyment, mostly these stories weren’t meant for me. Still, there is a sweet and tangy tone to the Mowgli stories that swept me away, a little bit.
QUOTES:
“Let them fall, Mowgli. They are only tears” (p31).
“Oppress not the cubs of the stranger, but hail them as Sister and Brother, / For though they are little and fubsy, it may be the Bear is their mother” (p34).
“See, O Bagheera, they never thank their teacher. Not one small wolfling has ever come back to thank old Baloo for his teachings” (p37).
“…‘it is true what Hathi the Wise Elephant says, “To each his own fear”’” (p47).
“If you can imagine a lance, or a battering ram, or a hammer weighing nearly half a ton driven by a cool, quiet mind living in the handle of it, you can roughly imagine what Kaa [a python] was like when he fought” (p62).
“Baloo did not wish to bring Mowgli into any more trouble, but he could not tamper with the Law, so he mumbled, ‘Sorrow never stays punishment…’” (p69).
“One of the beauties of Jungle Law is that punishment settles scores. There is no nagging afterwards” (p70).
“’Now, don’t be angry after you’ve been afraid. That’s the worst kind of cowardice,’ said the troop-horse. ‘Anybody can be forgiven for being scared in the night, I think, if they see things they don’t understand” (p197, “Her Majesty’s Servants”).
“I know just enough to be uncomfortable, and not enough to go on in spite of it” (p205, “Her Majesty’s Servants”).
MOVIES AND SHOWS:
The 1967 animated, Disney version of The Jungle Book would have been what most people (Americans, anyway) thought of in the past decades—like between 1970 and 2000—if someone said “The Jungle Book.” It’s still what many people think of. And this is probably where Mowgli was cleaved off from the other short stories in the book, because this version contains only the three Mowgli stories made into one continuous narrative in vignettes. Fairly accurate to the stories, it was part of a series of these old, animated Disney films based on the classic, children’s stories like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. (There were also all the fairy tales, of course, like Cinderella and Snow White.) It is a classic. It feels pretty old when you watch it now, but it’s that mid-century animation that translates fine into a soft, calm afternoon with infants or toddlers, even now. I haven’t watched it in a very long time.
Talespin was apparently a Jungle Book spin-off that aired in the nineties and actually was one of my very favorite cartoons. I was aware that Baloo was involved, but I didn’t quite understand how it connected to the old movie and even now I’m going to have to look it up because it’s not super apparent… So, there was a deadline and some people pitched the idea to use Baloo in an afternoon cartoon series. They took away Mowgli and replaced him with the anthropomorphic Kit whose mother was based on Cheers’ Rebecca (and named after her). The characters ran an air cargo company in the jungle (but where exactly? Not sure). Louie and Shere Khan were the only other character crossovers. So: a super strange mashup of ideas using just a Disneyfied Jungle Book character and a misfit-paternal dynamic with a kid who isn’t his. (There would be others of these weird crossovers that I loved, growing up, like DuckTales and Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers. They all had an extremely similar feel.)
I have not seen Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1994). Well, that I can recall. It looks like a totally classic 1990s epic movie, complete with big actors, romance, action-adventure (swashbuckling) and lots of white people. The animals are there in the beginning, as actual animals, but then Mowgli grows up and starts to encounter people, some who want him dead and at least one who wants to kiss him. (Some of this might be based on The Second Jungle Book by Kipling, but from what I can tell the romance is completely new.) I am a little mystified that Mowgli is played by an American actor of Chinese-Hawaiian descent and every person he encounters appears to be British occupants of India. The stories in the books have him end up at times in an Indian village with Indian people. Ah, well. It kinda looks good because, let’s face it, I grew up with a steady diet of movies like Indiana Jones, The Goonies, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and this looks exactly along those lines. Maybe I’ll watch it tonight.
And then in 2016 Disney did what it was in the middle of doing and made the old, animated The Jungle Book into a live-action film in 2016. (Some of the other movies that had made the transition around that time were Cruella, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Mulan, Maleficent, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan and Wendy.) Featuring impressive CG and an adorable Mowgli, it’s pretty dramatic and updates a lot of the plot, but it’s also a little closer to the original book than even the old, animated version. (Certainly it’s much closer than that 1994 thing.) I don’t think I did a review for it here on The Starving Artist (and can’t find it, anyhow), but I remember liking it to an extent. It’s really meant to be for kids, but I would have to re-watch it to tell you anything interesting. I remember a lot of fire.
***REVIEW WRITTEN FOR THE STARVING ARTIST BLOG***