How Disney’s “Dumbo” perpetuates the use of elephants in circus entertainment

Dumbo is based around a young circus elephant whose big ears mean he can fly, leading to his exploitation in the circus industry. Dumbo was first produced by Walt Disney Productions in 1941 and it was arguably ahead of its time highlighting animal cruelty among other contentious topics. Fast forward to 2019 and Tim Burton has directed a new animated adaptation of the Disney classic. Whilst, the new version will be void of racism and stereotyping, it will highlight abuse to elephants used in the circus for “entertainment”. Whilst the trailer has been said to “tug on our heart strings”, arguably so much more should be evoked than our passing sentimentality, yet how can this be the case when Dumbostill glosses over the use of animals in circuses and does not truly highlight the depths of depravity within the pajan system?

From then to now: how we are still undereducated on the plight of elephants in the circus: The originalDumbowas produced 55 years before I was born. The new adaptation will be produced 23 years after I was born. We know these problems exist, but when we are children we do not understand the depths of the issues we see through Walt Disney and Tim Burton’s creations. Many then simply forget or prefer blissful ignorance. Few seek to understand why we inflict suffering on elephants for the pleasure of humans.

The new adaptation of Dumbo, whilst it does highlight use and abuse of elephants in the entertainment industry merely puts a superficial glaze over the true depth of suffering elephants undergo daily to perform. The pajan system, also known as the crushing system, literally crushes the spirits of these majestic creatures to make them pliant. Elephants are beaten with bullhooks, left shackled and isolated, starved and dehydrated, sleep deprived. They are mentally and physically traumatised. 50% of elephants die from this breaking in process, and many will die prematurely from their physical and mental scars. Most people are unaware of the fact the majority of the elephants used in entertainment are captured from the wild at a young age, when they are still highly dependent on their mothers and their close knit family herds. Just like a human child, an elephant baby will cry, it sucks its trunk for comfort and will pine for its family, all whilst being beaten, abused and traumatised. We wouldn’t do it to a human, so why would we think it was acceptable to do it to an elephant?

Dumbodoes not show this level of brutality that is a daily occurrence for so many elephants, it is of course a children’s film, but if we do not see, how can we know and how can we make a positive change for the better? The answer is we need to be better educated, from an early age, that elephants are not performers, they are not entertainers, they are wild, fragile beings which should never be subjected to the horrors they suffer.

Happily never after: The original Dumbowas full of subtle quotes regarding the depth of suffering that Dumbo and the other elephants in the circus were exposed to, from “elephants ain’t got no feelings” to “suppose you were torn away from your mother when you were just a baby”. We were subject to flashes of animal cruelty, such as when Dumbo’s mother is taken away, put into chains and left in a cage. Or just the very fact the elephants were in a circus to start with. But this was all swept under the proverbial carpet at the end of the film when we are supposed to think that there is a stereotypical “happily ever after” when Dumbo is reunited with his mother…in the circus, hardly a truly happy ending for any elephant. The new adaptation of Dumbo is likely to have the same ending, despite PETA urging Tim Burton to create a more desirable one where the elephants are taken to a sanctuary to live out their lives naturally. Whilst the use of elephants in circuses has declined, their abuse in the entertainment industry has soared elsewhere, tourist rides, elephant taxis at popular tourist sites, and shows in zoos. The subjugation of elephants for our entertainment is still very much a problem, one which Dumbo’s happily never after only glosses over and seeks to subvert into a positive fantasy. I agree with the author of Angels for Elephants, when they stated: “I only hope this isn’t a situation where people become convinced that something that was bad all along was actually good. We definitely don’t need to accidentally revive the opinion of animals held captive for human entertainment”.

It has been quoted that “Dumbo did not need the feather to fly; the magic was within him”, but this is not true. The magic was, and is not within Dumbo, his mother Jumbo, or any other elephant subjected to the torture of being enslaved to the entertainment industry, it will have been crushed out of them all by the end of a bullhook and a chain wrapped around a concrete post. What Dumbo did need was not a feather, but freedom, freedom to live as an elephant, rather than as a commercial commodity. Whether Tim Burton’s Dumboactually sends this message home loud and heartbreakingly clear is yet to be seen, but we can unfortunately presume it is unlikely and that Dumbo will be a commercial commodity lining Mr Burton’s bank account and the bank accounts of those who continue to abuse elephants for “entertainment”.

As I have highlighted there are real reasons for concern about the messages that the film Dumbo is giving out to the public. Those who produce and promote the film, and all those who see the trailer or go to see the film with their friends and family should visit STAE’s website at www.stae.orgto find out more about the horros that befall elephants in the entertainment industry, but also to educate themselves on the message that STAE gives and its inspiring policies for positive and targeted change, which I whole heartedly support. With education we can produce change and with change we can provide peace for these long suffering elephants.