Davis' point that Tarzan and Clayton are "polar opposites" is so obviously correct that I began wondering if that was the norm for many Disney hero(ine)-villain combos. She states that Tarzan is intelligent, observant, honest, noble, generous, kind, innocent and naïve whereas Clayton is of basic intelligence, oblivious, dishonest, deceitful, and destructive. (whoa, a lot of 'd's' there.) Majority of those characteristics are parallel-- they're complete antonyms of each other. Let's look at other characters combinations.
Ariel and Ursula: Ariel is kind, innocent, naïve, and honest
(I mean if you can excuse the sneaking around playing with human objects behind
her father's back.) Ursula on the other hand is manipulative, aggressive, and
wiser than Ariel.
Aladdin and Jafar: Aladdin is kind, generous, caring, and
crafty whereas Jafar is sneaky, selfish, stuck-up, and kind of rude.
Creating this list is proving to be difficult. Outside of
Tarzan, I can't think of a single hero(ine) that was honest. While they all
might be noble in the end, they all have slips in character that at times make
you consider how good they really are. For example: Ariel lies to her father
about her human object collection and going on shore to meet a human. Aladdin
lies to Jasmine about being a prince, and he lives his life stealing from
people in the market. Rapunzel in Tangled runs away from "home"
after she promises her mother she wouldn't (albeit her mother is evil and did
kidnap her in the first place.) Mulan lies to her family and an entire army of
men as she pretends to be soldier in place of her father. It prompts the question
of whether these character flaws are intentional-- they ultimately make the
character more relatable to the audience-- or if Disney just likes complicating
things.
You might be thinking that I'm being naïve by claiming that
Tarzan lacks character flaws, because he obviously disobeys Kerchak's
order to stay away from the humans and to keep them away from the tribe, but
really Tarzan is a human and not an ape. Being with the humans isn't a flaw;
it's finding his identity. Of course he breaks the gorillas' loyalty by leading
the humans to them, but he doesn't owe them loyalty when they've been
holding his past from him his entire life.
Moving on, Davis also makes a good point that Clayton is
charismatic in order to conceal his ill intentions. However, I believe that's a
universal villain trait. The victims rarely expect to be manipulated by them.
For example: The sultan doesn't notice that Jafar is using him to try to gain
control of Agrabah. Tarzan doesn't notice that Clayton is using him to get to
the gorillas and capture them. Simba doesn't realize that Scar is trying to
steal the throne and turn everyone against him. Snow White doesn't think
anything of the apple that the evil queen gives her. It's a common them that
villains are so charismatic that other characters hardly know they're villains.
However, I think Tarzan stands out slightly from the norm. In most cases, the
audience understands that the villains are in fact evil-- even when the
characters don't-- but, as a viewer, I had no idea that Clayton was going to
turn against Tarzan and become a villain. That was an entire plot twist for me.
Clayton played it so cool that he fooled even the audience and that's rare.
Another interesting point of Davis' article is that while
most Disney movie articles end up criticizing the way Disney portrays some part
of the movie, Davis' article doesn't really address that. She points out that
Tarzan has an American accent even though he lives in Africa and doesn't
encounter any humans until Jane, her father, and Clayton-- all of which have
British accents. Realistically, Tarzan should've picked up a British accent.
Ironically, even the gorillas speak with American accents when it's almost
certain that they don't encounter any Americans. Davis actually tries to back
up Disney by finding reasons that might support an American accent in Tarzan,
which again is rare to find in a Disney article.
Finally, Davis' idea that Tarzan rejects becoming the type
of "man" that Clayton defines himself as is iconic. Tarzan and
Clayton end up fighting, and Tarzan holds the gun to Clayton's face while
Clayton taunts him to "Be a man" and shoot him. First of all, telling
anyone to shoot you is just ridiculous in itself, but claiming that shooting
someone is what defines their masculinity is WEAK. Clayton's version of
masculinity is the exact version that America is trying to progress and run
away from. Not only does Clayton embody that fragile masculinity, but so does
Kerchak. Kerchak dislikes Tarzan simply because he challenges his authority
even though it's unintentional. He rejects Tarzan over and over again, because
he doesn't want anyone to take his dominant male spot. This kind
of masculinity is what Tarzan rejects by not shooting Clayton and by
showing subordination to Kerchak. Tarzan shows real masculinity by showing
respect and a distaste for bullying.
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