The Jungle Book
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Neel Sethi, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken, Idris Elba
Raised by a family of wolves since birth, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) must leave the only home he has ever known when the malevolent tiger, Shere Khan, (Idris Elba) threatens revenge on the man-cub. Guided by the wise and noble Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and the free-spirited bear, Baloo, (Bill Murray), Mowgli learns valuable life lessons as his epic journey of self-discovery leads to fun and adventure.
The essence of this film may be found in the Red Flower and how this flower – also known as “man’s fire” – entwines Mowgli’s fate with the villains of the story: Shere Khan and King Louie and also the battle Mowgli faces within his own heart as he struggles to find his own identity.
When Mowgli encounter’s Kaa, the snake, she tells Mowgli the story of how Shere Khan lost his eye…that there was a man who sought shelter in a jungle cave, protecting his “cub” from the dangers that lurked in the darkness outside. When Shere Khan attacked the man, this father used the “Red Flower” to protect his child, even though doing so cost the man his own life and also cost Shere Khan his left eye. The significance of the story was that the child that the man was protecting was Mowgli. When Mowgli is taken by the monkeys to their King…King Louie, this titan ruler tells Mowgli that he will protect Mowgli from Shere Khan…but only if Mowgli will share the secret to creating the Red Flower so he - King Louie - can reign as the most powerful king in the jungle.
Fear also plays a symbolic role in the film as it connects Mowgli with the dangers around him (specifically Kaa, King Louie, Man’s fire, and ultimately Mowgli conquering his fears by defeating Shere Khan). When he encounters each of these dangers in the jungle, two things stand out as significant. First, the exaggerated size of the dangers that Mowgli encounters illustrates, quite vividly, how Mowgli sees these enemies in his child-like perspective. The sheer size of his first two adversaries (Kaa, the snake, and King Louie, the Orangutan) are made almost insignificant when Mowgli sees the Red Flower burning in the man’s village and sets the jungle alight with this powerful flame. While Shere Khan taunted Mowgli that fire would be the jungle’s downfall, it was the catalyst which brought all the peoples of the jungle together as one.
© 2021 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Neel Sethi, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken, Idris Elba
Raised by a family of wolves since birth, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) must leave the only home he has ever known when the malevolent tiger, Shere Khan, (Idris Elba) threatens revenge on the man-cub. Guided by the wise and noble Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and the free-spirited bear, Baloo, (Bill Murray), Mowgli learns valuable life lessons as his epic journey of self-discovery leads to fun and adventure.
The essence of this film may be found in the Red Flower and how this flower – also known as “man’s fire” – entwines Mowgli’s fate with the villains of the story: Shere Khan and King Louie and also the battle Mowgli faces within his own heart as he struggles to find his own identity.
When Mowgli encounter’s Kaa, the snake, she tells Mowgli the story of how Shere Khan lost his eye…that there was a man who sought shelter in a jungle cave, protecting his “cub” from the dangers that lurked in the darkness outside. When Shere Khan attacked the man, this father used the “Red Flower” to protect his child, even though doing so cost the man his own life and also cost Shere Khan his left eye. The significance of the story was that the child that the man was protecting was Mowgli. When Mowgli is taken by the monkeys to their King…King Louie, this titan ruler tells Mowgli that he will protect Mowgli from Shere Khan…but only if Mowgli will share the secret to creating the Red Flower so he - King Louie - can reign as the most powerful king in the jungle.
Fear also plays a symbolic role in the film as it connects Mowgli with the dangers around him (specifically Kaa, King Louie, Man’s fire, and ultimately Mowgli conquering his fears by defeating Shere Khan). When he encounters each of these dangers in the jungle, two things stand out as significant. First, the exaggerated size of the dangers that Mowgli encounters illustrates, quite vividly, how Mowgli sees these enemies in his child-like perspective. The sheer size of his first two adversaries (Kaa, the snake, and King Louie, the Orangutan) are made almost insignificant when Mowgli sees the Red Flower burning in the man’s village and sets the jungle alight with this powerful flame. While Shere Khan taunted Mowgli that fire would be the jungle’s downfall, it was the catalyst which brought all the peoples of the jungle together as one.
© 2021 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved