Introduction
The situation when different objects in art, literature, or cultural rites, are depicted as having human-like traits, called anthropomorphism, is typical for humanity. The film Dumbo and the book on which it is based are examples of using anthropomorphic elements in art. Throughout the action, they depict animal-sentient traits and highlight the importance of ethics in human and human-animal relations. The role of anthropomorphism is much broader: it exists in all elements of people’s behavior and resulted in the development of human culture.
Dumbo Film and Its Ideas
Film’s Plot
Dumbo is a 2019 magical realism film by Tim Burton; it is based on the twentieth-century child book about the big-eared elephant that could fly. The film starts by showing the train with elements from the circus, such as shots with newspapers advertising the performances. Those are hints pointing out that the circus will be the main topic of Dumbo. Holt Farrier, the main human hero, armless after World War I, arrives on the train and faces children who are happy to meet him but become very sad seeing him disabled. The Medici circus hires him to care for the pregnant elephant, Mrs. Jumbo, from their circus and care for their animals in the future. After the calf elephant is born, it is revealed that his ears are enormous, distorting Medici.
They decided to sell Mrs. Jumbo and hide the calf called Dumbo, the film’s main animal hero. Max Medici, the circus chief, is annoyed by Dumbo’s ears, thinking that people will not love him, despite some staff members saying they can find him handsome. Then they decided to perform while hiding Dumbo’s ears; at the same time, Holt’s children befriended him. However, in the very first performance, Dumbo reveals his ears, and Medici’s fears turn out to be correct. The spectators started to mock the animal and threw peanuts and other things at him, annoyed by his big ears. His mother becomes enraged by such wrong human behavior and causes destruction, trying to defend her calf. Along with that, Holt’s children reveal that Dumbo has magical abilities: he can fly using his big ears.
After that, the Medici circus was employed in Vandevere’s Dreamland, a prominent entertainment park in New York City. There were intentions that the Dumbo’s performances with him flying would have considerable success. However, the first exhibition was a failure: Dumbo flew to his mother, and the public became disappointed and started to lament. Vandevere was annoyed and fired the Medici circus from his Dreamland. Even more, he was enraged with the animal’s disobedience and intended to euthanize Mrs. Jumbo. When Holt acknowledged it, he argued that the Medici troop must stop Vandevere. They went to the Dreamland and rescued both Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo, distracting Vandevere and his staff. Both elephants flew away, and the troop’s members embarked on the ship to India. The film ends by showing the successful and happy Medici circus performing: Holt’s daughter shows scientific experiments, which impresses the public. At the same time, Dumbo is shown flying in the Indian jungles among other elephants: he and his mother are happy too.
Film’s Ideas
This film is the remake of the 1941 film, which is based on the child book describing the elephant Dumbo with big ears and the mouse Timothy. They become best friends; this episode is portrayed in the film, but it is not central there. The main idea of Dumbo is the story of human kindness, which reveals itself in the polite and careful treatment of other humans and animals. The elements of anthropomorphism are used when portraying circus animals: their intelligence is highlighted, and their behavior is shown as having free will in its basis. It is visible when showing the circus monkeys, which show a significant level of understanding and playfulness. One can see it even more when portraying Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo, who are aware of the situation and behave almost consciously. They are cruel to those who mistreat them but lovely and kind to those who are kind to them.
The treatment of animals is another essential idea highlighted in the film. There are episodes from the very beginning: when one of the circus’s workers is rude to the elephant Mrs. Jumbo, Holt beats him in the face to force him to stop when she gives birth to the calf. Next, Dumbo, her calf, undergoes mistreatment for his giant ears, which are considered abnormal; it extremely enrages Mrs. Jumbo. Then, when Holt, his children, and other Medici Circus members defend elephants, it is clearly shown that they are grateful and help them in return.
Influence of Anthropomorphism
From the beginning of humanity, people tended to attribute human-like traits to non-human beings, from animals to weather. It is considered an inherited human trait that is always present (Kelen and You 23). Anthropomorphism in primitive societies led to pagan gods, intelligent animals, and other characters typical of myths, legends, and fairy tales. Those are examples of anthropocentrism when everything is considered connected with humans. Then, it developed into religions, philosophies, and political ideologies, which helped humans know the world better and organize their societies. Modern science also evolved from anthropomorphism: it started when people tried to look at the world objectively, cleaning their view from anthropocentric biases (Dacey 1166). Still, while anthropocentrism is the result of anthropomorphism, it is not the only result.
Anthropomorphism is typical for people: when looking at the outside world and facing its process, humans think they have some reasons behind them. It is common in everyday life, especially for children and members of primitive tribes (Kelen and You 23). Anthropomorphism is used widely in films and other art; the example is Dumbo, where animals are shown as sentient beings with personalities, desires, and inclinations. It positively influences human societies as it develops empathy, cooperation, mutual understanding, and kindness in general (Manfredo et al. 6; Wang and Basso 163). Along with cognitive biases, anthropomorphic thinking creates the culture and its consequences, such as religion, philosophy, ethics, social ideas, and scientific inquiry.
Reasons for Using Anthropomorphism
The ideas and influence of anthropomorphism are why it is often introduced to various art pieces, products, and other objects. There is evidence that it is natural for people to see and imply human traits in the world around them in their interactions with the world (Kelen and You 23). Today, one can specify four reasons for using anthropomorphism: for entertainment, aesthetical, political, or social purposes, which are often interconnected.
Entertainment
Animals are cool; people usually feel tenderness when seeing cute animals, which is one of the main reasons animal images are widely used in the media. Attractive photos and descriptions of animals increase empathy in humans and make them more sensible (Wang and Basso 155). One can easily resemble many pictures, posts, and internet memes with animals as central characters. Such content is amusing, entertaining, and thus, extremely popular and even viral.
Another side seems to be directly opposite to the former: animals are depicted as strange, alien, and dangerous. There are many stories where animals take the role of carnivorous creatures, ready to devour everybody who dares to go on their territory (Kelen and You, ch. 4). Such pseudo-horror stories are usually not really terrifying but amusing. They depict someone who goes to the wild, despite all precautions not to do this, and ends up being eaten by some carnivore or, at least, virtually being eaten but managing to escape. Such images are used purely for entertainment purposes or educational ones: to show children how they should not behave.
Anthropomorphic animals are widespread in child literature: most examples mentioned above, with talking or dangerous animals, are written for kids. There is evidence that kids are animistic: they anthropomorphize everything around them, thinking that things are conscious, and then develop their understanding of the world based on those beliefs (Kelen and You, ch. 1). There are many nonsenses or seemingly nonsense literature and verses, such as Lewis Carrol’s Jabberwocky, written for children and aimed at entertaining them (Kelen and You, ch. 3). In addition to the entertainment, such literature, especially witty written, increases children’s ability to understand the world. They are also often used for education: animals from children’s books are depicted as wise and explain such concepts as mathematics or human relations. In that way, anthropomorphism is widely used in entertainment, especially in child literature, with educational aims.
Aesthetical
Along with child literature, implementing human-like traits in different objects is a common motif in art. Animals are often seen as graceful beings and are described in the corresponding matter; sometimes, they are depicted as primitive “child-like” creatures which can be civilized, such as in the story of Winnie-the-Pooh (Kelen and You 180). Sometimes they are shown in human form or as human-animal hybrids. In other cases, they left animals, such as in the film Dumbo. However, special attention is paid to their abilities to think, perceive information, and behave according to their free will and other conscious manifestations. Animals are occasionally shown as having supernatural or magical properties; in Dumbo, the elephant, the main hero, could fly. It is perhaps connected with the primitive perception of the animals as some mystical beings.
Different writers used anthropomorphism at various times to express their idea via sentient animal images and characters. The prominent examples are Miguel de Servantes’s short stories and James Joyce’s novels (Federici 82). In The Dialogue of the Dogs, Servantes describes two dogs talking with each other: they tell their personal stories to each other. In Ulysses Joyce’s novel, the author describes animals in a way that their distinctions from humans are blurred; he was influenced by Servantes’ stories when using this approach (Federici 85). For example, the primary novel’s hero, Bloom, talks with his cat as if it were human, showing consciousness and empathy. In Dumbo, a similar approach is used: animals’ behavior is portrayed as principally similar to humans’ one. In that way, anthropomorphism is used in literature to show animals as full-fledged characters, highlighting their sentience and common origin with humans.
The anthropomorphism usage in art is wider: many literature examples introduce human traits not only to animals but even to plants. For example, the motif of transformation into the tree is common in Latin American novels and poetry, which comes from Native American legends (Beverley and Castro-Klarén 135–136). As primitive people tended to assign consciousness to animals, volcanos, thunders, and other surroundings, they used those objects as the heroes of their myths and legends. One can understand anthropomorphism as the perception frame and the way of communication (Kelen and You 24). In that way, the art which presents human values in some explicit form or direct human traits in objects is considered anthropomorphic.
Political
Aside from entertainment, amusement, and child literature, there are much more serious looks on anthropomorphism. Surprisingly, people with more conservative attitudes tend to buy goods with anthropomorphic traits (Chan 521). It is connected with their worldview: conservative people are more likely to rely on their feelings and be concerned about different life uncertainties. Anthropomorphizing reduces those uncertainties: when they see something humane in commodities, they feel more comfortable and convenient. They can refer to such things as soulful, which are made with soul and for people.
Politicians often implement anthropomorphism of a different kind in their political agendas and agitations. They do not usually use cartoon-like art with speaking animals, of course, but they refer to everything made for people and by people. Such discourse is anthropomorphic, as it implies human qualities in everything, from commodities, houses, and roadways to political ideologies. They are referred to as humane, intelligent, conscious, kind, and other qualities usually used to describe good people. The tendency to anthropomorphize is connected with less dominant and violent motivations and more inclination to cooperate (Manfredo et al. 6). Thus, anthropomorphism is used in political agendas to stimulate cooperation and promote democratic and humanitarian ideals.
Modern religions, philosophy, and even science are, in some way, successors of those primitive beliefs based on anthropomorphism. The ideas of humanism, human rights, and, more recently, animal rights, are based on the implication of the sentiency of humans and animals (Kelen and You, ch. 7). The idea of causing no harm to the world is, too, based on anthropomorphizing. A human considers everything as a part of something mindful and friendly and, thus, ceases to do any harm to the surrounding (Wang and Basso 163). It then develops to rational thinking, when causing damage is considered as something ineffective and wrong. This theory is the basis of modern democratic and capitalist states and societies.
Social
As one can see, anthropomorphism has social importance: it brings specific ideas to the public. One of the main issues raised in Dumbo is the mistreating of animals. There is evidence that anthropomorphism reduces the tendency to eat meat in humans, as they start to think about animals as friends or just living beings (Wang and Basso 156). For example, they have seen small pigs and people playing with them, with cute captions. After that, they feel disgusted with the idea of eating pig meat; they even associate it with cannibalism. Interestingly enough, those results were not reproduced in the case of beef.
Recently, anthropomorphism on the web, in the form of art and internet posts, started to be heavily used by activists against the mistreatment of animals and climate change. They show that the wild world undergoes full extinction, called Anthropocene Extinction (Kelen and You, chs. 6–7). In that way, they encourage people to be more aware of their actions, and anthropomorphic ideas become the tools for raising the consciousness of humanity.
Anthropomorphism is connected with many other social ideas, such as the idea of humanism itself, not only in politics, as was already described, but in the day-to-day life of each civilized human. As people tend to humanize everything around them, they become much more empathetic and concerned about those they humanize; it follows their being kinder and more careful (Kelen and You 81). Despite being an illusion and the figment of the imagination, anthropomorphism plays a vital role in building relationships with the outer world. It is the part of human empathy which helps not cause harm to other living beings (Manfredo et al. 6). One can see that when anthropomorphizing, a person stops perceiving those things or animals as something outer; instead, it feels like some part of this person. In that way, it is no motivation for one to cause any harm, as it becomes equal to causing harm to oneself.
However, naïve anthropomorphism can be considered harmful to human inquiry: it hinders the ability to perceive reality as it is. It is perfectly illustrated by primitive societies, which create totems and deities based on their experience instead of understanding reality and how it actually works. It is suitable for the beginning, such as in children and primitive societies, as it is the initial expression of consciousness, curiosity, and the desire to explore the world (Kelen and You 189). Anthropomorphism, if not controlled, lead to anthropocentric biases which twist the way of perceiving reality (Dacey 1164). It is why, in older times, people thought that the Earth was the center of the world and humans were at the top of nature.
Conclusion
The film Dumbo is an example of using anthropomorphism in depicting the animals’ behavior. They are depicted as sentient creatures playing, defending their children, and consciously interacting with humans. They are kind to those who are kind to themselves and vengeful to those who harm. Circus members make free their elephants in the film’s finale, and they are shown happy, reunited with their wild relatives. Humans are delighted too: they continue their work in a circus while behaving with animals ethically and showing not only animal performances but, for example, scientific experiments conducted by Holt’s daughter.
In general, anthropomorphism is the inherited property of human beings: it affects all dimensions of life. It is not initially the belief, although it can be expressed in the form of worship. Instead, it is the quality of every person, the side effect of high consciousness level. It is widely used in art and literature for different purposes: children’s entertainment, pure aesthetics, and conducting the ideas of ethical relationships with the world. While anthropomorphism can lead to anthropocentrism and biases connected with it, it also stimulates the development of human consciousness. As people see sentient traits around them, they tend to become more ethical and understand their surroundings better. The development of anthropomorphic views resulted in modern religions, cultures, and philosophies, and cleaning them from anthropocentric biases resulted in contemporary science.
Works Cited
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Federici, Annalisa. “From Animal Anthropomorphism to Human Animality in Ulysses: Joyce After Cervantes.” James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 1–2, 2020, pp. 81–99. Crossref.
Kelen, Christopher, and Chengcheng You. Poetics and Ethics of Anthropomorphism. 1st ed., Abingdon, United Kingdom, Routledge, 2021.
Manfredo, Michael J., et al. “How Anthropomorphism Is Changing the Social Context of Modern Wildlife Conservation.” Biological Conservation, vol. 241, 2020, pp. 1–9. Crossref.
Wang, Feiyang, and Frédéric Basso. “‘Animals Are Friends, Not Food’: Anthropomorphism Leads to Less Favorable Attitudes Toward Meat Consumption by Inducing Feelings of Anticipatory Guilt.” Appetite, vol. 138, 2019, pp. 153–73. Crossref.