History Fridge / Dumbo

[[AC: FridgeLogic]]
* The only reason Dumbo discovers his hidden ability (flight) is because he gets wasted.
** FridgeHumor: The train says "I thought I could" after scaling back down the hill!
* So all baby animals came from storks here. Does this mean the whole circus animal, Mrs Jumbo included... are actually ''infertile''? That they must depend on storks to get children!?
** More likely, the film is just using an old myth to introduce Dumbo's "birth" in a way that would have seemed appropriate for children at the time (and by many folks today) - often, the only other method typically used is to just show the mother and baby lying together after a [[FadeIn fade-in]] or similar transition. Helps that having the stork make a literal delivery added an opportunity for a little humor.
* Wouldn't a talking mouse that was intelligent enough to negotiate contracts be more impressive than a flying elephant?
** That might already be commonplace. This ''is'' Disney.
* Why do the crows all have black stereotypes? Because it's the what society saw and treated them as. Think about it. If you are seen and treated as black stereotype, eventually, you would start to be a black stereotype.
** This particular troper was surprised to hear that it was supposedly a 'black stereotype' as if this was a bad thing, because what I got out of it was that blacks were friendly, intelligent problem-solvers. (Come to think of it, crows definitely fit that description.)
*** That's exactly what they were meant to be. See "Fair for its Day" under the YMMV for this film, particularly black animator Floyd Norman's explanation.
* Even assuming a world where talking animals exist, how the heck would a ''newborn baby'' like Dumbo be able to understand a thing the mouse says?

** More likely, the film is just using an old myth to introduce Dumbo's "birth" in a way that would have seemed appropriate for children at the time (and by many folks today) - often, the only other method typically used is to just show the mother and baby lying together after a fade-in or similar transition. Helps that having the stork make a literal delivery added an opportunity for a little humor.

** Extra Fridge Brilliance points when you consider that an Asian/African hybrid once actually existed (albeit briefly): [[http://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2011/03/elephant-of-surprise-remembering-motty.html Motty, of Chester Zoo]].

*** In fact, his being named "Jumbo, Jr." by his mother suggests that his father was the famous African elephant, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumbo Jumbo]].

** Since in early art Dumbo's father was indeed an African elephant, throughout the movie this bullying is treated as... well, just generally an awful thing to do to an innocent child, until he is separated from his loving mother, who is herself punished because her child is 'different'. It's all just another nail in the coffin of why the film isn't anything like as racist as some critics claim.

** Timothy sees this segment too, because, deep inside, he can't be entirely sure, that snobbish elephants will always be afraid of him. He might accidentaly make a fool of himself. What's really notable is that Timothy sees the little abused elephant too, because he worries that Dumbo might get hurt eventually. Also, well, snakes eat mice and aren't easily to scare as with the elephants.
** Pink elephants are acting like humans and play trumpets, because Dumbo is growing up with the circus elephants. He doesn't really like to do human-like tricks himself and would rather make everyone happy with something that's miraculous to both animals and humans. As for, why the elephants are pink and have solid black eyes, it's an exaggerated representation of powder and make-up clowns put on the elephants.

** The appearance of the snake is a representation of the instinctive fear that elephants have when meeting such dangerous species as the rather large King Cobra.

** Pink elephants are acting like humans and play trumpets, because Dumbo is growing up with the circus elephants. He doesn't really like to do human-like tricks himself and would rather make everyone happy with something that's miraculous to both animals and humans. As for, why the elephants are pink, it's an exaggerated representation of powder and make-up clowns put on the elephants.

*** Of course Dumbo, being able to fly, could've threatened them to let her go.

** Elephant heads make up a human body, because due to the cruel boy and clowns, Dumbo (and Timothy too, to an extent) feel mistrust towards humans. Also, it's elephant heads, because the mean elephants did mostly look at Dumbo with their heads and Dumbo, like any baby elephant, seeked comfort by his mother's side of the body. Or under her stomach where he couldn't be easily reached. Or by the backside, where there's mother's tail which he can hold for comfort.

* Thirteen species are seen at the circus: bears, hippos, giraffes, zebras, tigers, camels, lions, kangaroos, gorillas, monkeys, hyenas, ostriches, and of course elephants. At the beginning of the movie, thirteen crows are seen delivering babies. Dumbo was delivered later and sometimes more than one baby was delivered to a mother, but still.

* Look at all of the elephants carefully, primarily their head shape, ear shape, and the slope of their backs. We all believe that Dumbo is ostracized for the nonsensically large ears. The truth is a bit deeper. After studying the varying elephant designs in the movie (particularly the back hump and slope and the shape as well as size of the ears, and resulting proportions of the legs and feet), go look up the difference in shape between an Asian elephant and an African elephant. The adult women, including Mom, are all Asian elephants, and Dumbo looks like an African elephant. Dumbo's DisappearedDad must have been an African elephant. Dumbo is not ostracised for his big ears, but because he is the illegitimate child of a mixed-race relationship.

* Look at all of the elephants carefully, primarily their head shape, ear shape, and the slope of their backs. We all believe that Dumbo is ostracized for the nonsensically large ears. The truth is a bit deeper. After studying the varying elephant designs in the movie (particularly the back hump and slope and the shape as well as size of the ears, and resulting proportions of the legs and feet), go look up the difference in shape between an Asian elephant and an African elephant. The adult women, including Mom, are all Asian elephants, and Dumbo looks like an African elephant. Dumbo's DisappearedDad must have been an African elephant and his big ears prove it: he' not just ostracized for looking different, but out of FantasticRacism.
** According to early artwork, Dumbo's father is indeed an African elephant. Dumbo is a hybrid, and while the only recorded hybrid in real life had small ears, he was otherwise pretty African in body structure.

* Look at all of the elephants carefully, primarily their head shape, ear shape, and the slope of their backs. We all believe that Dumbo is ostracized for the nonsensically large ears. The truth is a bit deeper. After studying the varying elephant designs in the movie (particularly the back hump and slope and the shape as well as size of the ears, and resulting proportions of the legs and feet), go look up the difference in shape between an Asian Elephant and an African Elephant. The adult women, including Mom, are all Asian Elephants, and Dumbo is an African Elephant.

** The appearance of the snake is a representation of instinctive fear that elephants have when meeting such dangerous species as the rather large King Cobra.

** Appearance of snake is a representation of instinctive fear that elephants have when meeting such dangerous species as the rather large King Cobra.

** Elephant heads make up a human body, because due to the cruel boy and clowns, Dumbo (and Timothy too, to an extent) feel mistrust towards humans. Also, it's elephant heads, because the mean elephants did mostly look at Dumbo with their heads and Dumbo, like any baby elephant, seeked comfort by his mother's side of the body. Or under her stomach where he couldn't be easily reach. Or by the backside, where there's mother's tail which he can hold for comfort.