History NightmareFuel / Dumbo

'''I'M AFRAID, NEED YOUR AID!'''"//

->''"I am not the type to faint, when things are odd or things are quaint,''\\

'''I'M AFRAID, NEED YOUR AID!'''"

'''I'M AFRAID, NEED YOUR AID!'''"\\
'''PINK ELEPHANTS ON PARADE!''']]

'''I'M AFRAID, NEED YOUR AID!'''"\\\

'''I'M AFRAID, NEED YOUR AID!'''"]]

** Dumbo is actually hallucinating because he is drunk. An adult understands this immediately, but most children don't, since they've never been intoxicated (hopefully). This aspect makes it even worse, because children are usually afraid of things they don't understand! If they are able to relate to it all it might be because Dumbo's hallucinations are similar to fever nightmares. In fact, most people to this day are afraid for this reason because it is unknown if it was meant to be enjoyable fun, the animators were high or genuine NightmareFuel.

''but seeing things you know that ain't can certainly give you an awful fright!''\\

** The climax! The music for the ballet sequence has an eerie calm, but shifts gears abruptly to Latin jazz as the dancing couple suddenly turns into dozens of identical couples - and then the elephants decide to change into vehicles (with sound effects of whirring motors, ringing bells, and so forth) and the black scene flashes pink as they rush like mad, leading to an explosive conclusion leading to the second to last scene.

* Mrs. Jumbo going [[RedEyesTakeWarning red-eyed and berserk]] because [[MamaBear she was understandably upset when Dumbo was taken from her after just spending a single moment of playing with her calf]] causing her to go into an UnstoppableRage, [[KickTheSonOfABitch spanking the brat that played with Dumbo's ears]], tossing circus folk and finally dunking the Ringmaster into a barrel of water. In a RealLife situation, Mrs. Jumbo would likely have killed a few workers for even getting close to Dumbo.

* The disastrous end to the elephants' pyramid routine. The matriarch screams "OUT OF MY WAY, ASSASSIN!" as she chases Dumbo with all the other elephants on top of her. Dumbo trips and we zoom into the matriarch's OhCrap reaction before the elephants knock over the tightrope and tent. Earlier during that same scene, a crowd of silhouetted people in the foreground all [[HellIsThatNoise scream like a chorus of banshees]] as they scatter like roaches to escape the oncoming elephants. As the scene cuts to the outside of the tent as it collapses, the crowd is pouring out of the entrances in a solid mass.

* The close-up of [[CoolTrain Casey Junior]] saying "All aboard, let's go!". [[VoiceOfTheLegion That grating voice from the "talking-whistle" effect]] can be more than a little unnerving. Similarly when he chants [[SurvivalMantra "I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!"]] while climbing up the hill. Averted in most dubs, which didn’t carry over Casey Junior's unique voicing method.
** This still doesn't help much. In the Spanish dub for example, when he goes down the hill, he cries "Whoo-hoo!" [[https://youtu.be/LUzsS-cbraQ with the original audio overlapping with the dub]], sounding downright creepy.

** This still doesn't help much. In the Spanish dub for example, when he goes down the hill, he cries "Whoo-hoo!" [[https://youtu.be/LUzsS-cbraQ with the original left and a dubbed one simultaneously]], sounding downright creepy.

[[caption-width-right:350: "'''CHASE EM' AWAY...''' '''''CHASE EM' AWAY...'''''"]]

[[caption-width-right:350: "What a sight" indeed.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:CHASE 'EM AWAY...'''CHASE 'EM AWAY...''' please?]]

** Dumbo is actually hallucinating because he is drunk. An adult understands this immediately, but most children don't, since they've never been intoxicated. This aspect makes it even worse, because children are usually afraid of things they don't understand! If they are able to relate to it all it might be because Dumbo's hallucinations are similar to fever nightmares. In fact, most people to this day are afraid for this reason because it is unknown if it was meant to be enjoyable fun, the animators were high or genuine NightmareFuel.

* The close-up of [[CoolTrain Casey Junior]] saying "All aboard, let's go!". [[VoiceOfTheLegion That grating voice from the "talking-whistle" effect]] can be more than a little unnerving. Similarly when he chants [[SurvivalMantra "I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!"]] while climbing up the hill. Averted in most dubs, which didn’t carry over Casey Junior’s unique voicing method.

** The climax! The music for the ballet sequence has an eerie calm, but shifts gears abruptly to Latin jazz as the dancing couple suddenly turns into dozens of identical couples - and then the elephants decide to change to change into vehicles (with sound effects of whirring motors, ringing bells, and so forth) and the black scene flashes pink as they rush like mad, leading to an explosive conclusion leading to the second to last scene.

** In addition, the elephants take on all kinds of bizarre and physically impossible shapes. Hopping over each other, walking into each other, changing color, growing and shrinking, floating in the air, walking upside down, growing extra heads, changing into cars and other vehicles... A TropeCodifier of DerangedAnimation. One of them is a CombiningMecha made of nothing but elephant heads who walks towards the viewer (pictured above). Many kids have jumped away in fear when they saw that thing coming near. The scariest thing is when [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the yellow head and its two blue shoulder heads zoom in to cover the screen, first with the latter shoving the yellow head in the back and finally ending with former emerging with a wide smile]]. Oh and did we mention that the eyes of these elephant heads ''have no eyeballs''?

* When the train arrives at the station, it begins to rain. And that’s when the roustabouts and the circus elephants board off to begin working on setting up the circus. That’s when the roustabouts begin to sing about how they “slave until their almost dead.” Imagine having to work under these condition, being forced to unload equipment and doing hard labor in a downpour.

** And even worse: a pan towards a lantern light shines upon a group of roustabouts, revealing them to be dark-skinned. This brings up FridgeHorror in a big way. The train that employs these black roustabouts is moving through the South, and these dark-skinned laborers are forced to hard work under lousy protocols by their white boss.

-->''"I am not the type to faint, when things are odd or things are quaint,''\\

[[quoteright:259:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images123_2375.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:259:CHASE 'EM AWAY...'''CHASE 'EM AWAY...''' please?]]

[[caption-width-right:259:CHASE 'EM AWAY...'''CHASE 'EM AWAY...''']]

** And being a BigLippedAlligatorMoment, it has no relevance to the plot and is never mentioned again (well, except for a brief mention by Timothy in the next scene when he is woken up by Jim Crow, and Jim mocks him for this), leading to a calmer scene where Dumbo wakes up in a tree, learns to fly and get back at the circus. [[MoodWhiplash The insanity dissipates as quickly as it came]], but leaves even stronger impact than even the ending resolution.

** And being a BigLippedAlligatorMoment, it has no relevance to the plot and is never mentioned again, leading to a calmer scene where Dumbo wakes up in a tree, learns to fly and get back at the circus. [[MoodWhiplash The insanity dissipates as quickly as it came]], but leaves even stronger impact than even the ending resolution.

* Mrs. Jumbo going [[RedEyesTakeWarning red-eyed and berserk]] because [[MamaBear she was understandably upset when Dumbo was taken from her after just spending a single moment of playing with her calf]] causing her to go into an UnstoppableRage, [[KickTheSonOfABitch spanking the brat that played with Dumbo's ears]], tossing circus folk and finally dunking the Ringmaster into a barrel of water. In a RealLife situation, Mrs. Jumbo would likely have killed anyone for even getting close to Dumbo.

* The close-up of [[CoolTrain Casey Junior]] saying “All aboard, let's go!”. [[VoiceOfTheLegion That grating voice from the "talking-whistle" effect]] can be more than a little unnerving. Similarly when he chants [[SurvivalMantra “I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!”]] while climbing up the hill. Averted in most dubs, which didn’t carry over Casey Junior’s unique voicing method.
** This still doesn’t help much. In the Spanish dub for example, when he goes down the hill, he cries “Whoo-hoo!” [[https://youtu.be/LUzsS-cbraQ with the original left and a dubbed one simultaneously]], sounding downright creepy.

** And if all that didn't scare you, just imagine [[Film/Dumbo2019 the Tim Burton remake]].
*** Wait, never mind, it’s just a pretty complex bubble act in the remake. That being said, it's still pretty damn unsettling, as the music was now amped up a bit courtesy of Music/DannyElfman.