Dumbo Week: Can we Talk about The Crows

This is a topic that I've long wanted to tackle on Can We Talk about for the longest time.  It's no secret that one area of my beloved film is looked down upon by some.  For those of you who couldn't tell,  it's The Crows.  The Crows have been labeled as being racist and  insulting towards people of the African-American culture.  Now I can see where this comes from but it was never the intent to have these characters be racist  but they were meant to be caricatures of African American performers from that time period.  Honestly while I understand the complaints thrown towards the Crows, I think this needs to be broken down some more.   There are multiple ways to look at the crows.

They may not be the smartest animals or of the upper class.  I'll admit, there clothing does make it appear as though that  could've been of the lower class but here's the deal, they're animals and  they aren't the only animals that wear clothes in this film as observed by Timothy.  Moving on, the name of the leader is Jim Crow.    Quick Edit here:  I was informed by DisneyOtoko that this happened to be nothing more than just a mere coincidence that his name happens to be Jim and there really is no correlation to the Jim Crow Laws.    

As stated above it just happens to a coincidence and it was not intentional but even still, it is funny to consider that and as pointed out to me Jim is a very common name and really, without talking about the Jim Crow does have a nice ring to it.    I was perhaps looking too deep into things to try to make a connection where there wasn't one.  Anyways moving on. The Crows may not come across as the smartest or even nicest characters around as seen when we first meet them.  

I can see how that could be used against them but again, I go back to what I said at the beginning, they are caricatures. They are meant to be exaggerated and over the top.  They may have mannerisms of black people but again, I wouldn't say that is insulting to them. (Again, this is a white guy talking about this)   I mean you never hear  people say Timothy is insulting to people from Brooklyn or that his accent is degrading to people from around there.   Just saying  Honestly,  I feel as though sometimes this whole discussion can get blown out of proportion but that's not to say I don't  think people should be allowed to have their own opinion on this topic.

At the end of the day, it's up to you, how you feel about the Crows. Do you find them racist or just characters that help Dumbo learn how to fly.  Join me tomorrow as I take a look at something that should be interesting    but not in a good way as I review an episode of...

Dumbo's Circus