Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and it's Halloween time once again. And last year, I introduced a new segment, Villains Profile and it has become one of my favorite things to do. In which I would look at a set of 4 villains that have a correlating theme. Last year, it was the 4 newest Disney villains going from Dr. Facilier to Hans. And this year, the theme is something I've wanted to do for a year now. Hunters in animation have been around for as long as one can remember. With perhaps the most prominent example being Elmer Fudd of the Looney Tunes shorts.
And we have even seen Mickey, Donald, & Goofy in the hunting role in shorts such as Moose Hunters.
However, the characters that'll we will be looking at are obviously villains and for three of them, the hunting is the main driving force of their villainy and in some regards, they actually cross over into becoming poachers. And today, we are starting with one of the more interesting villains that comes from the Disney Canon. He's often considered one of the greatest and most threatening Disney Villains of all time and yet, we never see him onscreen nor do we ever hear him. And yet he has been given such awards as landing at the number 20 spot on the American Film Institute's Top 50 Villains List. From Bambi, we are looking at Man and because of the nature of this character, we have to do things a little differently. But we all know what his Most Evil Deed is...
Had to get that outta the way but Man is interesting in that he is considered one of the most frightening Disney villains but we never see him. Apparently, that wasn't always the case because in an early draft and as observed by the header image that I used, Man at one point was to appear in the film but that changed because to his entry on the Villains Wiki.
He was originally intended to appear onscreen, but the production team decided to avoid depicting the character, because such an entity would be too dark, grim and notorious for the film.
Which just makes me wonder how far were they willing to push it with Man, if it was too dark and grim for him to be shown. Because apparently, another thing that was cut is that Bambi and The Great Prince were supposed to come across the corpse of the now dead Man. Yeah, I'm glad they cut that.
Reportedly, a scene where Bambi and his father discover his body after the forest fire was animated and shown to test audiences, but they thought it was too grim so it was cut.
But not showing Man actually works in favor of the movie as it makes him scarier because he now represents the idea that it could be anyone. And through my research, I've found three identities that have been associated with Man, One of which, we will be getting to during this very event. One of the most popular urban legends regarding Man's identity is that he's Gaston.
I must have been 10 or 12, when I first heard this and I remember covering this rumor on one of the earliest A Look at Disney articles but it's just something that I've never been able to buy into. You see Beauty and The Beast takes place in France, so I don't think that this can hold much weight as while it's never stated outright, Bambi is assumed to be set in an North American forest. Now the other less popular fan theory, I've discovered regarding Man's identity is that he's Amos Slade The Fox and The Hound. (And for those asking why I'm not covering Amos Slade, even though is a hunter. Well, he's not really an evil hunter. It's his living and unlike most of the villains, we'll look at, he's not a truly bad guy. So, I feel okay in skipping him).
Now, this is one that I could see having some credence to it as The Fox and The Hound is also set in the U.S. and while it's never stated outright, where the film takes place, there is a forest nearby, if we recall the movie. But I must admit I don't like the idea of giving Man, a concrete identity as it takes away part of what makes Man so scary. Now for our last and perhaps weirdest identity associated with Man, we head to ToonTown. Yeah, as in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. What if I were to tell you that in one draft of the Zemeckis film, Judge Doom was going to reveal himself as the person that killed Bambi's mother.
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, one of the early drafts of the script was going to have Judge Doom be revealed as the hunter who killed Bambi's mother, but was changed for unknown reasons.
Well, that would've just added another layer of creepiness to this guy and I imagine that this would've been nothing more than a joke scene but as I stated up top, Man not having a concrete identity makes him scarier. Because we will never know who he is. And these three examples just go to prove that Man could be anyone. Me personally, I prefer not to think of Man of not being anyone in particular because that makes him so much more frightening.
To tie back into the film, now think to the second act, when Man returns, all The Great Prince tells Bambi is that Man has returned. But for all we know that could be a different Man than the one that killed Bambi's mother but it is one of the most frightening moments, when he kills that poor Bird.
The Bird senses the presence of Man and is scared out of her wits that Man has returned because she doesn't know what to do and her fear of Man causes to be killed by Man. But again, it's never stated if this is the same Man but to the animals, it doesn't matter as Man is something to be feared. You also have to look at how Man's dogs rabidly attack Faline.
Stuff like this shakes the animals because it's disrupting their way of life. For the most part in this film, the animals lead a peaceful life and Man comes in and shakes it up with his killings and hunting. Take it from someone that does a lot of hiking/backpacking, we may be scared of the animals but they are just as scared of us and the fear that the animals such as The Bird show in Bambi is very real. Animals get protective of one another, they can sense when something has disrupted their peace. And that is what Man is essentially doing. Man has come into the forest, where these animals lived and we don't know why but from the view of the animals, it's not a good sign. Danger in this film only shows up, whenever Man is mentioned. Man to the animals equals bad things happening. Well, I don't think there's much more I can say about Man.
Is Man A Good Villain?
Honestly, I'd say yeah. He's one of the most frightening villains from a Disney film in my opinion and that is because we never see him. I honestly feel that if Man had been shown on screen, some of what makes him so unnerving would've been lost part of what made him so scary. The fact that Man is never seen onscreen makes him appear as a presence that for all intents and purposes is larger than life. I'm honestly surprised by how much I ended up liking Man as before I never put much thought into him. Join me next time as things return to normal and we jump up a few decades as I look at one of the few villains to come from an in canon animated Disney sequel as I look at...
Percival C. McLeach
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