The Jungle Book -- Morality

Often in children’s media, morality is polarized in characters—bad characters are irredeemably bad and good characters always make the right decisions. The moral lessons are created when the protagonist (initially labeled neither bad nor good) interacts with these characters and experiences consequences.

The characters in The Jungle Book (1967) can easily be categorized into either “good” or “bad.” This polarization helps children understand the story and the morals more clearly, even if it isn’t an accurate representation of how good and bad operate in the real world. For adults, truth in cinema is found in the complexities of representation because it can then act as a mirror for the complexities of reality, but for children media must act as a key for them to refer to in order to understand the complexities of the world, which is why characters are often polarized. When they’re being naughty or rambunctious, they have the apes to identify with, and when they see the good concern of a parent, they have the reference of Bagheera.

Mowgli learns several different lessons from different characters on the way to the man village. With Bagheera, he learns (and rejects) his identity as a man and the responsibilities that go with it; with Baloo, he learns how to relax and enjoy life; with Kaa he learns that not everyone is trustworthy; with the elephants he learns how to follow orders; with the apes he learns that man is envied and about greed; with the vultures, he learns that friends are for picking you up when you’re feeling down; with Shere Khan he learns about the power of fear; and finally with the girl from the village he learns about the attraction of being among other humans (and puppy love for cute girls).

Ultimately, The Jungle Book is a coming-of-age story, which is really a specific brand of morality tale. As he travels through the jungle, Mowgli learns the things he’ll need to know to be a man—friendship, relaxation, responsibility, caution, greed, discipline, and even his own identity as a human. Mowgli, morally neutral (well…generally good) at the beginning navigates his way between naughty and good, partying with the apes and standing up to Shere Khan. Even Baloo and Bagheera learn lessons from each other, Bagheera learning how to unwind and take things less seriously, and Baloo learning responsibility and when to take a firm hand. Mowgli’s arrival at the man-village, including his attraction to the girl he finds there, marks his arrival at manhood.