The Law of the Jungle

The Law of the Jungle – the Changeable Law in Disney’s New Jungle Book

! This essay contains spoilers.
And another note: i draw from memory for this essay, please forgive me any mistakes.

The Law of the Jungle. This saying normally denotes a lawless place, a place (the jungle) where the strongest is the mightiest. The phrase is also used in Disney’s new version of the Jungle Book, and there it reveals that the jungle has a law. A law that might be changed, however.

In one of the very first scenes, the Law of the Jungle is introduced by the wolf pack:

“Now this is the Law of the Jungle, as old and as true as the sky.
The wolf that shall keep it may prosper, the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the Law runs forward and back.
For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”

(for the full text of the law, you can read the original poem of Kipling here.)

So, the jungle has a law. And that law is revered by the wolves. They recite the law in a special ritual, which you may only enter when you fulfilled certain requirements (which Mowgli for example has not). Furthermore, the other jungle creatures also rever the law: according to that law the water truce is installed when water is very scarce. These characteristics of the Law of the Jungle are all explained to us in the first scene of the Jungle Book, which emphasizes the importance of the law for the story.

According to the Law of the Jungle, man has no place in the jungle. Humans are not of the jungle, they do not belong in that place. A fact which is made starkly visible when we meet the elephants for the first time. Bagheera tells Mowgli to bow for them as a sign of respect:

“The elephants created this jungle. Where they made furrows with their tusks the rivers ran. Where they blew their trunks the leaves fell. They made all that belongs: the mountains, the trees, the birds in the trees. But they did not make you.”

Humans do not belong in the jungle, since they can harm it. For the jungle, man is dangerous: he has tricks and fire. Mowgli is therefore forbidden to use his tricks: he is not allowed to drink water from a cup, the animals almost consider this as a form of dark magic given their startled reaction at it during the water truce. Furthermore, man is dangerous because he has the ability to produce fire, a thing so frightening to the jungle creatures that they dare not pronounce its name aloud. It is thus described with a taboo word: the red flower. The red flower is the highest risk to the jungle: it destroys it, kills its inhabitants, and eradicates everything there is.

So, the Law of the Jungle is clear: man does not belong in the jungle, and may therefor be killed when he breaks this law. Or isn’t it clear?
During the water truce, Shere Khan reminds the wolf pack and Bagheera to this law. According to him, the wolves break it by allowing Mowgli to stay in the jungle. However, Akela dismisses Shere Khan’s reminder, he disagrees. Why? Apparently, the wolf pack explains the law differently than Shere Khan does. For the wolves and Bagheera, Mowgli is a cub. Note that they do not use the word “baby” or “child” (which denotes human infants) but “cub”, which denotes the infant of an animal. They stress that Mowgli is not (yet) a man, he doesn’t have the knowledge of fire. The law does not apply to Mowgli. However, Shere Khan sees it differently: Mowgli might not be a man yet, but he will be one day and then he will be dangerous to the jungle. Best to deal with the situation before the law is broken than afterwards. (Think about the consequences of Shere Khan’s reasoning: applying the sentence of breaking a law before the law is broken…)
It is important to realise that Mowgli does not decide to go to the human village because he admits in breaking the law, but to protect his family (the wolves) from danger – or even the whole jungle, since Shere Khan warns to kill them all to get Mowgli.

In his journey to his new home, Mowgli learns a bit more about the Law of the Jungle. The wolves uphold the law very strictly. For them, law is almost holy (that why it has a ritualistic nature). Baloo, however, has an entirely different relationship with the law. He finds the law cumbersome, so decides to view them as a “set of guidelines”, which can be taken lightly when necessary.
Mowgli also learns the use of his tricks. They can provide good things. Honey for example. Bagheera, also more strict with the law than Baloo, however still disapproves of Mowgli’s tricks. They are human, and thus do not belong in the jungle. But Bagheera (and Baloo) eventually also sees the merit in Mowgli’s tricks. With his trick, Mowgli is able to rescue one of the elephants. That he rescues an elephant is significant, since they are the creators of the jungle. They are revered by all animals as were they gods.

In the finale of the Jungle Book, what is feared comes true: Mowgli becomes a man. He sneaks into the village and steals the red flower. He also puts the jungle in great danger by setting it aflame. The situation when the law about humans applies has been created. But, a greater threat from within the jungle has to be dealt with. Shere Khan is infuriated and fights to kill. In this battle, Mowgli shows the other side of fire: its good side. It offers protection from Shere Khan, who fears it and is ultimately killed by it. By this good use of fire, Mowgli becomes a hero.
Right after the battle, the elephants show another gap in the Law of the Jungle: the elephants use tricks as much as humans do, and they are seen as the gods of the jungle, the highest animals, the creators. The elephants use their tusks, just as they did in the creation of the jungle, to change the course of the river and extinguish the fire.
Consequently, the Law of the Jungle is changed. Although Mowgli has become a man by using fire, he is not removed from the jungle nor killed. Differently from the first Disney movie, Mowgli apparently is allowed to stay in the jungle. Why? Because he is allowed to be the man (human) he is. He is allowed to use his human tricks in a good way, just as other animals use their tricks.
So, the Jungle Book learns us that the jungle is not a lawless place. The Law of the Jungle denotes an actual law. A law however, that can be changed.

Sidenote 1: a hierarchy of man and animal?
There is one quite stupid thing about the Jungle Book‘s ending if you ask me. At the end of the battle against Shere Khan, Mowgli is shown riding an elephant, standing in a higher position (the top of the waterfall) so that all animals can see his victory. In the relationship between rider and animal, the rider is considered the hierarchically superior. So, Mowgli is shown here as hierarchically superior to the very creators of the jungle! Considering the highly problematic history of seeing humans as superior to animals, this scene is not a very good ending to an otherwise very animal-friendly movie…

Sidenote 2: dangerous man, or dangerous female?
Consider the fact that the law we were speaking of is coined as concerning “man” and not “human”: man does not belong in the jungle, man has knowledge of the red flower. So, are they talking about humans in general, or just male humans?
If you want a startling interpretation of the Jungle Book: the taboo word for fire is “the red flower”. When they first phrased it like that, i involuntarily had to think about s02e09 of Game of Thrones when Cersei asks Sansa: “Is your red flower still blooming?” The thing about man that is thus so shockingly dangerous, is that he has knowledge of that very female thing which is in many cultures considered dangerous (and mysterious) as well: the blood of a woman. Take in consideration that the Jungle Book has almost no female characters except for two archetypical females: Raksha the Mother and Kaa the Trickster.