King Louie

King Louie
King Louie singing I Wan'na Be Like You.
First appearance	The Jungle Book (1967)
Created by	Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, and John Lounsbery
Voiced by	Louis Prima (The Jungle Book) Jim Cummings (TaleSpin,The Jungle Book Groove Party) Jason Marsden (Jungle Cubs) Cree Summer (Jungle Cubs)

King Louie is a fictional orangutan who kidnaps Mowgli in Disney's 1967 animated musical adaptation of The Jungle Book. He is voiced by the late Louis Prima in the film and therefore has his same mannerisms. Initially, the producers considered Louis Armstrong for the role, but to avoid the likely controversy that would surround casting an African-American to voice an ape, they instead chose Prima.

Conception and creation

As the Disney movie is "inspired by" rather than "based on" the Kipling stories, the character King Louie does not appear in Rudyard Kipling's original book, as orangutans are not native to India. Also, Kipling insists that the Bandar-log or monkeys have no king, or any effective leadership. In the book, Mowgli is abducted by a band of nameless and leaderless Bandar-log (monkeys), but the rest of the scene plays out very differently from Disney's version. Bill Peet's original story for the film did not feature King Louie, but did have a bigger Bandar without a tail, who was perhaps meant to be their king. Peet left the Disney company over a dispute regarding the contents of his script so his ultimate vision for the king of the Bandar-log remains unknown. Development of the story continued following Peet's departure, with his darker story giving way to a new emphasis on lightheartedness and jazzy tunes. In this company milieu King Louie eventually came into being, given life through the voice and personality of popular performer Louis Prima. Personality was also given to Louie by Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, and John Lounsbery, three of Disney's Nine Old Men who animated the character. Kahl animated Louie's interaction with Mowgli, Thomas his solo song and dance portions, while Lounsbery animated his memorable duet with a drag-wearing Baloo.

Character

As a youngster, Louie was a fun-loving practical joker, often playing tricks on Bagheera. He was best friend with Baloo the Bear as the two shared similar qualities and personalities and could often be seen helping Baloo gain fruit for their regular feasts.

As an adult, King Louie is an orangutan and lives in the ancient ruins located in the far east of the jungle. He kidnaps Mowgli to obtain knowledge of fire and to be like Man. In the song "I Wanna Be Like You" he refers to himself as the King of the Swingers and the Jungle VIP. His city is destroyed during the rescue of Mowgli by Baloo and Bagheera. Little is known of King Louie after these events, although in the sequel, Baloo states that he "split".

Portrayal

Famed Sicilian-American and New Orleans native Louis Prima portrayed King Louie in the film. Louis Prima considered playing King Louie as one of the highlights of his career and felt he had become "immortal" thanks to Walt Disney and the entire studio.^{[citation needed]}

TaleSpin

In the animated television series TaleSpin, Louie owns the island nightclub and motel Louie's Place, located near but outside the protection of Cape Suzette. It also serves as a refueling station/pit stop area for pilots. He is Baloo's best friend but competes with him in monetary matters.

Appearances in other media

A slightly different King Louie character appeared in the Disney 1994 live-action movie Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book starring Jason Scott Lee. Once again he is an orangutan, and the 'leader' of a group of monkeys that make their home in an abandoned human city. His name arises in this version from the vast wealth that humans left behind in the city, and in particular to his habit of wearing a crown similar in appearance to that worn by the King of France, Louis XIV. Kaa appeared to serve him, being summoned with a clap of his hands, Louie using Kaa to ward off or even kill intruders, the latter for his own amusement.

King Louie did not appear in The Jungle Book 2 due to a legal dispute with Louis Prima's widowed wife Gia Maione (though a shadow puppet of him can be seen at the very beginning of the movie, and Baloo stating that he "split").

The Jonas Brothers have adopted the song that King Louie sings, "I Wanna be Like You," into their collection, and sing it in a style that is more rock than jazz.

Q.T., an orangutan who looks very similar to King Louie, is one of the main characters in Dumbo's Circus.

Louie's very identical twin brother Larry appeared in an episode of House of Mouse.

Non-Disney works

King Louie appears in the Fables comic series published by Vertigo comics. He is one of the revolutionaries who wish to overthrow the Fabletown government out of resentment at the apparent second-class status of non-human-appearing Fables. Due to his peripheral involvement, he is given a sentence of hard labor---twenty years, reduced to five years conditional on good behavior.^{[citation needed]} In this story, he is called a "Kipling" character, which is incorrect. He is a Disney character, with no counterpart in the Kipling original.

Reception

The characterization of King Louie has frequently been cited as an example of racial stereotyping in Disney films. However, in his 2004 book The Gospel According to Disney, Mark Pinsky asserts that a child in the current environment (as opposed to in the late 1960s) would not discern any racial dimension to the portrayal. Pinsky also relates Orlando Sentinal's film critic Jay Bogar's assertion that "the primates could be perceived as representing African Americans in a time of turmoil, but [that Bogar] saw no racism in the portrayal." (Pinsky offers neither a quotation nor a citation for this assertion.)

Viewers have also speculated that King Louie's scene contains an underlying subtext about evolution. In his song "I Want To Be Like You," the character explains that he has grown unhappy with his animal lifestyle and wishes to become a human – a feat that he can only accomplish by mastering the creation of fire. Furthermore, King Louie’s position as an ape ruling over monkeys while remaining inferior to humans is thought to represent evolutionary hierarchy in the primate family. Disney has never confirmed nor denied the presence of such a subtext.