The following is taken from the Fairfax (Virginia) Journal on Tuesday 
October 15, 1996.  It is bylined "John Illman, Manchester Guardian Service".  
The individual posting this article takes no responsibility for the content 
of the article.
The posting is intended for information, scholarly interests, or the 
amusement of the readers.  This is a full quotation of the article as 
published.
(Headline) Psychiatrist sees Disney's Dumbo as very deep stuff
     "Dumbo," Walt Disney's tale of the elephant who believed he could fly, 
was not simply a tale of rejection, but a "study of madness" and society's 
reaction to it, according to a report in a leading British psychiatric 
journal.
     It's one of a series of claims that Disney was more than just an 
animation pioneer -- he was one of the world's great radical psychiatric 
critics.
     In the paper, Dr. Allen Beveridge argues that the film puts Disney in 
the company of radical critics of psychiatry such as R.D. Laing and Thomas 
Szasz.
     Dumbo's mother is locked up after being dismissed as "a mad elephant" 
after a violent outburst in which she tries to protect her son from the 
taunts of the circus audience.
     But Beveridge, a consultant psychiatrist, says the viewer realizes Mrs. 
Jumbo is not mad but has been unfairly judged.  He adds: "Her behavior is 
actually quite understandable, and even commendable."
     The community of gossiping elephants, drunken clowns and jeering little 
boys is portrayed as unattractive.  To be excluded, says Beveridge, would 
almost seem to be a sign of integrity.
     Writing in Psychiatric Bulletin, published by the British Royal College 
of Psychiatrists, Beveridge adds: "Disney's portrayal of madness is really 
quite complex.  It is a condition that needs segregating and shutting away 
from society, but society itself is shown to be rather suspect.  And, in 
another twist, the subject who has been labeled crazy is not, in fact, mad."
     "Dumbo" is not unique.  Time and again in Disney films, the hero is 
initially vilified or ridiculed for being mad, but triumphantly confirms his 
or her sanity at the end.
     Dumbo himself is briefly considered to have lost touch with reality and 
to have developed delusions that he can fly, but in a glorious finale he 
proves his detractors wrong by flying over them.
     Beveridge comments: "Dumbo's discovery that he can fly emerges after he 
has undergone a hallucinatory experience, an alcohol-induced bout of delirium 
in which he sees pink elephants.  Thus temporary insanity is portrayed as 
leading to self-knowledge and the revelation of hidden talents."
     In a more recent Disney film, "Beauty and the Beast," the heroine, 
Belle, is seen as mentally suspect by the villagers because she is unlike 
them.  Her "symptoms" are her bookishness, daydreaming,aloofness and her lack 
of interest in the local hunk.  As in "Dumbo," the society that sits in 
judgement of its misfits is seen to be unappealing.
     Beveridge concludes that Disney's art plays a major role in the creation 
of popular stereotypes of insanity.
     "Madness is generally presented as something that needs to be shut 
away," he writes.  "Disney's heroes hover over this frightening abyss, but 
never fall into it.  Disney seems to be saying that madness is a label that 
society uses when confronted with behavior it cannot understand -- a view 
which puts hip in the company of radical critics of psychiatry."
--- Maximus/2 2.02
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