FOXSYLVANIA

— Disney has a mixed record on their portrayal of foxes, which range from the villainous to the heroic.  On the one hand, “Honest John” Foulfellow of the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio was a scoundrel, a sly anthropomorphic fox and known criminal who tricks Pinocchio twice in the film; negative stereotyping! In fairness to Disney, however, both the fox and cat characters were depicted as con men who lead Pinocchio astray and try unsuccessfully to murder him in the original Adventures of Pinocchio story, a tale which is quite dark in places.  The Fox and Cat in the original story even pretend to sport disabilities, the Fox lameness and the Cat blindness!  Felines will probably take offense at the cat in Disney’s Pinocchio as well, as he isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer…

–There’s also the rather negative portrayal of foxes presented by Br’er Fox in Disney’s  Song of the South, a classic film now almost banished due to political incorrectness.  While Br’er Fox and his dimmer sidekick Br’er Bear are likely offensive to vulpines and ursines, they are still portrayed in a rather broad comic sense, and we’ll let Br’er Rabbit walk away with this one, which you’re not likely to see anymore in public anyways!  The film is accordingly relegated to the status of a cult classic, with 19th century southern drawls and all.  If you’ve never seen it, try to catch it sometime and form your own opinion!

— Then for a heroic fox, it’s hard to beat Disney’s Robin Hood, with a very affable vulpine in the title role.  Most furolks genuinely like this film and for good reason, even though the characters are somewhat stereotypic and parts of the film footage including dance sequences were borrowed or adapted from other Disney creations to save a little time and money.– Still, two paws up for Robin Hood and a positive portrayal of foxes!

This brief consideration should not by any means be considered an exhaustive look at all Disney fox characters, but is only regarded as a consideration of three examples possibly familiar to the readership.  The views presented here are only those of the blogger  (who is a real piece of work, anyways)…