letâs take a look at his rival - Lyle is a cravat-wearing trust-fund kid (who, interestingly, is into Ursulaâs fortune more than her, which kind of makes this a gender-swapped gold-digger thing too). Heâs blonde and Ursulaâs mom LOVES him. Heâs more uncomfortable and less prepared to cope with the jungle than Ursula is, in his pastels and shiny shoes.
But he talks over Ursula, insists he knows whatâs best for her, ignores her autonomy. In spite of the fact that Lyle Van de Groot is a rich, educated, social climber who cares deeply about his clothing and appearances he is a point-by-point checklist of unhealthy masculinity in a way that beefy, inarticulate, uneducated George could never be. Ursula is off on her own doing her own thing and Lyle hires two FUCKING POACHERS to track her down in the middle of the jungle while sheâs working (or on vacation? Itâs never made clear because he interrupts her before she can explain why she went on the expedition). Lyle ignores the local guides, claiming his experience with a bridge in Maui means the bridge theyâre on is safe - which leads to a significant injury for one of the guides. He then tells Ursula the guides are conspiring against him, trying to make himself and his poachers seem safe and the Africans who make up the rest of their party seem dangerous.
Check that body language! A post above points out that weâre never worried about Ursula when sheâs around George. Thatâs because Lyle talks to her like this. Look at his aggressive lean! Look at him literally looking down at her! Sheâs tilted away from him in the least threatening position possible and heâs so aggressive about whatever point heâs making. When he finds her after he pushed her toward a damned lion he kisses her and she pushes him away. Want a textbook example of gaslighting? Here you go: she says âdonât get all smoochy with me! I remember what happened with that lionâ and he responds âWhat are you talking about? I was fighting that lion the whole time - you were just so terrified you donât remember.â Then he shoots George! And then he kidnaps Ursula and attempts to force her into marriage!
Now look at how George and Ursula interact (slightly NSFW):
Even though heâs a big strong dude and he thinks heâs doing whatâs okay he lets her set the tone for their interactions. He accepts that heâs out of his wheelhouse and even if he doesnât understand it he does what she says is culturally appropriate. He learns from her! He listens to her! Compare Lyle leaning into Ursula above to this image of George and Ursula talking:
Heâs listening to her, all of his attention is on on her, but heâs totally nonthreatening. His torso is turned toward her but heâs not invading her space, his hands are clasped, heâs smiling, and sheâs the one leaning into him. Look at that smile she has, look how happy she is to be listened to. Her posture in both images is vulnerable but in this one with George sheâs vulnerable because she has chosen to share with him instead of because she feels threatened.
When George rescues Ursula from Lyle at the end of the film it isnât a typical damsel situation - George doesnât have a knock-down-drag-out fight with Lyle, he swings into a tree and offers Ursula a hand so she can reach up and save herself (and before he does it he acknowledges how much itâs going to hurt and *whimpers* and looks human and scared). And youâve gotta remember that George rescues everybody. Itâs not just Ursula - he also rescues a parasailer and gets shot rescuing Shep and Ape. He just likes helping, dammit!
AND this movie offers a perfect counter to the ânice guyâ thing - Ursula starts engaged to a jerk who her mom thinks is a ânice guyâ the moves on to actual nice man George who isnât *just* nice - heâs also patient, listens to her, has his own skills and talents, is okay with being goofy, has his own social circle and isnât totally dependent on Ursula, and looks amazing. Ursula doesnât go with George just because heâs a *nice* guy who rescued her from an asshole, Ursula goes with George because heâs an interesting, fun person who is supportive of her different way of being an interesting, fun person. AND heâs emotionally available. Google image search George of the jungle and see how many smiles you can find, see how many open looks of confusion there are, see how much sadness you can see in Georgeâs face. Now look for images of Lyle. His two expressions are a smirk and cartoonish fear. I know this is a cartoonish kidâs movie, but it is SO powerful that the hero shares his emotions while the villain masks every emotion but fear. Lyle doesnât want to open up, he doesnât want to be vulnerable, he wants CONTROL. George wants to learn, to protect people he cares about, to explore new places, to laugh when heâs happy and to be sad when heâs sad, and that he does that while being a broad-shouldered, physically powerful dude who is NOT totally self-involved is justâŠ
Like, look, I didnât sign on to tumblr dot com for George of the Jungle discourse, but Iâm just now realizing that this movie may have done the most for destroying my conception of stoic masculinity and gender roles as a child.
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