The Messed Up Origins of Tarzan | Disney Explained - Jon Solo 

Makes friends with the *elements* Tarzan, you're the avatar.

I actually had this Tarzan graphic novel as a kid that had 100% story drawn out from the original 1912 novel. Very graphic and bloody and I appreciated the story a lot.

I love the disney movie for how "realistic" the gorillas are portrayed. Not as violent bloodthirsty beasts but as peaceful and gentle society with a charismatic and protective leader. Also the way tarzan is built and the way he moves around is literally how a human would most likely do if raised by apes.

Tarzan was one of the most popular fictional characters of his day and perhaps of all time. He's iconic well beyond the Disney movie.

I wonder how Tarzan never grew a beard, he lived in the jungle for his whole life and never learned to shaved.

The fact that no one has successfully adapted the entire Tarzan series into movies or tv is astounding

You forgot the part where tarzan hangs black tribesmen to steal their arrows and for fun

The original story sounds like it would make for an amazing open world survival game.

I swear when he revealed Clayton to be Tarzan’s cousin & Tarzan to be the rightful inheritance to Clayton’s wealth I spazzed tf out! 😂 it’s like I’m watching a soap opera 🍿🤫👀 😂

Comment and like on this if ur frogs are gay

Tarzan in the book also feels superior to almost everyone and everything around him, including the apes who raised him, to an uncomfortable degree. He is also basically a Gary Stu, being impossibly good at everything. He learns how to use definitive pronouns CORRECTLY from books, which definitely impossible to do without outside help, and knows how to spell his own name, despite not knowing what sounds the letters he writes should make. And Tarzan is described as a, "forest god," every other page. (I don't mind if an author develops a crush on his character, but I don't want to have to hear about it all the bloody time!)

Jon: *made friends with the elements* Me: HE KNEW THE AVATAR !?

"makes friends with the elements" Water Earth Fire Air Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony, But then, everything changed when kerchak attacked. Only Tarzan, master of all four elements, could stop him. But when the jungle needed him most, He fell in love with a British girl and vanished.

This feels like a missed opportunity to be wearing a loincloth Jon.

I read Tarzan myself. Although the book was indeed a a good read, as an African American, I found it VERY disturbing in many ways and you really candy coated a lot of Tarzan's interaction with the Africans. I didn't see much cannibalism among their own people... or at all for that matter. However, it is seen from bones outside the village that they were cannibal. As in most cultures, these were probably the bones of captive enemies, probably not their own tribesmen. Tarzan does indeed kill M'bonga's son for killing his ape mother, but his treatment of M'bonga's people goes FAR beyond mere pranks. He habitually murders them for (not only their weapons, ornaments and clothes) but for fun. This even AFTER they begin to leave offerings of the same stuff to appease the believed angry spirit. Tarzan really terrorizes M'bonga's people and there's nothing funny about it. In book two, after returning to Africa, he even looks for M'bonga's people again for a bit of murder and thievery, but is disappointed to find they've finally abandoned the cursed place and cannot be found. So what does Tarzan do? He goes looking for them, of course. He finally finds a native hunter who he immediately notices is NOT of the same people of M'bonga's tribe, but is still black... so he begins to stalk him. Fortunately for the native, although at first Tarzan is looking forward to dropping a noose over the man's head and lynching him (his usual method of murder and terror) he now has a bit of conscious about it after having lived in Europe. He now begins to see his behavior (even towards a black man) as murder and robbery. His mind is finally made up when a lion jumps out and attacks the hunter and instinctively he rushes to the man's aid. To his shame and mortification, the grateful hunter takes him to his village and he is given freely everything he would have taken by murder and thievery. Oh, and the apes Tarzan lived with were NOT gorillas but a similar species called the "Great Apes" or "Mangani". The author makes a clear distinction between the two antagonistic groups.

What’s crazy is the fact that the book plot was actually better than the movies and a set of books written over 100 years ago has enough material to make a series!

I loveeeee how you tell stories

I’m here before “the thieves” make a video strongly influenced by this one (not to be confused with stealing. They definitely don’t steal. Definitely)

The 1984 movie Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, does a great retelling of the Tarzan story, showing D'Arnot teaching Tarzan how to communicate. It's a great movie!

They should make a gritty high budget series out of the Tarzan books, this sounds great.

Good review. One correction: the creatures that raised Tarzan were not gorillas. The series makes it clear several times that they were a different, heretofore undiscovered species alternatively called, "Great Apes," and "Anthropoid Apes." The novel was written about 50 years after, "The Origin of Species," and Burroughs was playing with the idea of evolution. Burroughs' Great Apes had a rudimentary language, which makes Tarzan's transition more believable. In their language they refer to themselves as, "Mangani," and to the gorillas as, "Bolgani:" not the same species.

“Makes friends with the elements.” 😂😂

And when Tarzan meets Jane, it is one of the cutest/funniest things

Just read book last year. Tarzan murdered the Africans for fun. His preferred method was hanging. You seemed to downplay this.

One other thing Burroughs made clear in his book was that the apes that raised Tarzan were NOT gorillas. He referred to them as Mangani, or great apes, a made up species that was actually somewhat more evolved than the gorillas of the jungle. Also, William Clayton was not at all the villain in the first book, he was just Tarzan's civilized cousin, who later gets engaged to Jane (who really loved Tarzan) and claimed the title of Lord Greystoke in John Clayton (aka Tarzan's) absence. Tarzan later discovers his claim but nobly steps aside, thinking Jane would better off with William, and goes to France with Paul D'Arnot. (SPOILER ALERT) In the second book, RETURN OF TARZAN, William dies heroically while trying to protect Jane from the Beast Men of Opar. This video should be about everything Disney got wrong about Tarzan.

Tarzan the prankster lol I can see it now..

imagine disney didnt own all the rights to everything ever and this could make for a decent but gritty netflix series.

I remember watching a movie that came out in 1984 called "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes". It's a live action depiction of the story that I think you might be interested in if you enjoy the story as it shows what it might be like if Tarzan were found and brought back to civilization.

I prefer George of the Jungle starring Brendan Fraser

Thanks for watching, the love, and the support #SoloFam! So happy we reached our LIKE goal this week!! :D

The story of Tarzan is inspired by the story of Jane's life which was based on real life

I love the way you tell your stories Jon. I also appreciate how much time and effort you put into researching everything. I'm a huge history buff and always look forward to watching your vids! 😎😀😁 plz keep posting more stories! Stay safe!

I read one of the Tarzan books while in jail. Also read books like To Kill a Mockingbird, Zoo, and The Protector. All good books

I'd love to see a open world game based on Tarzan!

“Long hair, wears a loincloth” Me: Kars is that you?

I literally shrieked every time you said “dee arnot”

"Teaching himself to weed and wright" Me: *WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE* "He makes friends with the elements" Me: *WHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZEEEEEEEEEEEEEE* Thanks for the laughs John :D

11:20 That was smooth

I can understand why this book was so popular

I never knew Tarzan had such an interesting origin story.

Woah! The original story was awesome! I hope they someday make a film adaption that closely resembles the book (I loved the Disney cartoon, of course...I mean, Phil Collins).

Wow i want to read the book now! Great video jon!

The first time I read the word TARZAN, was in the philosophical novel _Hay ibn Yaqdhan_ (Alive son of Vigilant ) of Andalusian philosopher *Ibn Tufayl* who lived in the 13th century Ce. That word was the name of the island where the main character of the novel was raised by a female deer, after loosing his family in shipwreck to which he was the only survival.

“you know what’s even crazier?” love that transition into gaining that coin

Could you possibly do 'The Emperors New Groove' (if there is one XD) it would be so funny

Love the vid,can't wait for the next messed up origins their my fav

I just finished listening to the audiobook. Absolutely loved it. I'm a language nerd and I laughed out loud when d'Arnot taught Tarzan French phonology through English vocabulary. Whenever Tarzan came across an English word he would read it aloud in French. As an example, when he saw the word 'man' in English he would say the French equivalent 'homme', thus associating the French sounds with the English letters. Basically, Tarzan could read and write in English but he couldn't speak it. Whereas he could speak French but he could not read or write it. Absolutely hilarious.

I just want to clarify that Tarzan wasn't raised by gorillas but unknown ape species. Gorillas were their enemies. Sometimes I found Victorian style of books a little bit hilarious. For example, after killing the first man (black cannibalist) Tarzan was ready to eat his flesh but he couldn't because some strange force told him not to do it. So, Tarzan just knew western moral code though he saw the villagers eating human flesh.

Oh my gosh every time you upload I don’t even care what I’m doing but I’ll drop it to watch your video!☺️

Hahah i love making friends with the elements. Luv ya Jon

Watching these videos and listening to you tell the original stories does the same thing as when I’m reading a book: My imagination makes little movies of the stories playing in my head. 👍🏽 Subscribed! 😊😊

There is a recent Live action of Tarzan that is not Disney, and I absolutely loved it since it followed the books closer. They did it in a retro faction so its more of a Tarzan Sequel that retells the first book through the incidents they encounter. Facing the chief of the tribe who's son killed his mother and so Tarzan killed the son, and so on. I'm disappointed that it didn't get as much of the recognition it deserved because it was amazingly done and absolutely a great watch.

Cool, keep up the good work, I can't wait to see what messed up orgin is next!☺

the book ending can sorta count as a happy ending in a way. one of those odd endings where the moral is about giving up selfish desires to help loved ones be happy.

Can we please talk about the fact that Tarzan, who's never heard a human voice in his life untill Jane and her father show up, and yet, in the movie, Tarzan speaks with an American accent. If he's learning to speak English from British people, shouldn't he have a British accent?

We all know your delightfully douchy ad drops are neccessary evils and after all this bingeing, a good one slipped the cracks 🥳🤣 Marvelous elocution Solo!! Sneaky whippersnapper, best one by far👏 On Topic Thought; Thrilled to see the utter depth of Tarzan properly being spoken on. So few know how heavily chronicled the tale gets. Keep'em coming🧡

I read the first book almost 20 years ago and funny enough there are two things I remember most about it. One is the heartbreak of Kala carrying her dead baby for a while before finding Tarzan and, seeing an infant that is alive, switches her dead baby for Tarzan. Tarzan even finds the tiny skeleton of the dead ape in the cradle. And the second is that Tarzan's famous speech to Jane was actually written to her on a leaf, since he couldn't talk.

I love listening to your version of the origins of stories. I just found your channel a couple of weeks ago, and have been playing catch up as often as I can. I personally prefer the Tarzan movie starring Alexander Skarsgard, I like the eye candy..I mean that version. I grew up watching Ron Ely playing Tarzan on Saturdays, and always enjoyed the upright moral messages.

I came back to this video from the short you made it hooked me and it was easy to get to the link, good way to direct some views back to an older video while making new content as well

You’re the first person to plug audible to have me join. You’re awesome and your story telling is absolutely amazing!!!!

the messed up origins of hunchback of notre dame

Absolutely amazing this series. I love how you tell the story ♥️

I Really appreciate all of your hard work & your adorable jokes. You are very insightful. & all around AWESOME .

This is like the only video that actually made me wanna get the app they are promoting

Awesome video Jon. 25 books eh that’s some reading right there

*Roller coaster indeed*

I'm sooooo obsessed with all your stories

He’s my favorite character in the Disney movies and iv grew up doin stuff Tarzan did and this story makes me like him even more!💪🏼

I can't express how much I love Tarzan. It's my all time favorite movie in the world and you certainly did it justice with this video. I thought I was crazy how in the movie, Terk it a female and Tarzan's bff but in the book, Terk is an enemy. I never knew how batshit wild Kerjack was. I dislike how in many of the comments, people are painted Tarzan to be a bad person. I understand that murder isn't great, but come on! They killed his mother. Are you telling me that no one would do something equally insane if someone even touched their mom? Those villagers had it coming and it has nothing to do with race. Tarzan couldn't have the ability to be racist when he was raised in a jungle by apes. Clayton being related to him is just wild af to me and I love how much of a badass his parents were. I loved this so much that I'm gonna watch Tarzan now and make it my business to read all the books. Thank you so much for making my night with this 🥰

Hi jon i luv ur channel ur the best youtuber ever

Well done Bro. Thank you for the episode…👍🏼😎👍🏼

I didn't think much of Tarzan before this video, now I see him as a certified badass.

I would love to see this version!

My dad said Tarzan was a African story which was told to he as a kid but it was totally different from this story.

Can’t get enough of these videos

Another great video ma man. And probably your best sponsor transition

He basically lynches the chief's son. And then terrorizes the camp with tricks and steals their resources, to the point where they start retaliating against the local apes and makes everyone's lives harder. Tarzan is also lauded as a great archer, but steals all his arrows from the tribe rather that learn how to make them himself. Why is this funny? The villagers are also not eating their own people, they are eating captives from other tribes. And Tarzan sees this, but feels no compulsion to rescue these people. He only rescues the other white guy. There should be no reason why Tarzan should feel that he is quintessentially different from the native tribe. He's lived in the jungle - he should have seen albinos. Jane has a black maid with her who's defining trait is screaming, "Gabriel!" before fainting, which renders her completely useless when she and Jane are confronted by a lioness trying to get into the cabin. And at a later point, Tarzan, who should have no concept of racism, ask whether black people have similar fingerprints to monkeys. The racist undercurrent is strong with this one. Also, he seriously considers raping Jane before his (frankly elitist) instinct somehow informs him that this would be wrong. This video is supposed to be about how messed up the book is, why are none of these things being mentioned?

As a kid, reading Rice Burroughs's original books, Tarzan was an exhilarating vine swing through the deep forest. The young mind somehow does not register the inherent white superiority and dark savage tropes (which you start recognizing as you grow older and worldwise). The story of Tarzan is brutal, unforgiving, littered with literal skeletons of all of Tarzan's parents. There is intrigue when seeing Tarzan's written communication with Jane's party unfold, joy when tarzan finally encounters Jane, a slight sadness when Tarzan returns to 'civilization' reclaims his title of Lord Greystoke, only to learn that the duplicitous world of civilized humans is not his cup of tea... It's a rollercoaster ride.

I used to watch Tarzan all the time as a kid during 4th grade. Your video makes me want to read the books!

At 5:10 you remind me of something I haven't heard you mention prior. Or is it general knowledge. I enjoyed the learning experience provided through this video.

Hi Jon can you please do Peter Pan. I always wanted to know what messed up origins await in that story.. 😁 if you do that I will be very grateful.

idk if its a coincidence or not but with some long slightly messy hair and a few years in the jungle you could honestly have the looks of a perfect tarzan. i think thats a compliment

I used to have a 1914 edition of Tarzan along with a 1905 edition of the Elder Eddas. Great books!

One of my favorite movies growing up thanks for the insider

In the book, I thought it was interesting that Tarzan had trouble eating another ape (or was it human?) due to realizing their similarities. It's been years since I've read the book, but it's so much darker than the movies.

Nobody: Litteraly Nobody: Not a single soul: Jon Solo:DeE-aRnOt

Love your videos! I'm prob late to the party but I watch these with my daughter. Keep it up!

This movie makes me cry now sense I am a mother of a wonderful baby boy... and seeing the beginning of the Tarzan movie just brakes my heart

That's insane I grew up watching Tarzan loved it but the book is way more interesting nd has a lot more detail 💯🤙🏽

Jon Shot first.... Real smooth and classy!

Thanks zaddy jon i enjoy your rants on the stories

He makes me wanna read but once I touch that book imma be like “Jon solo just make a video so I can hear your voice” SUCH amazing content

Please do the messed up origins of Moana

Cool video. I'm a big Tarzan fan. I discovered them and the Sherlock Holmes books in junior high and devoured all of them. Yeah, there are some crazy things in them. I started re-reading the series recently. Tarzan also spends a little time as a sort of spy/agent for France. They are great books for fans of adventure stories. To anyone reading this if you dig Tarzan I highly recommend Sherlock Holmes, original Conan The Barbarian and Doc Savage stuff if you can find them.

Wow. Love your videos. Very interesting. Now I want to Audible the book. Thanks for the link.

Your work is appreciated😁

I loved these books when i was a child, and also watched several of the old movies (I'm 40, so this was waaay before the disney adaptation). I don't think i read all of them, but it's a pretty extensive universe, with all those books ;)

I loved the Tarzan series as a kid!!!

That short hooked me so quickly

Thank you for this, I had no idea the story was that involved!!