Tarzan- The character and author.

During researching into Tarzan I am noticing that this is a much larger subject that Lilo & Stitch because it has much more background and depth than just a Disney imagination creation as the character of Tarzan was based on the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Although I am behind schedule with my time management plan and should now be moving onto designing I feel there is still more to research on the subject than I expected but plan to make this my last day on researching. Also looking back at the original brief and out of the various topics we could have picked from I feel my project has focused mainly on 'people' than any other.

wikipedia.org

Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan first appeared in the novel Tarzan of the Apes (magazine publication 1912, book publication 1914), and then in twenty-five sequels, three authorized books by other authors, and innumerable works in other media, authorized and not.

Burroughs created an extreme example of a hero figure largely unalloyed with character flaws or faults. He is described as being Caucasian, extremely athletic, tall, handsome, and tanned, with grey eyes and long black hair. Emotionally, he is courageous, loyal and steadfast. He is intelligent and learns new languages easily. He is presented as behaving ethically in most situations, except when seeking vengeance under the motivation of grief, as when his ape mother Kala is killed in Tarzan of the Apes, or when he believes Jane has been murdered in Tarzan the Untamed. He is deeply in love with his wife and totally devoted to her; in numerous situations where other women express their attraction to him, Tarzan politely but firmly declines their attentions. When presented with a situation where a weaker individual or party is being preyed upon by a stronger foe, Tarzan invariably takes the side of the weaker party. In dealing with other men Tarzan is firm and forceful. With male friends he is reserved but deeply loyal and generous. As a host, he is likewise generous and gracious. As a leader, he commands devoted loyalty.

In keeping with these noble characteristics, Tarzan's philosophy embraces an extreme form of "return to nature". Although he is able to pass within society as a civilized individual, he prefers to "strip off the thin veneer of civilization", as Burroughs often puts it.


www.imdb.com

Tarzan is the main character in Edgar Rice Burroughs' book "Tarzan, Lord of the Apes". He is the King of the Jungle and Lord of the Apes.

He has the ability of every animal, and he can summon any land animal with a primal scream. He travels throught the jungle swinging from vines, and he wears nothing but a loincloth.

He has a knife that he uses to hunt, fight and shave.

He is John Clayton, the son of Lord and Lady Greystoke. One day, they were travelling by boat with baby John when their ship sunk and they were marroned in the coast of Africa. The savage lion Sabor killed them soon after, but the gorilla Kala rescued the baby and raised him among the apes as one of their own. Years later, when he was an adult, an American girl named Jane Porter arrived to his jungle. They met, and quickly fell in love. It was Jane who taught him the basics of the human world. Jane took him to the US, but he preferred to live in the jungle, so Jane moved with him to the African jungle, where they live as husband and wife.

His partner are the ape Cheetah and the elephant Tantor.

Tarzan holds the Guiness World Record for being the most filmed character in the history of cinema. Among his countless movies are:

-the Johnny Weismuller ones, that helped bring Tarzan into popular culture and defined Tarzan as we know it.

-"Greystoke", with Christopher Lambert as Tarzan, an accurate adaptation of the book. It warranted a sequel that was less true to the original material.

-"Tarzan the Ape Man", a softcore movie with Bo Derek as Jane.

-the Disney movie "Tarzan". There, Cheetah is replaced with Terk, who in the original story was a mean gorilla who bullied the pack and who was defeated by Tarzan, thus gaining the respect of the pack. Sabor is changed to a leopard, since in real life there are no lions in the African jungle. Jane is changed from a blonde American to a redhead British woman. Also, the movie takes a minor character from the story, Tarzan's cousin William Cecil Clayton, and makes him the villain. Also, Professor Porter, Jane's father, joins her and Tarzan in the jungle in this version of the story.

This version of Tarzan appears in "Kingdom Hearts". There, Clayton tries to use the Heartless to hunt down the gorillas living in the jungle, so Tarzan teams up with Sora, Goofy and Donald to defeat him.

"Tarzan II" tells us more about the origin of this version of Tarzan.

Tarzan also has several cartoons made about him, and they are all about Tarzan and Jane's further adventures in the jungle. He is also a character in the Dark Horse Comics universe, where he met Batman and Superman, and fought against the Predator.

He speaks in broken English, similar to the Incredible Hulk.

Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.


Tarzan was originally printed as a comic and below are a few examples of them with comic artwork by Joe Kubert who is best known for his work with DC Comics.