The M.C. Bird[1] is the main character in the 1969 Disney short, It's Tough to Be a Bird.
Background[]
The M.C. Bird is a red bird that provides education about bird-related topics. Throughout the short, he provides education about how birds face challenges in everyday life and how several species of birds face natural threats in real life. In addition to the topics about human activities used as threats to birds, the M.C. Bird explains to the audience about birds used in early times, mythology, and being served as inspiration for published materials. In addition to this, he also provides education about different exotic species of birds in the world, including birds that are already extinct and some birds still around modern times but facing the brink of extinction which are classified as endangered species.
Physical appearance[]
The M.C. Bird has a plumage of red feathers, a yellow beak, and a pair of black feet.
Role in the short[]
The M.C. Bird is seen flying in the sky happily whistling until a gunshot sound effect strikes him, causing him to land on a white screen. When he discusses with the audience that being a bird is not easy to which while talking, he later places a record on a phonograph to teach the audience about how birds face natural threats from many human activities such as weapons they use, using birdcages, scaring them off, taking their eggs, as well as other harmful human activities birds face. After the song, the M.C. Bird educates the guests about evolution of how birds evolved from prehistoric species to modern species like him. While still talking about this, he shows education about that since the prehistoric times, no one has been able to fly.
The M.C. Bird then talks to the audience about birds being used in ancient times such as being used as hieroglyphs in Egypt, hairstyles for queens, falcons for kings, and as symbols as shield in Roman times. Throughout the sequence, he continues narrating parts of other birds in ancient times like the Phoenix and the harpies from Greek mythology (including the myth of Icarus who flew with wings into the sun). After this, he explains that if it weren't for birds that play part of today's world, all the people wouldn't exist today. Later, he tells a story of Noah who sent a dove to look for land to which when the dove returned with an olive branch, Noah knew that it was safe for his family and the animals to exit the ark safely with land it found. After the story, he explains to the audience about birds being used as historical navigators such as Christopher Columbus and Leif Erikson to help them look for land, but none of them could decide who was here first while the M.C. Bird explains that birds were here first. He continues to explain that the problem of how to fly like a bird is still unsolved to which Leonardo da Vinci designed a flying contraption after being inspired by birds to which after that, he explains to the viewers that he made birds an indispensable part of everyday language. He explains that the topics he is talking about is that birds like him provided the necessary inspiration, like taking Edgar Allan Poe an example of using a raven as an inspiration of his poem, "The Raven".
After this, the M.C. Bird narrates a sequence about music mostly songs related to birds such as ""A Bird in a Gilded Cage", "Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing", and "When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)". He continues to narrate another sequence of humans trying to use flying inventions of how to fly like a bird but their attempts to fly like birds was still unsolved until modern airplanes were built. He then appears on an airplane continuing reprise of the titular song, "It's Tough to Be a Bird", still saying that life as a bird is difficult. Later, the M.C. Bird uses a pair of binoculars to look at various species of birds in the world to which he explains to them that certain species of birds are already extinct nowadays such as the passenger pigeon, the heath hen, the great auk, the Carolina parakeet, and the Labrador duck. In addition to the already-extinct species, he explains to the audience about birds that are facing threats leading to the brink of extinction such as the whooping crane, the trumpeter swan, the peregrine falcon, the California condor, and the bald eagle. He then decides to create a new plan of how to protect the birds from extinction which is known as "Birds Anonymous" which can provide assistant of how to protect birds from facing extinction.
The M.C. Bird later explains to the audience that there are people who care about birds, which he is referring to the National Audubon Society. He then provides an education about how birdwatching can be an educational thing to do which is about the importance of observing birds gently. He then continues explaining to the audience that birdwatching has so many fans all over the world to which he explains to the audience about the exotic bird types people see around the world like the heron, the snowy egret, the scarlet ibis, the crowned crane, and the peacock, which people consider beautiful to see. He also continues explaining to the audience that there are some speices of birds that people never consider to be interesting such as the buzzard (a.k.a. turkey vulture) to which despite this, he explains that the buzzard has become the most misunderstood of all the birds, except in a local day used in Hinckley, Ohio, where thousands of birdwatchers see a flock of vultures fly to the city of Hinckley to observe multiple buzzards in large flocks (similar to the swallows that fly in large groups to fly to San Juan Capistrano in California) just as he continues providing education of how buzzards play an important part in Ohio. After the buzzard sequence, the M.C. Bird thanks the audience for the education he provided to the birds. He then continues explaining that it is still tough to be a bird as of modern times just as a montage of birds and flying activities plays across the sequence. The M.C. Bird's last onscreen appearance is shown on a screen with clouds in the background, albeit wounded (representing the human activities being a threat to birds) just before the short fades to black to mark the end of the short.
Trivia[]
- The education part where the M.C. Bird explains of how birds evolved from fish and reptiles (ostracoderms, lobefins, tetrapods, thecodonts, proavis, and archeaopteryx) is completely inaccurate as they are a serparate group of animals.
- In the scene which features the M.C. Bird's last onscreen appearance in the short, Mary Poppins from the 1964 film of the same name can be seen flying above the M.C. Bird.
Gallery[]
