In the scene below V.A. asks, “Why are there children in my office?” This shows he does recognize Milly as a child, and his office is a place for adults.
But after Holt tells him that Dumbo flew off because he recognized his mother’s call, it’s Milly who talks to V.A., and he talks to her. Not to Holt, not to Colette. He focuses on her and states that going it alone is what you do in order to grow up. He’s explaining that Dumbo would be better without his mother, but peripherally he’s telling Milly to separate from her father, who, more than likely, he believes is stifling her as his father stifled him. V.A. doesn’t see parents as anything but impediments to one’s ambitions.
V.A. and Holt confront each other. Again, Vandevere makes it plain that he thinks Milly would be better off without her dad, as V.A. was without his. Holt senses this, and becomes alarmed.
V.A.’s lack of understanding that Mrs. Jumbo going away upsets Milly is partly because he, hating his parents, can’t imagine Milly missing Holt if he left. In V.A.’s eyes Holt mocks his daughter’s desire to be a scientist. Wouldn’t she naturally want to be free of him? And V.A. has hardened his heart toward mothers in general, having had a shitty one himself. Plus, Milly’s motherless, yet she’s doing fine.
Here’s the whole scene:
In this deleted scene, V.A. takes the time to talk with Milly, using his pet name for her. It’s bad writing that he asks her for a prediction and she instead repeats what he told her during the parade. But the thing is, what he said stuck with her. And this delights V.A. That he talks to her at all shows he feels connected. He has no reason to talk to her, to ask her prediction of how the show will do. A typical grownup would forget she even exists, or just pat her on the head. People give their attention to what they like, and V.A. demonstrates time and again that he likes Milly
Joe’s just kind of there, V.A. never speaks to him directly. Joe doesn’t interest V.A. because, honestly, there’s nothing to him. V.A.’s keen eye for the extraordinary dismisses Joe. He recognizes talent, and Joe doesn’t have any.
Throughout the film Vandevere pays attention to Milly. He respects her intelligence, talent, and ambitions. He defends her in front of her father. One of the reasons Holt is skeptical about Milly’s wanting to be a scientist was because very, very few women were. Women attending colleges and universities was uncommon. Milly has a lot of obstacles in front of her if she wants to achieve her dream, just as V.A. had.
When I was Milly’s age I had several adults, women and men, who encouraged and mentored me. Some gave me the same attention V.A. grants Milly. That’s why I see a growing mentorship between these two, which Holt obviously feels happening as well. Holt has every reason to feel threatened. He was an absentee father for a couple years. He and Milly didn’t connect before he left for war, and they don’t now. Milly’s angry with him for not stopping the sale of Mrs. Jumbo. They butt heads. But V.A. and his world offer Milly everything she dreams of, especially encouragement. He’s a hell of a potential father figure to compete with.
It was EASY for my imagination to come up with an 18-year-old Milly being attracted to the man who supports her goal for what will be a difficult career. Shit, such support is rare enough for girls these days, so rare that that’s why Dumbomade Milly a model for girls in STEM.
And I had much older lovers when I was 18, so I have absolutely no problem seeing Milly lusting for and falling in love with a hot 50 year old.
So. I’ve had several messages like the following. This one was on AO3, and is very polite, and went on to be complimentary (thank you):
The other messages were various shades of nasty. Beetlebabes, you know what I mean.
I’m updating and reblogging this and Part 2, since both posts were fl@gged on my original blog.
Nobody has to justify their Ship. But when some, like the nice person above, are sincerely confused or just don’t “get” it, I don’t mind explaining.
The Ship hit me when I read the novelization Dumbo: Circus of Dreams, weeks before the movie opened. The book has a lot more background about the characters and a lot of lines which were cut from the final film. The trailers cemented my fixation on V.A. I wrote the first two chapters of Baby, MinebeforeDumbo premiered. The movie clinched the Ship for me. Here’s why:
Note: I did not, in any way, sense ANY sexual or inappropriate behavior by V.A. toward Milly in the film.
Keaton said, “One reason Vandevere, my character, behaves the way he behaves, which is not too nice, is he never really had a family, and deep inside, that ate him up—although he would never let you know that.” This is important. In the novelization, we learn that when V.A. was 16 his dad dumped his family and left to make his fortune in the Gold Rush, and his mother pretty much was a flutter-brain.
When V.A. first meets Milly it’s because Max points out that “the kids” (Milly, really) taught Dumbo to fly. V.A.’s awkward; obviously he’s not good with kids. But he listens to Milly. In the scene below look how he leans forward quite far. His body language and expression are entirely focused on her. If he merely dismissed her he’d turn away or straighten up. Every indication is he’s fascinated. I’m not saying sexually. But, as later scenes show, I think he sees something in her with which he can identify. Her intelligence, obviously. You can tell, earlier in the scene (not shown here), that V.A. is captivated by the idea that an elephant can fly. He still longs for magic and wonder, as he did as a child. So he’d be equally enraptured with the person who recognized a miracle, the same way V.A. recognizes the extraordinary.
During the parade V.A. explains to Milly why he’s keeping Dumbo under wraps. When Holt belittles his daughter’s ambition to become a scientist, V.A. immediately defends her. A line from the book, but cut from the film, has V.A. telling Milly his father didn’t believe in him. V.A. senses a kinship with Milly, as an intelligent, talented person with a big goal her father doesn’t take seriously.
In this scene below V.A. pretty much ignores Holt, the father who mocked his daughter. He turns to Milly, identifying her as the authority on Dumbo. Considering how uncomfortable he is around children, this has meaning. And he’s created a pet name for her, which reinforces his support of her ambition to be a scientist. Though he calls her “our little scientist” it’s not said in a condescending tone. Nicknames can also be a way of bonding. He says it right in front of her father. V.A. does acknowledge Holt as a party to Dumbo’s training, but that doesn’t lessen how he sees Milly.
I mean I SAY I love the ‘Enemies to Lovers’ trope but what I really MEAN is that I love the
‘Enemies to Resentful Allies In A Time Of Crisis to Grudging Mutual Respect to Growing Fondness Concealed By Snark to Hurtful Betrayal to Slow Reconciliation With A Greater Understanding Of Each Other to Strange But Solid Friendship to Unexpected Feelings In A Time Of Crisis to Denying Their Feelings While Growing Closer As Friends to Epiphanies Of Love In The Worst Possible Circumstances to Mutual Pining to Unbearable Sexual Tension to Lovers’
