Kala (Tarzan)#Other versions
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox character
| name = Kala
| first = Tarzan of the Apes
| last = Jungle Tales of Tarzan
| creator = Edgar Rice Burroughs
| species = Mangani
Gorilla (Disney version)
| spouse = Tublat (book)
Kerchak (Disney films)
| children = Akut (2016 film)
Tarzan (adoptive son)
| relatives = Terk (niece, Disney films)
}}
Kala is a fictional ape character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's original Tarzan novel, Tarzan of the Apes, and in movies and other media based on it. She is the foster mother of Tarzan and raised him following the death of his parents.
Fictional character biography
In the novel, Kala is a female in a band of Mangani, a fictional species of great ape intermediate between chimpanzees and gorillas. The band of mangani encounter the Claytons, and while Kerchak attacks the father, Kala discovers their baby son. Grieving the death of her own baby, she takes the young Tarzan and raises him as her own.{{Cite web |last=Libbey |first=Dirk |date=2016-07-01 |title=The Biggest Changes The Legend Of Tarzan Made From The Original Books |url=https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1529359/the-biggest-changes-the-legend-of-tarzan-made-from-the-original-books |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=Cinema Blend |language=en}} After Tarzan reaches adulthood, Kala is killed by Kulonnga, an African hunter who Tarzan subsequently kills in revenge.{{Cite book |last=Brode |first=Douglas |title=It's the Disney Version!: Popular Cinema and Literary Classics |last2=Brode |first2=Shea T. |date=June 24, 2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781442266070 |pages=214 - 215}}{{Cite book |last=Berglund |first=Jeff |title=Cannibal Fictions: American Explorations of Colonialism, Race, Gender, and Sexuality |date=June 21, 2006 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=9780299215941 |pages=81}}{{Cite book |last=Bronski |first=Michael |title=A Queer History of the United States |date=May 15, 2012 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=9780807044650 |pages=136}}
Kala is frequently mentioned in Tarzan books set after her death. She also appears in Jungle Tales of Tarzan, a collection of short stories set during Tarzan's youth.
In other media
= Film =
- Kala appears in Tarzan of the Apes (1918).
- Kala appears in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984).
- Kala appears in the Walt Disney Animation Studios film Tarzan (1999), voiced by Glenn Close.{{cite web |title=Kala Voices (Tarzan) |url=http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/characters/Tarzan/Kala/ |access-date=April 27, 2025 |publisher=Behind The Voice Actors}} A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. This version is a gorilla and Kerchak's mate who adopted Tarzan after his parents and Kala's child were killed by the leopard Sabor.{{Cite web |last=Hrvatin |first=Nat |date=February 11, 2025 |title='Tarzan' Is The Saddest Disney Movie. Full Stop. |url=https://www.scarymommy.com/entertainment/tarzan-retrospective-rewatch-saddest-disney-movie |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=Scary Mommy |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Guest |date=2024-06-18 |title='Tarzan' at 25 – Review |url=https://www.thefilmagazine.com/tarzan-1999-disney-review/ |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=The Film Magazine |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=Bruncati |first=Danielle |date=2024-06-21 |title=Disney’s Tarzan Just Turned 25, Here’s Why It’s Still One Of My Favorite Animated Movies Ever |url=https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/disney-tarzan-turned-25-favorite-animated-movies-ever |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=Cinema Blend |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Amy M. |title=Good Girls & Wicked Witches: Women in Disney's Feature Animation |date=February 20, 2007 |publisher=John Libbey Publishing |isbn=9780861969012 |pages=204}}{{Cite book |last=Wannamaker |first=Annette |title=Boys in Children's Literature and Popular Culture: Masculinity, Abjection, and the Fictional Child |date=September 10, 2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415974691 |pages=63}}
- The Disney incarnation of Kala appears in Tarzan II (2005), voiced again by Glenn Close.
- Kala appears in Tarzan (2013). Similar to the Disney incarnation, this version is a gorilla and Kerchak's mate.
- Kala appears in The Legend of Tarzan (2016).
= Television =
The Disney incarnation of Kala appears in The Legend of Tarzan (2001), voiced by Susanne Blakeslee.
= Video games =
- The Disney incarnation of Kala appears in the video game adaptation of Tarzan (1999), voiced by Susanne Blakeslee.
- The Disney incarnation of Kala appears in Kingdom Hearts (2002).{{Cite web |last=Osik |first=Zoë J. |date=2024-04-09 |title=Exactly How Many Disney Characters Have Appeared In A Kingdom Hearts Game? |url=https://www.thegamer.com/exactly-how-many-disney-characters-have-appeared-in-a-kingdom-hearts-game/ |access-date=2025-04-27 |website=The Gamer |language=en}}
- The Disney incarnation of Kala appears in Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure (2003).
See also
{{portal|Novels}}