Jane Porter

Jane Porter is the deuteragonist of Disney's 1999 animated feature film Tarzan, and its 2002 direct-to-video follow up Tarzan & Jane.

Jane is the daughter of an unorthadox professor. Together, the two wildlife scientists travel from England to Africa to study gorillas, accompanied by their ultra-masculine bodyguard Clayton. When Jane meets Tarzan, a handsome young wild man, her heart is torn between whether to return to England with her father, or stay in Africa with Tarzan, her newfound love.

In the first film, Jane is voiced by Minnie Driver and by Olivia D'Abo in the 2001 TV series, The Legend of Tarzan and the direct-to-video follow-up Tarzan & Jane.

Appearance and Personality

Physical Appearance

Jane is a very beautiful young woman of British heritage in early-twenties with long golden-brown hair, large aqua-blue eyes (beneath what appears to be a natural layer of pinkish-purple eye-shadow), thin well-shaped eyebrows, small pink lips, a clear fair complexion with noticeably rosy cheeks, large bosoms, and strong arms.

Personality

Despite her beauty, Jane is outspoken, opinionated, authoritative, talkative, straightforward, kind, feisty, and adventurous with a sense of humour. When first introduced, Jane is prim, proper, and very feminine, caring little for the more vigorous aspects of jungle-living, such as swinging from vines, flying through trees, or being chased by a fleet of angry baboons. However, Jane cares deeply for the safety and well-being of the jungle and its inhabitants, treating animals as peaople and objecting to poachers such as Clayton. In fact, she fights bravely alongside Tarzan when Clayton and his assistant poachers invade the jungle, showing her more vigilant and heroic side. Even when frightened, she proves capable of being bold such as enduring Tarzan's head on her bosoms as he listens to her heartbeat when they first meet.

The more time Jane spends with Tarzan, the more she falls in love with the jungle (and him), to the point of which she willingly swings from vines with little (and eventually zero) hesitation. As she grows more comfortable in the jungle throughout the course of the film, she downsizies from an oversized Victorian-styled dress, to a shirt and a skirt, and finally, to a tank-top and wrap.

Abilities

One of Jane's more obvious abilities is her use of vocabulary. She is able to call out many words from the top of her head and use them in the correct context in order to prove a point or speak a fact including 'humidity', 'personal boundaries', 'expedition', 'intense', etc.

Jane proves very strong as shwon when she kicked Tarzan for peeking under her skirt. She also swung on a vine and kicked a poacher down to save Kala. She also tackled and kicked many thugs including members of the French Foreign Legion.

Background and Development

Origins

Jane is based upon the main female character from Egar Rice Burroughs' 1912 novel, Tarzan of the Apes.

Development

Wardrobe:

. Yellow Dress: Jane's first outfit is when she wears a bumblebee yellow short-sleeved ankle-length dress with an eggplant purple cravet necktie and ivory white collar, snowy white wrist-length gloves, lavender purple stockings, dove gray ankle boots (with black on the soles, toes and heels), a corset, a white petticoat and frilly white knee-length pantalettes.

In addition, she also carries a matching yellow umbrella, her hair is in a hairdown, and she wears a Wosoley pith helmet. In the movie, she wears this outfit twice: when she first appears in the baboon chase and again at the end when she decides to stay in the jungle with Tarzan.

After marrying Tarzan, she would only wear her yellow dress on special occasions. Thus, in the "The Legend of Tarzan," Jane wore her yellow dress in four episodes:

1. "Tarzan and the British Invasion": When she invited her friends from England, Eleanor, Greenley and Hazel on a picnic at a clearing in the jungle next to a waterfall. However, when the picnic is interrupted by the panthers, Nuru and Sheeta, Jane and her friends are forced out into a lost part of the jungle and in an effort to move faster, Jane has herself and her friends remove the heels from their boots as well as the skirts of their dresses along with their petticoats.
2. "Tarzan and One Punch Mullargan": When she welcomed the heavyweight champion of the world, One Punch Mullargan and his entourage to the jungle at the start of the episode.
3. "Tarzan and the Prison Break": When she and Dumont (disguised as a French Magistrate) traveled to Cape Doom prison to free Tarzan and their friends Hugo and Hooft from Colonel Staquait and the French Foreign Legion. Before Staquait could kill Tarzan with his sword, Jane, wearing her yellow dress, ran towards Staquait and tackled him to the ground. It was possible that Jane wore her yellow dress so that she would look someone who work with the magistrate, although it was unclear nor confirmed.
4. "Tarzan and the Silver Screen": When she attended the live filming of a movie with Tarzan and Archimedes.

. Blue Dress: In "The Legend of Tarzan," Jane wears a midnight blue dress with a gold broach and ivory collar. She also wears it with ivory gloves, tan stockings and cream ankle boots (with blue on the soles, heels and toes). Underneath the dress, she wears a corset, a white petticoat and frilly white pantalettes.

Unlike with her yellow dress, she does not carry an umbrella as an accessory. However, she still wore her hair in a hairdown. She would wear this as a secondary special occasion outfit (possibly for the more formal events) in two episodes of the series:

1. "Tarzan and the Trading Post": When she first buys it from Renard Dumont after he first arrives in the jungle.
2. "Tarzan and the Eagle's Feather": When she attended the wedding of Basuli and his betrothed, Naoh, in the Wazari Village.

Gallery

A gallery of photos of Jane wearing the two dresses in each episode are shown below:

. Yellow Shirt and Green Skirt: Jane's second outfit is a buttercup yellow shirt and an olive green skirt. When she first wears it when introducing Tarzan to her father and Clayton, she goes barefoot. Although when initially leaving to go back to England and when she rescues the gorillas in the climax, she does wear it with celadon green stockings and her gray ankle boots. It would become Jane's main outfit in "The Legend of Tarzan," with the exception that the skirt now becoming a wrap around and that Jane mostly goes around barefoot.

. White Tanktop and Red Skirt: Jane's third outfit is a chalk white tanktop and crimson red wrap around skirt. She only wears it during the "Strangers like Me" sequence and when Tarzan first introduces Jane, Clayton and Professor Porter to the Gorilla Family. She goes barefoot

Maroon Bikini: At the end of the movie, Jane wears it while She's singing on the vines with Tarzan and her Father . She wore it in "The Legend of Tarzan," in the episode "Tarzan and the Lost Cub."

Voice Actress

• Minnie Driver 

Tarzan

Jane is ticklish as when Tarzan plays with her toes when they first meet she is shown to be laughing.