Moviefan12: Good evening. Welcome to the 100th Music Fridays. On tonight's live presentation we will be conducting a look at one of the greatest animated films of all time. Fantasia. Live from The Walt Disney Concert Hall.
I, Moviefan12 will serve as your Master of Ceremonies for the night. .... Stop, stop! I can't do this. Nope, we aren't at The Walt Disney Concert Hall and I can't pull the conductor act but I will still act as your host for the night. Please join me in welcoming many of our good friends from Manic Expression as we go over, what is quite simply the quintessential Disney film for Music Fridays, Fantasia. Let's begin. To kick things off, we have Les with The Nutcracker Suite. Now I should mention that we will not be looking at all of the segments here today. Just a select few.
Nutcracker Suite
Les: Greetings Manic Fans. Les here today to collaborate with Moviefan12 to review Walt Disney’s Fantasia. Well, I've made it no secret that I consider this film to be the greatest animated feature ever made, so I jumped at the chance to be in on this review.
The segment I've been blessed with reviewing is Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.
Emcee Deems Taylor
Disney artists then take several of the movements of the Suite and re-imagine the dances as, not the girl, mysterious Uncle, rats, soldiers and Nutcracker prince, but supernatural creatures and the natural world in dance numbers.
This was the point of the film that I was blown away by the beauty and sheer brilliance of the Disney animator’s imaginations.
Starting out with the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies depicted with a scene of night in a forest setting,
Another lazily adds water droplets to a spider web one strand at a time and the web glistens.
Again, the art design of the mushrooms is amazing with the caps becoming the Chinese hats and the stems assuming the appearance of Chinese robes.
A little one becomes a little child, weaving in and out of the older ones. This sequence is just adorable.
Then a still lake shows the reflection of flowers fluttering to land in the water. They collect to the Dance of the Reed Pipes. One group of flowers falls to the lake and slowly rise to become twirling dancers.
It's amazing how the Disney artists transform the blossoms so the petals become skirts and the stamens become heads as they spin on the water. Then a spotlight hits a love white dancer and it takes a solo spin in the middle of the dancers.
The dancers drift with a flowing river and then approach a waterfall. Each one goes over one at a time. Then as the white dancer spills over the waterfall,
The camera follows an initially shy goldfish through the shadows. Once the camera catches up to the fish, it is with more goldfish and a brilliance emanates from behind them. Slowly, a soloist(for lack of a better word) rises up bearing a strong resemblance to the goldfish Cleo in Pinocchio, except with several extra inches of tail that the beauty uses like a long veil as she “dances” to the music.
As the last note is held, a bubble rises into view and we see a patch of dandelions within it. The camera zooms in on it and then....BAM! We get the opening chords of the Russian Dance as the flowers explode into Russian folk dances.
It’s simply incredible how the Disney artists transform the flowers into dancers with the flower petals forming the Russian hats and the weedy leaves and stems becoming arms and legs. Mid song, a group of Fleur-de-lis join the dance and it’s amazing that the flowers are undeniably women dancing with the dandelion men. The music and the dancing gets more and more vociferous and then WHAM! All is stilled, music and the flowers freeze back into their former positions.
And, finally, the piece de resistance: The grand finale with the Dance of the Flowers. The pixies are back but this time, they’re changing the seasons to Autumn and go about the forest changing the colors of the leaves that fall and are blown about by the wind, dancing on the wind in time to the gorgeous strings of Tchaikovsky.
Another pixie touches a pod and a stream of spores are set loose on a gentle wind...and I swear they transform into ballerinas with long dresses that billow out and they spin in their descent to the ground.
Then the pixies change the seasons to Winter and they add frost to the scene....one touches a lake and it freezes over and two Winter pixies dance upon it like figure skaters-gorgeous!
As the music crescendos, snowflakes fall(each one meticulously drawn differently from the others)
and they become the tutus worn by the pixies
.....as the last notes are played, the orchestra comes back into focus and the great Leopold Stokowski flamboyantly ends the number.
Disney artists had always been really good at endowing natural things with personalities and human characteristics, whether it was “The Old Mill” short, or the dark forest scene in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, this one segment of Fantasia showed this talent off as good as it ever was and inspires animators to this very day.
Moviefan12 Thanks, Les. That was great. Now for the next segment, perhaps the most iconic segment, The Sorcerer's Apprentice I shall be looking at it.
Moviefan12: What can one say about this segment? It is easily one of the most iconic moments not only from Fantasia but also in Mickey's career. The story is simple, a young apprentice is eager perhaps too eager to learn the magic of his master. And we see Mickey get in over his head when he puts on the hat. I think what makes this segment work for me is that I think we can all relate to being eager to learn something that we aren't quite ready for. That really is the jist of it. Now as I was saying there are so many iconic moments in this segment. I think two of the biggest for me would be when Mickey firsts puts on the hat and the dream sequence of Mickey being on the mountain conducting the stars.
And how can we forget about the brooms. They are so much fun and they are really what causes Mickey his trouble.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that there was a scene where it looked like Mickey was committing murder.
Though as we can see, that didn't work. Now, going to the music, I feel that it tied in wonderfully. This is easily my favorite segment from Fantasia. In part because of how much I like Mickey and also because I honestly think this one has the best story.
Moviefan12: Up next is Ratin8tor looking at Dance of The Hours
Dance of The Hours
R8: Right off the bat we see a pink-bowed ostriches dancing around some blue ribbon ostriches. Now an interesting fact about ostriches is that their eyes are bigger than their brains. Perhaps a subtle jab at female vanity, the old'brainless beauty' stereotype, since we see the ostriches fight over grapes Or a comical twist on the classic 'swan' metaphor seen when it comes to ballerinas (since Swan Lake is easily the most famous ballet).
Next are the hippos, once again a subtle jab against female objectification. Ballerinas, by their profession are often skinny and petite. By using hippos the animators make the statement that even larger women can be graceful.That women shouldn't be objectified because of their size or appearance but how graceful (read: kind and loving) they are.
The elephants continue this theme by once again being big and beautiful. Of how they are unconventionally beautiful that is to say that while society finds them ugly, they find themselves beautiful on the inside. Surrounding the sleeping hippo they blow bubbles, symbolize how they can be light on their feet as well. Once again, judging by appearance leads us astray,since the elephants also prove that even those that seem ungraceful can still dance in some way.
And the alligators... are just alligators. Not everything has to be over-analysed.
Just kidding. They represent the male urges caused by the beauty within the female form. They are the men of the world that love how light on their feet women can be.Remember, if we take the idea that the dancing = purity, then they represent the chivalrous knight that wants to be with a woman. How size and shape doesn't matter, but how well she 'dances' (aka how wonderful she is).
As the female hippo is chased (in representation of how women love playing hard to get and how men love to chase them) all the characters come back, representing how certain men like certain women. Some like the brainless beauty, some like the graceful big lady, some like the unconventionally beautiful women(Aka the ostriches, the hippos and the elephants).
As for the climax, well, just ask you're parents about the birds and the bees.
So there you have it. A very short look at a piece of musical animation demonstrating the inner beauty that all women posses and how men prefer a woman's grace to her physical appearance.
Up next, we have Infamous Jak taking a look at The Pastoral Symphony
The Pastoral Symphony
Jak: First off, congratulations to my friend Moviefan12 for reaching his #100th Music Fridays and thanks for having me as a guest on this very special occasion.
Today I’ll be taking a look at what is probably the least well remembered out of all the segments in Fantasia, The Pastoral Symphony. As the name implies, the music for this one is taken from the piece by none other than Beethoven himself. The setting is in based strongly in Greek mythology, with many of the well known creatures and characters appearing in this bit.
This one is clearly broken down into three separate acts, so I will be taking a looking at them in the order that it appears. The first segment focuses on a family of Pegasus. Here I think the music fits very well with the animation, being powerful and majestic during scenes of the family soaring though the sky, but later fun and playful while the baby pegasuses (By the way, anyone know the proper plural for this one?) are playing in the water. On a side note, next time you watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit keep your eye out for the black baby Pegasus.
The scene then transitions over to the second part of this segment, with a group of Centaurus preparing for a courtship ritual, with the help of some cupids. Now if I am being perfectly honest, this is my least favorite part, not only of the segment, but in the movie as a whole. I have my reasons for this, the biggest being that the music almost seems to be take a back seat for a moment, and feels like little more than background noise. Which would be fine in any other movie, but the whole point of Fantasia was to tell great, memorable animated segments using only the music and the artist imagination. By having the music less of the focus, it feels like this bit is running half baked. I may have been able to forgive this if the story being told through the animation was good, but I honest just don’t find it that interesting. After seeing the family of Pegasus just a few minutes earlier, the actions of this scene fails to hold your interest, and there aren't any stakes in the story, as the centaurettes almost immediately pair up with the centaur of the same color.
Still there are two aspects of this part of the short, which I should probably talk about a little. The first being that several of the character designs of the centaurettes where latter reused for some of the more famous Disney princesses. Rewatching this for the point of writing this article, I can clearly tell where the design for Cinderella, Alice, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, Wendy and Tiger Lily from Peter Pan, where first brought into the big screen. It’s actually quite interesting for those who like to see the progression of animation from Disney over the years.
The second unfortunately is that in 1969, the film fell into a bit of a controversy as it was believed by some that the character design for a character named Sunflower was racist. Now normally I would just roll my eyes at this, as people tend to scream this at just about anything (The Crows in Dumbo are not racist, and neither is Song of the South), but yeah, I’d be lying if I didn't see where they were coming from with this one. Not saying that was the intended purpose, but by today’s standards, I see where the argument is being made. The character was edited out in 1969, and I will leave that up to you decide rather or not that was a good decision. I will say that the fact that the edit was made isn't obvious if you are watching that version, and odds are most people wouldn't even notice a change was made if they didn't already know beforehand.
The third and final part of this segment has the centaur from earlier throwing a banquet for the Greek god Bacchus, who if I remember my middle school history class correctly is the god of wine and celebration (can I have that job?). Here the music is back in the focus, and we get some rather comical moments with the character before Zeus shows up. Apparently this segments takes place after Kratos opened Pandora’s Box, as he starts throwing down bolts of lightning for what appears to be no other reason than to be a jerk. On a side note, am I the only one who thinks that the design for Hephaestus looks a lot like the giant from Disney’s version of Jack and Beanstalk with Mickey and the gang? It’s here that the music and animation work the best with each other and we get the segments best moment in my opinion.
Anyways, Zeus eventually gets bored and everyone comes out from hiding, with the music and animation really nailing the feeling of hope and joy the characters are having. The segment ends with the baby pegasuses and cupids playing in a recently formed rainbow, while the other characters enjoy a nice sunset and fall asleep as the coming night covers the sky. The end.
As I said before, I have always felt that this is the least memorable out of all the segments in Fantasia. But does that mean that it’s bad? I don’t think so. The animation is still the high quality that you would expect from Disney from this period and with the exception of the one moment in the middle, the music and animation complement each other really well. Again I would like to congratulate Moviefan12 on reaching the landmark 100th blog in this series, and I can’t wait to see what he plans for the next 100.
Moviefan12: And finally, Dawn_Heart looking at A Night On Bald Mountain/Ava Maria
A Night On Bald Mountain/Ava Maria
Dawn_Heart: What to say what to say about this segment. Well first off I’m not sure how Disney managed to get away with this one in the 1940s. Think about it, this has a representation of the devil (Yes I know he’s called Chernabog but come on Walt Disney himself referred to him as “Satan himself”), witches, ghosts, imps, demons, the whole nine yards. The visuals are very creepy and I get shivers watching the ghosts of criminals pass though the noose again. With all that said I’m glad it somehow got made.
The title comes from the name of the piece written by Modest Mussorgsky who was inspired by Russian legend. It’s a very dark sounding piece with a lot of horns and I’ve always loved those. Even without the visuals it could conger up images of ghosts and such in a person’s mind. I love the fact that the makers of Fantasia used the background for the piece for the story. It fits so well because of this I think. Everything is perfectly timed and the animation is amazing. You just look at it and go “Wow this was made in the forties?” You really get how evil this guy is.
The next part is my favorite out of the whole movie though. Just when you think the evil power of Chernabog can’t be stopped you hear a bell ring. As the ringing goes on the demons are forced to flee, the ghosts return to whence they came and Chernabog becomes frozen again into the mountain. The song is Ave Marie and this version (Trust me there are many, many versions of this song) is by Franz Schubert. The song and animation is extremely beautiful. I can’t think of another way to describe it. After the chaotic, dark but brightly colored dancing the soothing, blueish scene leading into the morning sun rise is a vast contrast and it so sweet. It some of the best animation out of the whole movie if you ask me.
If you saw Paw’s review of the movie he and Elisa think that Ave Maria was thrown in at the end as an ‘apology’ for all the pagan and demony stuff. I disagree. I think it was put in there for a purpose and the two pieces were put together for a reason. I’m sure they’re interpreted differently by different people but here are my two interpretations. The first is that no matter how powerful the powers of darkness may be, they always must flee from the light. The second one is a little harder to explain. I think they put the two together because it shows the ability that music, animation, art in general, has to express things in our world. It shows the art can be about the things that go bump in the night and darkness. It shows the things that scare us and it gives a way to express these things and explore them. At the same time it can be about the things that give us hope in the world and joy. It can give us a way to deal with the fears and light through the darkness. Basically it shows the duality of art.
Of course I could be over thinking this.
Well that’s my thoughts. Thanks Moviefan12 for letting me share them.
Moviefan12: Well, thank you everyone for joining me. 100 Music Fridays, I can't believe it. When this little segment started back on March 11th, 2011, it was solely created because I was writing so many music articles, that I wanted to set aside one day a week to talk about music. To be honest, when I started up Music Fridays, I never thought that it would reach 100. I mean sure, I've written somewhere between 400 - 500 articles but Music Fridays is something different. It's funny but I've always viewed Music Fridays as the most challenging and also at the same time most rewarding segment I write. Most challenging because trying to come up with a new theme for each week can be a bit of a challenge but also the most rewarding as I get to look at songs, that I may have never found otherwise. Other then The Revenge of Darkfan21, the Music Fridays cross overs are some of the most rewarding. Now I'll admit there are many great Music Fridays articles that I have done and plenty more planned in the future but this one ranks as one of my all time favorites. For my long time readers, what have been your favorite Music Fridays? And by the way, when I hit 200, we're doing Fantasia 2000.
I would end this with my usual peace but that's not enough fir this celebratory event plus I promised to reveal my # 1 Music Fridays, well I really don't have much to say except for thank to thank you to everyone that has ever collabed with me on a Music Fridays. Because, these are my all time favorite Music Fridays. And you know, I am actually going to take the time to list the names of everyone that has worked with me on a Music Fridays. BigBlackHatMan, Patrick_O on # 20 along with James, who also collabed with me # 27: Phil Collins, Dawn_Heart, who made her second appearance on Music Fridays as she also joined me on # 30 as we took a look at the songs of our childhood and she now made her third appearance on Music Fridays here and her fourth appearance on A Look at Disney overall. Les, who now made his second appearance on Music Fridays here and his third appearance on my series overall. It was way back on # 40, where we took a look at the music of Annette. And then on # 50, one I consider one of the lost series as I was during the period, I was leaving TGWTG but no matter, I owe thanks to CunningRunt, Jason On The House, Writizblok, DisneyOtoko, Infamous Jak or as he was going by back then, Dark Jak, who made his second MF appearance here today. And then there was # 60, where I was rejoined by DisneyOtoko as we went Under The Sea to look at the music of Atlantica. And on # 70, Jason joined me once again as we took a look the music of Disney on Broadway, that is after she stopped pretending to be an usher. Seriously, what was she thinking with that gag. Trying to lock me out of my own. thanks a lot, little sis. Then alexthed, joined me on # 80 as we took at Satchmo's takes on Disney classics. Well, that seems to be everyone. Don't think I forgot anyone, oh of course, thanks again to Les, Ratin8tnor, Infamous Jak, and Dawn_Heart for joining for the 100th Music Fridays. *someone whispers something into my ear* Oh yeah, almost forgot Darkfan21 interrupted Music Fridays # 90. I guess I should thank him for that one because I didn't have a topic set up for that particular entry. So thank you, it has been an honor to work with you guys on my favorite segment for A Look at Disney to write and thank you to anyone that has ever done a cross over with me. Be it here or on my other series. So, again thank you! Thank you to everyone because it was a combination of you, the readers enjoying these articles and me as the blogger enjoying writing them. I've certainly come a long since the first Music Fridays and here's to 100 more Music Fridays!
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