The 1940 Fantasia, Term Paper Example

An Education in Entertainment Prioritization:

Despite the fact that seventy years have now passed since the original release, the 1940 version of Fantasia remains the only film of its kind. Besides being an introduction to the finer points of music as well as some of the most famous music of classical and contemporary composers, it inspired a whole new outlook on layering animated sequences and music.

The prestigious musical roster in the original Fantasia was as follows: Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor by Sebastian Bach, The Nutcracker Suite by Vladimir Iliyich Tchikovsky, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas, The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky, Sixth Symphony (Pastorale) by Ludwig von Beethoven, Dance of the Hours, from La Gioconda, by Amilcare Ponchielli, Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Muggorsky, and Ave Maria by Franz Schubert. The musical selections were sorted into three categories: “music that tells a definite story, music that paints a series of pictures, and “absolute music” – music that exists for its own sake”. The story-telling and picture series approaches can both be combined into a category known as programmatic music. We will view these operative definitions as they apply in each segment.

Although most of the 1940 Fantasia was created from music that was programmatic in nature, the Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor, which opens the concert film, is a very freeform presentation that is representative of the nature of the absolute categorization. Like the creation of the music itself, the Toccatta is a hodgepodge of live-action colors, shapes, and movements. As the audience would find frequency-based visualizations or other skins on most modern computer-based media players, the Toccatta incorporates the movement of waves, lines, and circles into a free-for-all of sub consciousness.

On the other hand, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite was created around a highly detailed and fanciful plot of fairies, talking toys, flowers, and dancing fish. The original, full-length composition was divided into six different movements, each with a very different sound. For the purposes of the film- instead of selecting one movement- the creative powers that be chose to arbitrarily select small iconic sections and force them into another storyline in the spirit of the original work. While the spirit of the storyline was preserved, the soul of the work did not make the transition.

The most famous piece (and the only one included in the newer version as well) was Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. This piece illustrates the failing of the previous one: botching a revamp of another’s art can be disastrous. This programmatic piece was formed around the poet Goethe’s interpretation of a fairy tale in which an eager apprentice attempts sorcery before his training is complete. Fantasia’s bright-eyed and bushy-tailed apprentice is none other than the beloved cartoon character Mickey Mouse. Naturally this brings a light-hearted flair to the presentation which the music itself does not fully reflect, but the depiction of the sorcerer is intimidating, dark, and spot-on.

The animation of The Rite of Spring also possesses a duality. Stravinsky had intended for this composition “to express primitive life” (Dirks 2010, 2). However, instead of sticking to the tribal and pagan influences that Stravinsky actually had in mind, the creators of Fantasia took a literal interpretation of this intent and ran with it. Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring entailed a young woman being offered up to the god of spring; Fantasia’s The Rite of Spring entailed a less ominous, more scientific depiction of space, water, dinosaurs, and various Darwinian concepts. Perhaps these changes can be attributed to political, scientific, and philosophic shifts of the 1940’s which regarded evolution in a whole new light, but the changes make the music of this piece the sacrifice to the film’s god of springing forward in time.

After such a drily scientific rendition came a thematic piece on the very opposite side of the creativity spectrum, Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. It is famous with most (and infamous with some) for being one of a very small number of his compositions which was written to a specific story concept- what exactly the Greek gods and goddesses do in their spare time on Mount Olympus. At last, the movie seems to fall into complete accord with the intent of the works. There is nothing disjointed about the Fantasia’s representation of Beethoven’s Sixth. The audience can assume that the perfect match achieved in this piece was that which was intended for the film in general.

Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours, for example, was written as part of one of the most famous operas, La Gioconda. Instead of embracing this colorful past, Fantasia uses animal humor in time to Ponchielli’s segment to satirize the very genre which it belonged to. The religious and emotional depth which was laced throughout the opera were shortened into frenzied musical tidbits accompanied by dancing ostriches, hippopotami, elephants, and alligators. Perhaps the most telling satirical commentary was in the form of a female hippo of large proportions putting on too much make-up and being helped to her feet. Ponchielli would have cringed.

The last two segments are presented as connected, but they are two pieces: Modest Muggorsky’s Night on Bald Mountainand Franz Schubert’s Ave Maria. The eldritch, sinister creeping shadow was true to the celebration of the witch’s sabbath around which it was formed. With a Russian poem as inspiration and a Russian composer as the visionary, the Disney animators saw fit to incorporate aspects of the Slavic god of evil into their depiction of the blanketing darkness of the witch’s sabbath. The world, the witches, and the movie end in a peaceful coexistence in the religious harmony of Ave Maria. Candles and cathedrals bring peace to the pagan turmoil and bring a conclusion to the film.

As we have demonstrated, no single piece of animation or music in the concert film Fantasia is entirely true to the concept of programmatic music. Rather, the creators used the composers’ structure as a spring-board to what they probably believed were bigger and better things. However, the concert film presents several samples of programmatic music which were not in concert with the animated sequences designed for them. In the end, perhaps the biggest insult to injury was that the movie was rediscovered as a favorite movie to view while under the influence. That speaks volumes about the victor in this concert film’s music versus animation showdown.

Works Cited

Dirks, Tim. “Fantasia (1940).” The Greatest Films. American Movie Classics, 2010. Web. 30 Jul 2010. <http://www.filmsite.org/fant2.html>.