Fantasia

Fantasia
Released: November 13, 1940
Basis: See Notes
Synopsis: Eight pieces of classical music are performed and are told through various imagery. Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor features abstract imagery based on the instruments themselves, The Nutcracker Suite is depicted with various images of nature and faeries, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is played to a story featuring Mickey Mouse, The Rite of Spring shows the development of the earth, The Pastoral Symphony is host to a story based on Greek Mythology, The Dance of the Hours is represented by dancing animals, and Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria are paired to make a story of good triumphing over evil. Each part is introduced by Deems Taylor, a music critic and composer of the day.
Notes: I'm going to do this one a bit differently. Each piece will be separate entry below, excluding commentary to an aspect of the overall work, which will be included at the end.

• Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor 
• The piece itself was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in the early 1700s.
• The piece here is represented first by footage of the orchestra performing then by abstract imagery reflecting the instruments themselves and the instrumentation. Taylor notes that the piece never had a sort of story or imagery to it, hence the abstract imagery used here.
• There's not a whole lot for me to say here, though I will say that the abstract imagery here works well for its intended purpose - the lights and shapes dancing about the screen mimic the progression and nature of the notes.

• The Nutcracker Suite
• The Nutcracker Suite is composed of several movements from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker. The exact movements used tend to vary depending on the performance, but here the movements used are "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," "Chinese Dance," "Reed-Flutes," "Arabian Dance," "Russian Dance," and "Waltz of the Flowers."
• Respectively, the movements are represented by dew faeries, mushrooms, flower blossoms, goldfish, thistles and orchids, and frost and snow faeries. Taylor notes that these images were not part of the original intention of the piece.
• If you look closely at the mushrooms, you can see little Chinese braids in them. I thought that was cute.
• Not a whole lot for me to say on this one, either. I again really like how the art plays with the music. Mostly the opening movement - I really like the imagery with the dew faeries.

• The Sorcerer's Apprentice 
• The Sorcerer's Apprentice was composed by Paul Dukas in 1897. The song itself is based off Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poem "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."
• The animation is almost completely accurate to the original story - a sorcerer retires to his chambers after practicing magic, his apprentice attempts to use the sorcerer's magic to enchant a broom into doing his chores by dumping buckets of water into a well, the apprentice cannot control the broom as it overflows the well, the apprentice tries to stop it by chopping it to pieces, the pieces continue the work of the broom, the sorcerer must come down to stop the broom pieces, and the sorcerer chastises his apprentice. The main difference between the animation and the original poem are that the sorcerer gets angry at his apprentice while he originally only explained the dangers of magic. Well, that, and Mickey Mouse's role as the apprentice.
• The name for the Sorcerer is never given, though the animators apparently referred to him as "Yen Sid" ("Disney" backwards). I don't think this was made into his official name until Kingdom Hearts II.
• Towards the beginning, as the Sorcerer is performing magic, you can see a demon appear in the smoke. It vaguely resembles Chernabog, in my opinion.
• I never quite realized that the story was supposed to take place about 2,000 years ago, though you can see that in how the house and furniture are carved from stone, and in the very sparse furnishings of the domicile.
• For whatever reason, the water in the well is animated very realistically. It's somewhat off-setting.
• The sequence was originally going to show Mickey chopping the broom to bits, but the final release opted to represent it through shadows. I think it works better to imply rather than show.
• Apparently, the annoyed expression on Yen Sid's face is the exact face Disney used to make when he was annoyed with someone.
• There's a slight smirk on Yen Sid's face right before he kicks Mickey. I think he's somewhat amused at the whole matter, though still disappointed in Mickey.[/list]

• The Rite of Spring 
• The Rite of Spring was composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1913.
• The story of the song is usually told as a celebration of spring and an offering to the pagan God of Spring, but here it's represented by dinosaurs.
• Actually, both the original story and the animation here have similar themes. Both are celebrating the growth of the planet and mourning the death of its creatures for the course of its development. The former takes a more figurative approach to this theme while the latter takes a more literal interpretation by marking the formation of the earth.
• I note that at least once in the progression, the four classical alchemical elements can be seen actively participating in forming the earth - volcanoes spew out pillars of flame (fire), lava streams from the volcanoes (earth), oceans sweep over the cooling lava (water), gales whip up gigantic typhoons (wind). This is somewhat represented again later after the dinosaurs' extinction, with the cruel sun representing fire and the earthquakes representing earth.
• The progression of the earth's development is pretty accurate to today's theory behind it, if I remember my prehistorical studies from my younger days.
• Creatures featured in the dinosaur segment:  Plesiosaurs, Pliosaurs, Pterosaurs, Dimetrodons, Ankylosauria, Ceratopsia, Dromaeosaurids, Archaeopteryx, Sauropoda, Ornithomimosauria, Stegosaurus, various Hadrosaurids, Maiasaura, some other creatures I can't quite identify, and, of course, Tyrannosaurus.
• Of course, in the 70 years since the movie's release, our view of many of the dinosaurs represented have changed. I'll avoid commenting on some of the depictions of the creatures that would be considered inaccurate today (like the placement of sauropods in water and Tyrannosaurus' upright stance and three-fingered hands), but quite a few things are considered differently these days. Of course, this isn't to say that it's wrong; it's a representation of its contemporary understanding of things, and it's nevertheless an interesting segment.

• The Pastoral Symphony 
• "Pastoral Symphony" is another name for Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, which he completed in 1808.
• The original symphony is a celebration of the German countryside, but Taylor notes that Disney opted to make it a celebration instead of the Greek countryside, drawing upon Greek Mythology for its references.
• The animation for this segment stuck out for me. It seems to be more "cartoony" than the animation for the other segments, in contrast to the more stylized or more serious animation for the other pieces. The pegasi and unicorns, for example, make me think of the donkeys from Pinocchio. I think it's somewhat of a transitional phase for the animation department, as the human-looking characters make me think of some of the human characters from some of the upcoming 40s films in terms of how their faces look.
• At one point, the animation zooms in. It's not the shot - the animation itself is zoomed into. This is apparently to censor what was originally a very stereotypically racist centaurette. It was a bit distracting and noticeable, but it's understandable for this reason, as something like that... really doesn't make a lick of sense being in something that was supposed to be a high-art event. Apparently, they left in two other racist-looking centaurs, but I failed to notice them for being racist, despite being featured somewhat prominently.
• I love Bacchus and his donkey, Jacchus.
• The design they use for Zeus here vaguely resembles what they'd later use in Hercules. Which makes sense, but I thought that was interesting. He just looks a bit more mischievous and is represented by the color blue.
• Why does Hephaestus have a bucktooth? According to Classical Mythology, he's supposed to be deformed... but a bucktooth?
• One shot of the centaurs resting is, for whatever reason, done in an impressionist style. It's actually a very lovely shot, but it doesn't flow with the rest of the sequence.

• Dance of the Hours 
• Dance of the Hours is a sequence from Amilcare Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda, first performed in 1876.
• The original piece is supposed to represent the progression of time from morning to day to evening to night and into the new morning. The animation represents more or less the same thing, but it uses animal dancers instead of costumes to suggest the different phases of time - ostriches represent morning, hippos represent day, elephants represent evening, and alligators represent night.
• Still not a whole lot to talk about here. Still, I dunno, I really like the animal antics here. The choreography works with the slapstick in going with the music.

• Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria 
• Night on Bald Mountain was first composed by Modest Mussorgsky in 1867. Ave Maria the more commonly-known name of Franz Shubert's Ellens dritter Gesang, composed in 1825.
• Night on Bald Mountain is a song of evil dancing, making mischief, and celebrating in itself. Ellens dritter Gesang is actually part of Shubert's score for Sir Walter Scott's poem The Lady of the Lake - the sequence itself is the character Ellen praying to the Virgin Mary. 
• Though Ave Maria isn't used here exactly as it was originally used, that's the point - it's here to provide a deep contrast to Night on Bald Mountain. All the evils of the Devil (called Chernabog, Chernabog being an evil Slavic god - his name means "Black God") are driven back by the bells of Church and the power of prayer and repentance. The juxtaposition is beautifully effective.
• I really like the design of Chernabog as well as for the rest of the demons - the abstract, misshapen forms not especially common these days, and yet they're effectively scary. And Chernabog just looks cool.
• The landscape of the second half has subtle hints of church-like gothic architecture, like the bridge or the trees. It adds to the effect.

• Other
•  Fantasia doesn't have any formal credits to it - it has a cold opening, and it ends immediately after the Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria sequence. The closest it gets is during the...
• ...Intermission! As Fantasia was intended to be more of a high-art showing than a movie (think like an opera), that it has an intermission only makes sense.
• Of the orchestra gathered, I think there were only two female musicians, both of whom played harp.
• Mickey cameos after The Sorcerer's Apprentice to shake hands with the conductor, Leopold Stokowski. It's brief and nobody mentions it again.
• Also, while Taylor is trying to explain one of the songs, someone's instrument falls apart. I can't remember the name, but I think it was the Pipes. They focus on it for a few seconds, then Taylor gets back on track. It's never mentioned again, either.
• At the beginning of the second half, there's a brief segment before The Pastoral Scene, called Meet the Soundtrack. It's simply a line wavering to the sound of various instruments. These days, it's the same effect done by an image generator in any media player, but I don't think there was anything like it back in its day.

I liked Fantasia. It's not a traditional movie, but it's not supposed to be a traditional movie. The format and the idea behind it aren't going to appeal to everyone, but it's still a great piece of work. It plays up to my love for music, for me. Fantasia also obviously had a lot of work put into it, just from the idea to the animation styles. I suppose it falls in a niche, but in that niche, it sits at the top.

Next Up: Dumbo (November 13)