variety.com: When directors Dan Abraham and Trent Corey were preparing “Once Upon a Studio,” their animated tribute to 100 years of Disney animation, they knew they wanted two musical elements: Cliff Edwards, as Jiminy Cricket, singing “When You Wish Upon a Star,” and songwriter Richard Sherman playing piano for “Feed the Birds.”
4 comments:
I don’t think anyone understands how much I love the idea of once upon a studio. I have yet to watch it but I am so excited for when I do. I think it is so cool that there is a movie that brings together all of disney’s animated characters and shows how they were created and walks us through the studio. I have seen a clip of part of it and it really intrigued me and kind of made my inner child melt. The music of Disney is also insanely good. Learning about all the background and when things were created is crazy, like Little Mermaid being 1989 is kind of insane in my brain. I talked about how important music is to the media in another comment but I have to emphasize it here as well. Without the music in Disney movies we would be lacking many Broadway musicals and I am so glad I got to grow up with Disney and their music.
I will say that I am not a big Disney adult. I don’t love going to the parks, but Disney movies do hold a sense of nostalgia to me and, I think, a lot of other people. That is a big part of what makes Disney so iconic and relevant to today’s media and society. The same songs that you can hear today on Disney radio are the same, or renditions of the same, songs. They are passed down from generations with parents showing their children their favorite movies and the cycle continues. Disney has done something incredible which is to shift as the world shifts and make sure their media stays relevant while marketing new ideas as they come out and mass-producing goods for children and adults. They also reinvent the old pieces of media that the older generations have fallen in love with. This is what brings the reemergence and invention of movies like A Little Mermaid, it keeps the same story but gives a fresh take for multiple generations to love.
I'm obviously biased when I read things about disney because it was my childhood, but i really enjoyed this article because it is al;ways interesting to see how and why influential art has come into my life. I know not everyone thinks of disney as an “art” and in fact some people boycott it, i still think it is worth acknowledging the fact that these composers and writers have touched the lives of literally millions of people. You hear some of their tunes and it just brings you back immediately to what you felt when you watched and interacted with those films for the first time. It's “childrens” movies and a lot of people don't look at them as more than that but children grow into adults and adults are formed in their childhoods. I think that is why it's important now to look back at those old films and see the ways they contributed to our mindsets. For good or for bad these films have shaped countless of children's ideals and dreams and i think its important to see where they came from as well as realizing the significance of the media we interact with as a children.
I didn’t engage in Disney movies much as a kid - I had a weird fear of talking animals that took just about every princess movie off the table - and thus, don’t have the Disney childhood nostalgia many do. This being said, I stumbled across the humble Walt Disney Museum while touring an old military fort in San Francisco a few years ago and have since grown much more appreciation for Disney. I find it interesting how Disney continuously uses the same composers. While not technically, it feels as though Menken, Lopez, and now Miranda are almost Disney “composers in residence”. I feel as though reusing the same composers really aids Disney in creating their brand. While less noticeable than the big Disney D or mickey ears, every composer does have a style and maintaining this style across movies gives a familiarity to a film one has never even seen before. Knowing Disney, this choice is definitely intentional and the iconic Disney composers have solidified the brand alongside the parks, movies, and Disney ``magic”!
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