No, but poor choice of wording in retrospect |
This guy right here |
Now we get to "Pastoral Symphony" by Beethoven, the only segment edited for future versions.
-Breathes deeply- "1940 standards... 1940..." |
Ah yes, the "centaurettes", blue, pink, green... and black stereotypes! Kinda makes me wish they just stuck with the unicorns and pegasus from the beginning to end.
Hey it's a good show (until the later seasons, but still all right, don't knock it till you try it) |
We cut to the centaurettes (I thought centaurs was a unisex term, but let's just go with it) bathing as they prepare for mating season, I suppose.
-checks IMDB- ok, this is rated G |
So we have these little cherubs flying around to help the girls get dolled up before they meet their dates.
Still less ridiculous than some of the hats royalty has worn |
There we go |
I understand why Disney has permanently edited Sunflower out of Fantasia, but it doesn't erase the fact that she existed at all. The Internet is a thing and sweeping it under the rug just makes the company an easier target. The 2006 Saturday Night Live animated sketch, "Journey into the Disney Vault" mocks the cheap Disney sequels being churned out at the time, Walt Disney's cryogenically frozen head, the "original, more racist" version of Song of the South, and there's a picture of Sunflower in the background, among other things. I still remember that short after all these years because its dark satire was so anti-Disney (and I found it so hilarious). I was a teenager and Disney was pretty meh at that time with their latest feature being Chicken Little (usually compared with Home on the Range for overall worst Disney canon movie).
Warner Bros has done a better job on dealing with the racism presented in their cartoons from the past with this disclaimer proceeding them.
So everyone gets paired up by color, (I'll leave you to conclude whatever you want) and the girls' funny hats disappear for some reason. Bacchus, god of wine, arrives and now this party can finally get started.
Ok, it would've harder to edit out the zebra girls and have no one notice that |
The penultimate piece is Dance of the Hours from the opera, La Gioconda. Some of you may know it from the Allan Sherman song, "Hello Muddah Hello Faddah". This is how I know the music.
What is it with puppies and classical music that appeals so much to me?
And for the pièce de résistance, Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" probably second in fame to Sorcerer's Apprentice, but again Disney is stuck in a rut trying to promote this as a kids' movie. This segment even has boobs (with nipples, ooh la la) for a split second.
Mammary glands aside, the real star of the show is
Disneyland version here, because west coast represent yo (I'm just gonna assume kids still use yo)
Deems Taylor sets the scene as Walpurgis Night, an equivalent of Halloween, when evil creatures gather under their master. Walpurgis Night is the English translation of Walpurgisnacht, the German name of April 30th, the day before May Day. I've always thought it was a gathering of witches (because that's what anime taught me).
Also name of the boss enemy of magical girls in Puella Magi Madoka Magica (trying saying that 3 times, but seriously watch this anime) |
Like a boss |
If I took a shot every time I saw a kid in a Frozen costume trick or treating, I would've had alcohol poisoning |
The people did come in droves to watch Fantasia. Disney released it as a roadshow attraction across the country (basically what we have with limited engagements in major cities before wide releases, usually for Oscar-bait movies that want to make the deadlines) because this was something special, something classier for the public to enjoy. Unfortunately, with all the expenses associated with the movie from the setup for the Fantasound system, the leasing for theaters, and that thing called World War II cutting off the European market, Fantasia was even more of a financial loss for Disney than Pinocchio.
That is a damn shame because Fantasia was more for the adults, but like today Disney was more well known for making movies appropriate for children and this movie was never going to become a hit on the scale of Snow White. Gone were the hopes of reinventing and re-releasing Fantasia for years to come. Fantasia 2000 seemed more like, eh it's the new millennium, we've made boatloads of money in the 90's, let's finally make one (and never make another again).
Final thoughts: Fantasia's different, it's classy, it's high art, and... it's not quite my cup of tea.
You philistine! |
Here's the thing though, we do have something like Fantasia today. Animated pieces set to music, check, re-released constantly with new material added and old material edited out, check. Classical music, um... no, but how about Disney music?
World of Color, yo (maybe if I use it enough times, it'll be cool again) |
That's Pixar, not Disney! (For the record, Merida is an official Disney Princess)
Chernabog + fireballs = awesome
This is hands down my favorite version of "Let it Go"
Some Tron Legacy here to add in some live-action into the mix, also Daft Punk
Walt never got a chance to have Fantasia turn out the way he wanted it to, but between the Walt Disney Concert Hall and stuff like World of Color, I'd say he'd be pretty pleased with the way things did turn out.
Oh thank baby Jesus, something harmless with no controversy like raci- |
Damn it |