FMS-Blog : The Wildly Whimsical, Mostly Musical WebLog
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Disney Ideas
I've recently been downloading and watching a lot of Disney's past catalogue of movies in an effort to get a greater understanding of the kinds of things that are watched by the children that I teach singing to. I also thought that I might get some inspiration for songs that I could do with them, and Alan Menken has certainly provided a plethora of great material from so many of the more recent Disney productions to be going at.
Striking too is the vast range of issues and historical references that are covered in the various Disney movies, from the way in which we naturally grow apart from our parents (as dramatised in The Little Mermaid), through a moving account of bereavement in The Lion King, and a remake of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in the sequel to that movie, Simba's Pride, to a commentary on prejudice and the insanity of war in Pocahontas. So far, I've only covered a fraction of the films that Disney originally produced for children and it's true that the back catalogue does include some duds (such as High School Musical that is so sickly sweet it's frankly painful to watch) but the vast majority of these movies have been made to a very high standard indeed, cleverly thought out and excellently executed by the various production teams involved.
Even as an adult I have found many of the Disney movies both entertaining and at times moving in the extreme. The ideas conveyed are as relevant to past generations as they are to their intended audience of youngsters who will make up future societies, and I think there are many 'mature' people on this earth who could do worse than to take heed of the advice imparted by some of these Disney films. This is all too evident when I flick between listening to the following lyrics of the song Colours of the Wind and reading today's BBC news that tells of soldiers and civilians being killed on the battle fields of some Asian country or other:
Striking too is the vast range of issues and historical references that are covered in the various Disney movies, from the way in which we naturally grow apart from our parents (as dramatised in The Little Mermaid), through a moving account of bereavement in The Lion King, and a remake of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in the sequel to that movie, Simba's Pride, to a commentary on prejudice and the insanity of war in Pocahontas. So far, I've only covered a fraction of the films that Disney originally produced for children and it's true that the back catalogue does include some duds (such as High School Musical that is so sickly sweet it's frankly painful to watch) but the vast majority of these movies have been made to a very high standard indeed, cleverly thought out and excellently executed by the various production teams involved.
Even as an adult I have found many of the Disney movies both entertaining and at times moving in the extreme. The ideas conveyed are as relevant to past generations as they are to their intended audience of youngsters who will make up future societies, and I think there are many 'mature' people on this earth who could do worse than to take heed of the advice imparted by some of these Disney films. This is all too evident when I flick between listening to the following lyrics of the song Colours of the Wind and reading today's BBC news that tells of soldiers and civilians being killed on the battle fields of some Asian country or other:
You think the only people who are people
Are the people who look and think like you,
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew.
Are the people who look and think like you,
But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger
You'll learn things you never knew you never knew.
