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Rebecca Maisto
Film Theory
4/20/12
(Insert Profound Title Here)
The Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians defines fantasia in music
as a piece of instrumental music owning no restriction of formal construction ; but
the direct product of the composers impulse (Grove & Fuller, 1920). When Walt
Disney released his feature film Fantasia in the United States in 1941, many
critics from film and music scrutinized Fantasia for its controversial imagery,
metaphors and simplification of classical art forms (Smoodin, 1994). In order to
further understand Fantasia from a theoretical standpoint, the Frankfurt Schools
ideas of authority, the concept of modern aesthetics, and finally medium specificity
will be analyzed.
In the 1930s when Walt Disney was living in Los Angeles , the now urban
metropolis was still farmland and really not considered metropolitan at all. Los
Angeles was made up of immigrants and as a whole, was in search of a cultural
identity. Disney reflects this need for identity, union and respect in Fantasia
through its bountiful references and scenery of ethnic and historical diversity

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throughout the film. In a broader scale, Disney also implies loosely defined notions
of American popular mass culture in many scenes (Willis, 1987).
Fantasia delivers modernist aesthetics due to its scenes subjects matter
and meanings. The presence of high culture and low culture mingling is prevalent
throughout the entire film. The most perfect example of this occurrence of figures
embodying modernist aesthetics is when Mickey Mouse mounts the conductors
podium and shakes hands with the flesh-and-blood Leopold Stokowski. This scene
is more than a blend of animation and live action photography, though. In a sense,
it symbolizes Fantasias hidden meanings. The conductor is a symbol for high
art, Europe, tradition and cultural maturity. Mickey Mouse is the symbol for the
United States opposition. The handshake is indicative of the union of high art and
American popular mass culture forms, such as Mickey Mouse, which is a
modernist concept. Why would Disney do this? Basically, Disney produced mass
culture high art (Willis, 1987).
Mass cultures function is to lift elite forms out of their historical and social
context, and Disney is notorious for doing the latter in his animations . For example,
Rite of Spring was severely edited to suite the order of real geological time .
The classical ballet dances are full of simplified jumps and deformed steps in order
to suit the slapstick requirements of early animation. In sum, traditional culture

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forms are transformed into mass culture forms . We cannot forget that Disney was
an entrepreneur for the most part and not an artist (Smoodin, 1994). Because of
this, he could not help but hollow out art, and simplify art as a series of signifiers
and signs (Willis, 1987).
Modernism expresses a multiplicity of attitudes and techniques. Broadly
speaking, there is an accumulative drawing of attention to the modes of
representation themselves. Instead of attempting to represent the world, thoughts,
feelings and relationships in which people know, the modernist author and/or
artist struggles to draw attention to the way representation categorizes our
frequently different experiences and understandings of the world. For this reason,
art and writing becomes less like a way to viewing something else, and more like
something you have to take notice of for its own existence.
Modernist elements are prevalent throughout Fantasia. The film truly
walked the aesthetic line between modernism and sentimental realism . Disney
sentimental realism was enacted to inhibit the development of ideas that might
make the audience question their relation to what is natural in the Earth .
Another view is that Disneys animation was not realistic enough . Many writers

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criticize Disney for giving sanitized and sweetened images of nature (Whitley,
2008).
In continuance with modernism and sentimental realism, the opening
scenes of Fantasia embody these trends perfectly. During Johann Sebastian Bachs
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, a musically inspired series of images dances
across the screen. Near pure abstractions of vibrant colors, swirling forms melting
into each othe, and a barely existent violin bow are seen. These non-figurative
abstractions are purely a modernist idea. The opening scenes are followed by a
parade of delightful modernist images, including dancing mushrooms in
Nutcracker Suite, the dark magic of the Master Wizard, and the relentless
marching of the many brooms in Sorcerers Apprentice. The ironic hilarity of
dainty hippo ballerinas in Dance of the Hours is the final modernist component
(Watts, 1995).
Among the modernist elements seen in the film the most dominant are
abstraction, the mingling of unlikely or random images, interspersing of high and
low cultures, the contact between intellect and emotion, and the mingling of
seriousness and humorous satire. In the last two scenes of Fantasia, a couple of

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drastically different musical pieces are used to inspire the animation. Modest
Petrovich Moussorgskys Night on Bald Mountain and Franz Schuberts Ave
Maria are the two pieces of music conveyed. The scenes as a whole represent the
cosmic battle between virtuous good and malicious evil. The evil aspect is
represented by the Satanic being throwing souls and vampires into a pit of
ferocious fire during Night on Bald Mountain, as the audience is simultaneously
confronted with dark and particularly sinister music. Then, the scene ends, as a
dark and steamy forest is unveiled, with the morning sun rising behind its trees
that are filled with dozens of priests carrying candles in a perfectly straight line .
The clashing subject matter in these two scenes presents a dramatic aspect of
modernist thought (Watts, 1995).
Walt Disney claimed that caricatures created a subconscious association as
it invokes scenes the audience may have felt, dreamt or seen. In short, Disney
aimed to combine abstraction and realism in order to move the audience towards
modernity, which emphasized appeal towards the unconscious and irrational .
Fantasia wanted to show the fantastic, the unreal, the imaginative, according to
Walt Disney in a 1935 memo. Disney wanted to bring the audiences
imaginations to life. In the end, critics discerned Disneys hybrid modernist

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aesthetic (realism to make fantasy persuasive) as the appeal to the audiences
irrational and subconscious mental life (Watts, 1995).
The way, in which Disneys style consists of perceived cultural truths in the
form of the folktale, can be seen as replicating vivacity through an artificial and
industrial process. Bizarrely, Disneys modernity lies in his ability to preserve and
maintain old preindustrial conceptions of the artist and artwork. He does this by
rendering invisible the implements and materials of films industrial development
(Langer, 1990). Other writers, such as Paul Wells, are more indecisive about the
matter at hand. Wells concluded that while Disney fixed an aesthetic style that
was intrinsically bound up with conservatism , consensus, and conciliation
(Whitley, 2008), he also used modernist elements in his aesthetic to speak towards
contemporary agendas in art and writing of the time, including expressionism and
montage.
Fantasia encompasses expressionism by depicting objective reality rather
than subjective emotions and reactions that things arouse in the artist. Distortion,
exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy through an array of formal elements are
traits of expressionism (Emerling, 2005), which Fantasia comprises as well

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through vivid animations. Spontaneity and self-expression are descriptive of
expressionism in art, and the application of it to Fantasia (Smoodin, 1994).
The second element of modernism that Fantasia has is montage . The
production of a succession of images in the film to illustrate an association and
comparison of ideas is a characteristic of montage (Emerling, 2005). In the Rite of
Spring, dinosaurs are seen gasping for their last breaths, immediately followed by
flashes of earthquakes and smoking mountains, and finally dust implying that the
dinosaurs have passed (Leong, 2003). The idea of multiple images forming one
composite image and idea is ideal of the montage artfulness in film.
Additionally, the fact that Fantasia has no sequential story line or plot
(Benzon, 2011) is an exceptionally modernist aesthetic. The originality of the film
hindered its money making capabilities; Fantasia did not break even with the
budget until the 1960s- over twenty years after it was first released. Music critics
hated it, film critics were speechless, and the audience simply ignored Fantasia
(Benzon, 2011).
Peter Wholens alternative aesthetics explain Fantasias bizarre and
unusual story line, or more appropriately, lack thereof. Predominantly, narrative

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instransivity expresses the film. There is a complete absence of plot and narrative,
leaving the audience in a confused or investigative state while watching the film .
Unlike strictly realist film Fantasia leaves viewers with questions and loose
judgments (Stam, Alternative Aesthetics). Fantasia is much like an abstract
expressionist painting. It confronts you, makes you question it and yourself and
leaves you in a state of bewilderment, which are all affects of modern artistic
production (Emerling, 2005).
Finally, Disneys style consists of perceived cultural truths in the form of
folktales, which are the opposites of each other due to modernity and its
advancements. Folktales are lovely and enchanting, while modernity and life in
America in the early 20th century was unforgiving and brutal due to harsh
economic standards. Fantasia replicates life through an artificial process and
lens; He gives us realism as well as fantasy. Surprisingly, Disneys modernity lies
in his capability to preserve preindustrial and pre-modern conceptions of the artist
by rendering invisible the tools and materials of films industrial process (Whitley,
2008).
The Frankfurt School shared the same common interest in how cultures
shapes individuals and collectives, and was incredibly pessimistic about

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contemporary culture and its affects (Hollows & Jancovich, 1995). The film
Fantasia reveals the formation of culture industry as well as threatening
authoritative figures. In short, the Frankfurt School hated authority and the
culture industry. Walt Disney is ultimately the hypothetical king of turning
movies and old tales into cheap toys, amusement parks, and gimmicks (King,
2005).
Further, Leopold Stokowski embodies artistic mastery, domination, and
functions as the world of music mirroring Disney as the world of animation .
Stokowski is seen in all bridge passages between animation scenes, and is literally
the narrative glue. Appropriately, he is seen as a silhouette, and in turn his
personality is emptied. The composer brings order to the tuning up orchestra,
enhancing his image of domination and the need for art becoming centralized
production (Willis, 1987).
The idea of art becoming centralized reproduction and the product of an
elite force instead of an individual or collective group of reason is extended by the
Frankfurt Schools supposed culture industry. Basically, the culture industry
describes culture as a commercial product, with culture including the arts,
literature, politics etc. The Frankfurt School saw the culture industry as extremely

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debilitating and even evil (Hollows & Jancovich, 1995). Fantasia clearly turns
classical figures into mass culture ideas through sentimental realism , but one must
wonder if this is actually debilitating to human thought and action .
The appearances of authoritative figures are seen throughout Fantasia as
well. The interesting aspect is that the predictability of the film is reciprocal to the
audiences expectations. In the Sorcerers Apprentice scene, Mickey is obviously
the slave of the Master Wizard. Mickey borrows the Master Wizards hat and
magical spell book, and then orders a broom to grow legs and carry out his chores
of bringing water to a fountain. Of course, Mickey falls asleep from boredom of
ordering his slave broom around, and awakens to a flooded room. When he
attempts to destroy the broom it multiplies, and the flooding worsens, as he cannot
control his slaves. The multiplication of a single animated event transforms the
master/slave relationship into a horrible image of a modern factory production
where low life proletariat threatens to destroy an entire operation. In the end ,
Mickeys salvation only comes once the Master Wizard returns, symbolizing the
need for authority. The Master Wizard is even displayed in a paternal sense, as he
is shown spanking Mickeys behind with the ruined broom (Willis, 1987) .

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In Pastoral, an angry, tired Zeus appears from a cloud to chastise unruly
humans. Satan tortures skeletons in hell during A Night on Bald Mountain . The
tyrannical character is exploited in Rite of Spring, as a tyrannosaurus-rex
devouring weak and scurrying lesser dinosaurs. And the insensible comic in the
form of a dancing alligator appears in Dance of the Hours. These scenes
distinguish between fatherly (Zeus), tyrannical (Tyrannosaurus Rex) and unholy
(Satan) authority figures, and in the end reaffirms the need for domination (Willis,
1987).
From authoritative references, discrepancies in race are widespread in
Fantasia as well. During Pastoral color coded centaurs are seen coupling off.
At the end of the coupling scene, the best example of the importance of color in
relationships is shown. As a sad blue centaur wonders about, looking at all the
centaurettes, which are for some reason not good enough for him, he stumbles
upon a blue centaurette. The only instance of color mixing in Pastoral is among
the Pegasuses. There is a black one and a white one, which have multi colored
offspring. This can be seen as a comparison between human racial purity and
animal primitivism. To top it all off, African zebra centaurettes are shown escorting

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Bacchus later in the scene, which once again, is also a gesture indicative of high and
low cultures associating (Willis, 1987).
The Frankfurt School argued that mass-produced culture makes the
audience passive and easy to manipulate in turn (Miller, 2000). The pleasurable
idea of getting lost in a movie and vegging out on the couch were seen as worse
than Nazis at one point. One critic, Toby Miller, argued that class is important in
viewing film because it affects how we relate to the visual imagery. In support of
this notion, consider how one views a person they have just met once they hear
their accent or notice something about their clothing. For instance, a certain fashion
style or accent can make or ruin a relationship. But, how does film relate to culture?
Basically, people that create the media we consume must be perceived as artists, as
well as workers. If they are not perceived in this way, then no one will see their
media as legitimate and worthy (Miller, 2000). When applying Millers thoughts to
Fantasia, one must consider the multiplicity of scenes that show authority . As I
described before, Pastoral, Rite of Spring, Night on Bald Mountain, and the
Sorcerers Apprentice are all examples of classic authoritative occurrences.
The final theoretical approach to be employed when analyzing Fantasia is
the idea of medium specificity. When Fantasia was first released, many classical

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music composers, music critics, and film critics scrutinized the film for stepping
out of the mediums supposed boundaries (Watts, 1995). Walt Disney once stated,
In my business wed say it another way . We say that the public- that is, the
audience- would always recognize and appreciate quality. It was this faith in the
discrimination of the average person that led us to make such a radically different
type of entertainment as Fantasia. We simply figured that if ordinary folk like
ourselves could find entertainment in these visualizations of so-called classical
music, so would the average audience (Clague, 2004).
Many scholars see Fantasia as a break through multimedia, though, one in
particular being Nicholas Cook. He aimed to create a generalized theoretical
framework for the analysis of multimedia. His definition of multimedia is a
medium, which begins as music and moves away from it towards other media . He
specifically notes that the Rite of Spring sequence exemplifies music film,
which he specifies as a genre which begins with music, but in which the
relationships between sound and image are not fixed and immutable but variable
and contextual, and in which dominance is only one of a range of possibilities . It
is interesting to notice that Cook sees Rite of Spring as its own genre. Cook

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proposes that the sequence is not only defined by the music from which it
originated, and also that the combination of visuals and music in Rite of Spring
creates an entirely new entity or genre. He firmly believes that this new entity or
genre is worthy of analytic attention, which he devotes towards it. Cook described
the Rite of Spring sequence as the construction of a fundamentally new
experience, one whose limits are set neither by Stravinsky nor even by Disney .
But by anybody who watches- and listens- to it. In sum, Cooks idea raises
Fantasia up to a new level and standard for music film (Leong, 2003).
The notion of sound and image as a unified whole has deep roots in the
history of film theory. Rudolph Arnheim stated, a combination of media that has
no unity will appear intolerable (Leong, 2003). He only valued media which had
elements that conform to one another in a way that creates unity as a whole , but
the separateness of the different elements in the media remain evident . Another
critic, Scott Paulin, stated the need for unity, totality, continuity, fusion of some
form among disparate elements, is crucial to the media . In addition to the need
to create the impression of internal unity within both the images and the
soundtrack separately, the two tracks must also cohere as to invite perception as a

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unified whole (Leong, 2003). Basically, he is saying the soundtrack and visuals
must relate somehow, in order to bear relations of appropriateness and realness to
one another. I believe famous soundtrack scene in Fantasia attempts to denote
these ideas of unity between image and sound. The scene may be too literal for
some critics taste, as a line that resembles a current day audio visualizer represents
the soundtrack. Yet, I see this as a tasteful acknowledgement by Fantasia,
shedding light on the crucial need of the soundtrack mingling with visual imagery
well.
Referring back to the Rite of Spring sequence, some critics see it as a
horrible chasm between unity of music and visual imagery (McN, 1941). The
sequences blend between Disneys animation and Stokowskis soundtrack does not
create a fundamentally new experience, as Cook claimed, but rather an
apprehensive melting pot of cartoons and audio in which the pieces do not fit
together at all (Leong, 2003). In order to understand why some critics feel this way,
it must be noted that the musical piece Rite of Spring by itself, was originally the
mastery of composer Stravinsky. Stokowski manipulated the song by cutting it ,
reordering it and re-orchestrating it in specific parts . As a result, the re-cut song

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succumbs considerably from the original musical piece by Stravinsky . Any music
critic would be offended by the rendering of the original piece in order to make an
attempt at fitting the audio and visual imagery together nicely (Leong, 2003).
In 1941, the Musical Times reviewed Fantasia, and had mixed reactions. In
the review, was made evident that not all sequences in the film are impressive to
the musical community. The review begins with the acknowledgement that the
audience is recommended to dismiss the idea that the artist has come to meet
them on their own ground (McN, 1941). Over all, the review is only satisfied with
three of the eight sequences in the film. Coming from a music critics view , the
Casse-Noisette sequence of dancing flowers and fauna is too supercharged with
Disneys technique, leaving the music scarcely present in its own character. It is
also stated that if viewing the sequence from a strictly Disney standpoint, it is
highly successful. In contrast, the review sees the Sorcerers Apprentice as highly
successful in uniting audio and visual imagery, stating, Its as if Dukass little
masterpiece had been waiting all these years for Disney to complete it (McN,
1941). The review also praises The Rite of Spring for placing the musical piece
as an indisputable masterwork, as the music fits the animation ideally. The
Pastoral sequence is reviewed as an outstanding failure. It is made clear that

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the strong and overpowering music is too intense to be coupled with Olympus and
centaurs (McN, 1941). The assumption can be made that imagery is not always
essential to music, and vice versa.
When applying each method of criticism to Fantasia, many questions of
relativity arose, as well as a plentiful amount of information and documentation to
be analyzed and broken down. Although all of three of the theories I chose to
apply to the film were helpful, one was clearly more appropriate than the other
two. From the research I have conducted and applied to Fantasia, the Frankfurt
Schools negative and pertinent thoughts about authority and film were the most
relevant. I believe this for a few reasons. One being that The Frankfurt School arose
around the same time Fantasia was created. The second reason I think this is
because the Frankfurt School was entirely scholarly, and diverse in thought while
still holding a certain sameness about them. The Frankfurt School ranged from
scholars such as Walter Benjamin as well as well as Bertolt Brecht. Both of these
scholars were considered part of the modernist movement (Emerling, 2005) , and
many of their theories are taught in relation to modernism currently .

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When I applied the Frankfurt Schools ideas to Fantasia, many of their
outlooks on film conflicted with Fantasias continuing themes , such as the need
for authority. When one steps back and views Fantasia from an artistic
perspective, these elements and themes stick out like sore thumbs . Since I have
discussed Fantasia as having modernist aesthetics , I am going to consider that
the film was a part of the modernist movement. I have also concluded that
Fantasia reflects modernist ideas and developments, or more so reacts to those
changes at the time.
In order to understand what I mean by the film reacting to those supposed
elements I mentioned before as modernity, one must first understand what exactly
modernism is. In simple terms, modernism is a response to modernity. It can be
negative or positive, and is based around the idea of never one cause and never one
effect. As discussed earlier, the idea of placing things such as high and low culture
together were prevalent in this social and artistic movement as well . Other aspects
of modernism include universalism, cubism, Marxist ideas and no ideals . The idea
of simplicity is completely excluded from modernism, appropriately. The

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construction of creating different relationships within time is also a key concept in
modernism (Emerling, 2005).
In a variety of ways, Fantasia exhibits many modernist philosophies. The
most resilient being the relationships between contrasting sounds , animation,
subject matter, and the construction of different relationships throughout time . The
Frankfurt school is tied to modernity because of its scholars and the similarity of
their beliefs to the art being produced at the time. An example would be the
painters Edouard Manet, or even Paul Cezanne. Both were tied to modernist ideas,
and reacted to modernity, which is key in making my point (Emerling, 2005). The
Frankfurt school despised modernity, and artists living in modernity simply
reacted to it, creating a connection. Artists, including filmmakers such as Walt
Disney all reacted to the changing world around them, which was becoming more
and more contemporary every day. It may sound like modernism is more
appropriate when analyzing Fantasia, but the Frankfurt School described the
reaction to modernity, which is more important in my eyes.
I found myself going in circles as I considered these notions. On one hand ,
the Frankfurt school should like Fantasia for its abstract nature and usage of
alternative and modernist aesthetics. Fantasia breaks all sorts of rules, or

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supposed rules at the time. But, at the same time Fantasia placed mythical and
folk worlds and characters into the Frankfurt Schools idea of the culture industry .
Basically, Disney sold out the idea of mythology and classical music and ballet.
Or at least, that is what the Frankfurt School might think. With that being said , one
can understand why The Frankfurt School may have had a hard time judging
Fantasia without talking in circles.
Of course, it must not be forgotten that the Frankfurt School was not fond of
Hollywood and film at all, due to their unfortunate witnessing of the Holocaust
and Hitler (Stam, Film Theory An Introduction). Also, much of Fantasia displays
scenes of pure spectacle, and the original idea of Fantasound is quite spectacular,
too. Bertolt Brecht, a member of the Frankfurt School would not have seen these
traits as impressive, yet he may have seen the abstract animation scenes as
impressive, since they invoked thought and the strange (Miller, 2000). Walter
Benjamins ideas lead me to say that Fantasia is the perfect example of classical
art and ideas losing their auras due to the technological reproducibility of the film
Fantasia. But, he would also possibly think Fantasia was brilliant because of

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the extent to which Walt Disney took films mechanical capabilities, which much of
the Frankfurt School overlooked (Emerling, 2005).

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