Fantasia

Fantasia is a colorful Disney classic that combines great musical works and corresponding, elaborate images. Walt Disney’s supreme creativity truly shows in the movie as he takes classic songs such as Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria and blends them with cleverly drawn up characters that enact the music in each of the “skits”. Night on Bald Mountain and Ave Maria are the two final acts of this master piece. In Night on Bald Mountain, Disney portrays a large demon raising the dead and toying with other demons as the orchestra plays a rapid string segment. Ave Maria is a very tranquil segment in which flutes are playing as parades of people march through the woods into a paradise with a raising sun. The two seem connected, however, in that at the end of the demon’s tormenting of the smaller demons, church bells are chiming in the background that seem to put the demon at bay and return him into the mountain from which he came. The scene then moves to the march of people walking off into the forest with the church bells still chiming which gives the effect of a victory. If looked at as one connected segment, it is easy to break it down into a conflict, climax, and resolution. The conflict is the period of time while the demon is toying with the smaller demons, the climax is the church bells defeating the demon, and the resolution is the people walking into the paradise. One may ponder how it came to be that these images where drawn up to go along with the music. Where there hours of deliberations amongst a team of artists? Or was it just a quick sketch off the top of one mans head? One perceives the music corresponding with the images in three subsections of this segment of the movie: a conflict, climax, and resolution.

In the opening of the being of Night on Bald Mountain, spooky music plays as a large demon rises from a greenish glowing mountain and proceeds to raise the dead out of the cemetery and open the gates of hell as smaller demons crawl out form fiery canyons. Darkness then begins to take over the small near by town as the demons begin to dance with the fire, as the music begin to progress to a rapid string ensemble. The viewer watches as the larger demon “conducts” his dancing devils and then the music calms to a soft flute as flames dance in the palm of the demons hands. The creators of Fantasia show their ingenious side when creating this masterpiece. The spooky entrance music gives the viewer a feeling of suspense as the scene shows a dark town and a green, eerie looking mountain. Then as the music picks up the viewer sees the mountain transform into the giant demon as he spreads his wings to show his might. This feeling of anticipation sticks with the viewer as he watches the demon play necromancer, as he calls forth, from the cemeteries and water, the skeletons, witches and demons. They then begin to rave around the demon while the orchestra continues to play the rapid strings, causing a feeling of great excitement.

Church bells then begin to chime, which echo over the landscapes. These bells start the climax of this section of the musical. After the first chime the demon shows some what of a puzzled look as he covers his face with his hands and wings. As the bells continue to chime the demon appears to become afraid, if not hurt, by the sound. Church bells was an excellent choice of instrument for the composers as well as the producers to use to put the demon at bay because they are, somewhat, a universal sign of peace. A flash of light occurs during each chime which also seems to affect the demon as the viewer watches him return back into the mountain like state from which he came. After he retreats back into the mountains a serenade of soft, mellow strings and flutes begins to play as the smaller demons and skeletons float back to the graves from