BY: SABRINA CASERTA
I found the documentary, “Waking Sleeping Beauty,”
particularly entertaining. As a child, I remember my eyes glued to the screen
when my mom would pop a Disney feature film into our VCR. I knew every word,
every song, and every scene by heart. In fact, there was a solid 6-month period
when I was 3 years old where I would only respond to the name of my favorite
Disney princess, Jasmine. It’s safe to say Disney has a very special place in
my childhood, as it likely does for most 90s kids- the decade where Disney
animation experienced a renaissance.
Despite the
overwhelming wave of nostalgia I feel when the Little Mermaid soundtrack plays,
I had never knew the story behind Disney and I had never imagined the animators
behind my beloved princes and princesses.
This documentary provided a behind
the scenes look at the rise and fall of animation. I found myself much more
entertained than I had originally thought. The entire creative process for a
film was fascinating and extremely involved. I felt this film portrayed Disney
pretty honestly, I wouldn’t attach the word ‘objective’ to this documentary
because it really only showed Disney from one side, and that was from inside
the Disney studios. I did appreciate the fact that they didn’t sugarcoat their
struggles, both with animation and even within their own business model. Like
any other major corporation, greed overtook all else and the vying for the
spotlight was their ultimate downfall. I can’t even imagine how many films they
must have been cranking out at their peak.
However, I did really enjoy getting
to know the few main Disney executives that they tracked the animation story
through. You could tell that some were truly in love with the craft and I
appreciated seeing that. The entire film I couldn’t help but think of all the
criticism Disney films have endured regarding undertones of racism, sexism and
subliminal messages of propaganda. I wonder what the animators think of that.
Perhaps it
should be noted that I’ve been listening to Disney soundtracks throughout the
duration of this blog post.
No comments:
Post a Comment