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The Evil Of Disney
I'm told that Werner von Braun- the scientist who built rockets for Hitler (slave labour was involved) and later for NASA, also designed rides for Disney.
I love it. A life that links the Third Reich, the Space Race and Disneyland deserves to be novelized- deserves to be turned into the biggest of block-buster movies.
I've always hated Disney. The way his factory turned all those great children's stories into formulaic, sentimental kiddie-feed. Pah!
Note the word "hate". Not "dislike". This an affair of the passions and not so far removed from love. The animation in those early films- Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo- leaves me gasping with admiration.
And I have a weird, twisted regard (as you may have guessed) for Mary Poppins and its companion-piece, the under-rated Bed-knobs and Broomsticks.
That Disney magic- an evil spell cast across children's entertainment for more than half a century, so that rivals felt they had no choice but to attempt to do the same thing only worse: how glad I am- how very, very glad- that Pixar has escaped from its shadow!
I love it. A life that links the Third Reich, the Space Race and Disneyland deserves to be novelized- deserves to be turned into the biggest of block-buster movies.
I've always hated Disney. The way his factory turned all those great children's stories into formulaic, sentimental kiddie-feed. Pah!
Note the word "hate". Not "dislike". This an affair of the passions and not so far removed from love. The animation in those early films- Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo- leaves me gasping with admiration.
And I have a weird, twisted regard (as you may have guessed) for Mary Poppins and its companion-piece, the under-rated Bed-knobs and Broomsticks.
That Disney magic- an evil spell cast across children's entertainment for more than half a century, so that rivals felt they had no choice but to attempt to do the same thing only worse: how glad I am- how very, very glad- that Pixar has escaped from its shadow!
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I thought Princess Mononoke had too much story. Too many charaters. Too much going on. The pace was breathless.
But Spirited Away is wonderful. A modern day Alice in Wonderland. Creepy and wildly imaginative and very, very beautiful.
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All the academics I read were at great pains to point out all the forms of animation that *aren't* cel-based, and to detail the traditions/genres of cel-based that were very different from Disney, and kind of at odds with the Disney tradition (like anime).
But then, we learnt *tons* of stuff about how Disney were so amazingly innovative, and were in many ways the driving force in creating a new medium. When the Russian director Eisenstein saw Snow White, he declared it the best film of all time.
Though, yeah, through such corporate success, Disney not only forced their competitors into using similarly soppy narratives, but they also engineered a factory-line type of animation that was imported everywhere, and which was highly restrictive.
I kinda liked 'Treasure Planet' and 'Atlantis'. It felt like Disney was really starting to branch out - probably to compete with anime. Pixar is great, but if Disney do phase out 2D animation I will be kinda sad, despite the evilness.
Just don't get me started on the homophobic, racist, misogynist subtexts of The Lion King...
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Dick van Dyke killed "Mary Poppins" stone-dead.
"Spirited Away" was wonderful, though very gross in parts.
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I also love European animation. Unfortunately they are really hard to come by. By my sister-in-law, who is a starting animator herself, knows more and sometimes even shares that knowledge with us. :)
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Oh, go on- give us a diatribe about the Lion King!
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Yeah, I must look out for more from Ghibli. Thanks for the recommendation.
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I would urge you to see Grave of the fireflies which is tragic but lovely.
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Miyazaki is the greatest animator that I know.
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I agree so much. The beautiful world, the kindly spirits, the worries of the children and the care and support of adults--it's a very happy film.
One day I put it on my dvd player and just played it over and over. I love the little song "Totoro, To-to-ro"...
It's very much a film for adults, too.
I suppose you've seen The Triplets of Belleville? Very dark and strange! I loved it. (And the music--)
Spirited Away is very powerful stuff. It's a more mature vision of the darkness of childhood--it's captivating in a way that Totoro can't be...
Did you like Kiki's Delivery Service? I found it charming.
I liked Castle in the Sky a little less--it has beautiful backgrounds--like storybook illustrations--and interesting characters, but somehow the second part didn't engage me as much as the mystery of the first part.
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The drawings in Milne's books were integral to the stories and poems.
I'd lean against my mother while she read to me
"Halfway up the stairs
is where I sit"
--and she read with wonderful rhythm. Before I understood the words I loved the music of her reading--
I wonder if children today ever read the books with those illustrations? Disney's pictures of his cartoony bears and donkeys have replaced Ernest Shepard's.
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I too had assumed that there were two movies with similar titles.
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I too can remember my mother reading Pooh to me when I was very small- perhaps as young as two. It must be one of my earliest memories.
And we had recordings, from the 1930s, of some of the songs from When We Were Very Young- and I'd play them on the wind-up gramophone which was a souvenir of my mother's youth.
"They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace
Christopher Robin went down with Alice....."
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Christopher Robin went down with Alice....."
That's a favorite of mine.
And something about
"...please, a bit of butter for my bread...."
I think I was about two when they were first read to me.
And we had recordings, from the 1930s, of some of the songs from When We Were Very Young- and I'd play them on the wind-up gramophone which was a souvenir of my mother's youth.
I'd love to have used one of those old gramophones.
My parents' friends had a record changer that would lift the record and flip it over. Fascinating.
Equally fascinating was watching the little lines disappear into the label in the center of the record.
I liked the paper Capitol record labels--I think they were white and purple, with the Capitol building.
--My first memory was of dancing to Bizet's
"Farandole." I was wearing a striped cotton dress and my parents were watching me and smiling. I remember the music and the moment perfectly.
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I would spend whole afternoons spinning them.
My very favourite was a Cole Porter novelty song sung (I think) by Jack Buchanan- Miss Otis Regrets- the sad story of a socialite who has to turn down an invitation to luncheon because she has just murdered her lover and- ahem- been lynched by an angry mob. Even then, I guess, I had a dark sense of humour. Recently I came across a new, and delightfully blowsy version by the late, great Kirsty McColl.
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The lyrics are fascinating (I looked):
"And from under her velvet gown,
She drew a gun and shot her lover down.
Madam...
Miss Otis regrets
She's unable to lunch today.
Then the mob came and got her
And dragged her from the jail.
Madam...
They strung her upon
A willow across the way."
It does need a "blowsy version," some smoky voice.
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Our neighbors bought a stereo, and they made us sit in the center of the room while they played a demonstration record that had a man walking from one speaker to the other.
We were all angry at Dad that he'd listened to old Mr. Blake and just bought a High-Fi set.
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And McColl- equally deliciously- did it as though she had a half emptied bottle in her fist.
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I don't particularly want to turn my living room into a concert hall.
Why should it matter whether the sound comes from one place or two?
Is this a very ignorant question?
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And the Shephard illustrations- with the king in dressing-gown and 18th century wig- are charming.
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Is this a very ignorant question?
I don't think so...but I do like the idea of trying to, as much as possible, duplicate the real sound of a concert hall.
To me, having the music coming from various places in the room makes the music richer and more robust--less thin.
I like music loud and filling the room! I can't stand background music. It irritates me. In particular, I can't stand canned music--"Moon River" played with no expression on some saxophone.
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And the Shephard illustrations- with the king in dressing-gown and 18th century wig- are charming.
I remember now! And the silly king, being petulant.
I liked him.
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I've got a radio/cd player next to the cooker and a big stack of discs- most of them traditional folk.
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They have this great scheme whereby you pay them £15 (or thereabouts) per month and they send you DVDs through the post. Their catalogue is huge- and encompasses just about everything that's available in the UK.
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Ain't he cute!