The Evil Of Disney

[poliphilo]

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!

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

His vandalization of Winnie the Pooh is one of Disney's worst cultural crimes.

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....."

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

"They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace
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.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We had a big box of very old 78s- things my mother and her brother had listened to when they were kids.

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.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

"Miss Otis Regrets"--I've heard the title but never the song.

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.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Jack Buchanan did it as if he were the butler discretely handing over a note on a silver salver- which was delicious.

And McColl- equally deliciously- did it as though she had a half emptied bottle in her fist.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

My father decided to buy us a "high-fi," and he consulted Mr. Blake at the record store. There was a new fad just out--"stereo sound," but Mr. Blake advised my father that it wouldn't last.

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.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've never really seen the point of stereo.

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?

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Why should it matter whether the sound comes from one place or two?

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.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I mainly listen to music when I'm cooking.

I've got a radio/cd player next to the cooker and a big stack of discs- most of them traditional folk.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The "butter" song is the King's Breakfast. All about the king who likes butter on his bread and they try to fob him off with marmalade. Very cute.

And the Shephard illustrations- with the king in dressing-gown and 18th century wig- are charming.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

The "butter" song is the King's Breakfast. All about the king who likes butter on his bread and they try to fob him off with marmalade. Very cute.

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.

[silent-mouse.livejournal.com]

I never liked Disney's Winnie the Pooh as well. But I was raised watching the russian animation movie Winnie the Pooh - where Winnie the Pooh looked like this or like this. Now of course it looks strange to me - the colors are not as vivid as in Disney movies, but still worth looking at. Here's IMDB record for it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211729/ , but I'm not sure it was transalated to English.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Gosh- I never know there was a Russian Pooh.

Ain't he cute!