Andrew Pugliese's Blog: Blog Response 5: Disney Songs

When evaluating the song of a villain from a Disney film, I look at a few key components to determine if the son song was a successful part of the movie. Above all else I compare the songs to other villain songs that I think to be good in other Disney movies. I enjoy Scar's song "Prepared" from the Lion King. I enjoy how the evil from his character is shown as he describes his diabolical plan. The environment also conveys a very malicious message. In the little Mermaid, Ursala's song, "Poor Unfortunate Soul," there are several things that also make this a classic Disney villain song. Her placement in the cave makers her seem even more evil as she twists and turns in the and darker and duller environment, There is also a lot of dialog in the song, it is slow and methodical. The tension continues to build and build as she fiddles around with potions and creatures of the cave. The explicit trickery also makes the audience almost want to stand up and yell at Ariel for making the deal with the devil. It is beyond obvious that Ursula is evil and the audience knows what will happen next but drawing out the scene through the slow moving song makes it more of an experience than a scene where the antagonist gains the upper hand. Similarly in The Princess and the Frog, there is a good amount of dialog in the song, slowly building to the climax towards the end of the scene. In this case the setting is in a creepy ally and instead of playing with a morbid cave, the villain uses card tricks and other spectacles to fool the protagonist. Again it is very obvious that the protagonist will be fooled but the result is not as important as the delivery. I believe that both of these villain songs are successful displays of the evil natures of both of the characters. When the scene ends it is very easy for a viewer to say, "Wow, that person (or octopus or lion) is definitely a bad guy." I am never looking for a subtle exchange of wits in my Disney movies. I want to be a kid and watch the bad guy be almost impossibly evil. These songs successfully go over the top in making evil a very cool thing. In all three aforementioned movies I like how there is a similar theme between the protagonists and antagonists. In all three films the protagonist is much younger and is taken advantage of by a smarter deceptive counterpart. These young heroes misplace their trust and end up being hurt by there elders. It is an interesting theme to have in children's movies because I have to wonder what the purpose of that is. Although I never was able to make the connection as a child I wonder how much that theme subconsciously stuck with me. Especially with the Lion King there is a familial tie between the good and the bad guy. Is Disney trying to tell kids that no adults should be trusted? And maybe more importantly maybe their parents can not be trusted. I do not think that this is Disney's intended message but the patterns can not be ignored. Maybe Disney has good reason to warn young children about the cruelty of the adult world. I cannot think of any child Disney villain that Disney has ever used. This probably because it is not plausible for a child to be so evil. When parents watch these movies there should be commentary and lessons that they learn too. Maybe they are not always right and maybe they should not be the bad guys all the time.