Hey there, let's have a discussion about Classic Disney - the stuff made back in Walt's day. Do you think those movies still stand up? Do the present movies live up to them, or are they a big improvement? Do you ever go back and re-watch these movies? Do you think they're still appealing to modern audiences despite being 50-80 years old?
Pinocchio and Fantasia are still pinnacles, but a lot of the others haven't aged well at all in terms of story, and I can see them being seen as pretty boring.
I think a lot of it has to do with when you first watch them. If you watch the old movies first as a kid you'll never think of them as that old and you'll still feel nostalgic ofr them. If you watch them for the first time as an adult you might not get that magic as well.
Livestream at oakshappyfuntime starting with shorts now. Dumbo in 15 minutes, followed by Bambi, Saludos Amigos and Three Caballeros.
It's a mixed bag. stuff like Fantasia is great. Stuff like Dumbo...isn't.
>>80404340
I don't think this is true. Yeah you're more impressionable as a kid but a lot of the older movies still have a lot of charm and technique that one can appreciate and enjoy even if they first watch it later.
>>80404398
Dumbo starting
I actually like dumbo more now than when I was a kid. The roustabout song is great to sing even today.
>>80404967
Isn't the roustabout song really racist though?
>>80405515
No. It's just about shit wage manual work. Now the crows were racist.
>>80404798
Pink Elephants starting
>>80405812
The workers are all a bunch of black guys singing about how great it is that they have no education and how they blow all their pay once they get it though.
>>80406023
So? That was the demographic for unskilled labor back then. They would be mexicans if dumbo was set today.
>>80404172
I don't like anything past The Aristocats so this is all a little biased, but yeah, those movies certainly hold up. They're even better in a lot of ways compared to the newer stuff. There's a certain level of artistry present in them that draws me and we're just not getting that now.
Also the stories in the classics are simple, sure, but they're effective. They even throw a lot of unexpected things at you like Pink Elephants on Parade. The stories in newer movies (Renissance and onwards) are more coherent, but they also feel cheap and predictable to me, mostly.
I will say though that the songs in the present movies blow the classics out of the water. Most of the package films are also shit. And I could also see the classics being a bore for audiences nowadays, since they're so dissimilar to what kids are used to now. But I suppose it's just what you grow up with.
>>80404398
Bambi's on now
>>80404172I never like Pinocchio as a kid
>>80406023
The song is ironic. The workers are portrayed to be menial laborers that get treated like shit despite the hard and dangerous work they do. Them 'not caring' about their pay and having little to no literacy are the opinions of other people drowning out the truth of their terrible working conditions, a sort of easy excuse.
In regards to OP, I adore the classics. They have a particular presentation and style to them that was only possible by being made in those times. You can definitely tell a Classic apart from a Renaissance, and not just in animation technique.
Likewise, Classics have some terribly underrated soundtracks. I see Renaissance songs quoted everywhere, but much less Classics (save some really popular ones, like Heigh-ho!), which is a massive shame.
>>80406461
But do you like it now?
>>80406496
Does sleeping beauty count as a classic? The toasting song in that is severely underrated.
>>80406589
From what I now, 'Classic' refers to everything released within Walt Disney's lifetime, so I guess it does count.
>>80404172
Trivia
At the premiere of Pinocchio, Walt hired a bunch of little people to dress up as him and dance all day on the theater roof.
During lunch, someone slipped alcohol in their food baskets. They soon got drunk and stripped naked. Police had to climb up and get them in pillowcases.
>>80406723
>>80406506
I haven't seen that movie since I was in about 18 years
>>80406723
>>80407015
The 40s were weird
>>80404398
Saludos Amigos on now
>>80404172
old disney is gay as fuck
>>80404172
I don't think the '50s movies match up to the Big Five features (Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi). The early features have flaws but they are insanely ambitious and the best parts are still stunning.
When Walt revived features with Cinderella, they were well done but not surprising. The first 5 movies really don't have a formula.
>>80408228
It's interesting that even after Snow White was a huge hit Disney didn't put any other fairy tales into production. Cinderella was the first attempt to make something that followed the Snow White formula and that was over a decade later.
>>80404398
Three Caballeros
>>80404264
>implying Dumbo doesn't hold up
>>80408286
Cinderella and Alice would have happened way earlier if the war didn't force them to give up on proper theatrical films for years.
The later ones did poorly because the lack of an overseas market and all plans got put on hiatus. It's why the cheaper package films were all they produced for a while.
>>80404172
>classifying Disney movies by eras
stop this meme
>>80404172
>golden age
racist age you mean
>>80407868
*haven't seen it in 18 years
Fuck I gotta pay attention when I type
>>80410301
That's the same thing
>>80404398
FUCk, I missed it!
>>80410557
Hurry, you can still catch Donald's descent into madness
>>80406723
They must of have been either lightweights or those must of have been some strong booze.
>>80410590
I can'tMy tablet doesn't let me see streams.
>tfw never seen Tres Caballeros or Saludos Amigos
>>80410597
Well they were midgets
>>80404172
Just to preface with an important point, when I turned 9, my grandmother brought me a book for my birthday. I seriously do not recall a single other present from that year. The book had such an impact. I wasn't even really impressed with it when I got it, it was in the days that followed that the book evoked the change. I began to appreciate the colossal amount of work that went into the creation that Disney's legacy had created. Every frame (yes, even the "bad" ones were masterpieces.
I think that classic animation is and will always be great. From an art perspective, from the innovation that it created, to the inspiration that it evoked, the classics are referred to as such because there is no comparison that does justice save for that which is contemporary to them.
I love going back and seeing them again, I love finding copies in higher and higher fidelity with each new release (apart from the laughable bad adobe-aftereffects that some of them get.). Like a moving painting comee to life. Just breath-taking when you can see the line-work or brush-strokes in these old films. It's something that CG, no matter how advanced it becomes will never be able to properly emulate.
>>80410795
This book, btw. My copy was as worn as the one in the picture (before my 10th grade art teacher snaked my copy. FUCK YOU Ms. Carr, I know you were lying when you said you "lost" it.)
>>80410158
As a guy who just either watched/rewatched most of the Disney animated feature films for the first time ever/in a long time throughout this past year, there are definite distinctions between certain time periods, even within Walt's lifetime. From Snow White to Bambi, the movies seemed to have a lot more care put into them. By the time the 50s came, I think Disney was a little exhausted with all the war bullshit and package films. Then he struck gold again with Cinderella (which I personally found to be the most underwhelming of all the ones I watched this past year), and at this point became more focused on expanding the company in different ways, such as the development of Disneyland. As such, while features were still being developed, they were no longer the only thing focused on and lost a little 'magic' as a result.
Personally, my favorite Disney movies out of all of them are Snow White and Fantasia. Snow White was such a huge gamble, back when the company was comparatively penniless. They put together all the animation techniques they learned and figured out with the Silly Symphonies and refined them into one of the most beautiful animated features to this day. Disney and everyone working for him on the movie were so incredibly passionate about it, in a way that very few pieces of media ever are, and it shows in the movie. Fantasia, on the other hand, was Disney wanting to continue exceeding the previous limitations of animation. It was like a Silly Symphony on steroids, but instead of funny characters dancing around to simple tunes, it was adapting famous classical music into a visual format in a way only animation could do. Unfortunately, it didn't perform well, and Disney stopped going in that direction and ultimately stuck to the basic family fare, as far as animation went.
>>80410865
>>80410795
Wow, you were given an animator's book for your birthday?
>>80415500
My Grandma knew that I loved to read. Also she had this Donald Duck book that I'd sit down with when I was at her house a lot (not sure of the title, but it was chock FULL of everything Donald Duck; stills, concept art, comics, paintings, and memorabilia) she'd seen the book and that was probably her first thought.
