FANTASIA:

DISNEY AT ITS BEST - AND WORST

by James Dager

Since its debut in 1940, Walt Disney's Fantasia has been re-released on numerous occasions, and continues to inspire music and art lovers with its then-innovative style. Nothing since has been produced by Disney or anyone else to equal the quality and visual impact that Fantasia possesses. Challenged by Disney to create visual images in sync with great masterpieces of classical music, the Disney artists produced without a doubt a tribute to the human spirit.

And this is precisely why Christians must view Fantasia with an eye ofdiscernment. Tributes to the human spirit are never tributes to the Spirit of God. This is most evident in the various themes played upon by the artists who were told to create on film the images that the classical scores brought to their creative imaginations.

Beginning with abstract forms of light and color playing in harmony with Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, the film offers no particular philosophical problems. This piece, as are all the pieces in Fantasia, is wonderfully performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski. It formed the first of seven main parts, five of which tell specific tales based upon pagan mythology, and one upon the theory of evolution.

The second part, illustrated to the strains of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, incorporates the movement of natural elements such as leaveS, flowers, mushrooms, and other forms. The latter part of the Suite "Dance of the Sugar-plum Fairles," visualizes the changes of the seasons brought about at the hands of nature spirits responsible for the changes of the seasons in pagan mythology.

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE

The centerpiece of Fantasia marked Walt Disney's desire to give Mickey Mouse a strong vehicle to recapture the public's affection, which had begun to shift toward Donald Duck in the late '30s. Thus, The Sorcerer's Apprentice cast Mickey in the role of a toil-weary apprentice who attempts to duplicate his master's magic feats by having a broom carry out his chores after his master has retired for the night. His experiment goes awry and he finds that he is unable to undo the magic he has put into motion.

The occult nature of The Sorcerer's Apprentice portion is obvious, but it is really not out of character for Disney's productions. The staple of Disney's animation has' always been occultism, particularly the interplay between so-called "white magic" and "black magic." The stern but tolerant sorcerer who rights Mickey's wrong is obviously of the "white" variety, giving the impression that magic is good if handled with wisdom.

EVOLUTION TAKES OVER

Igor Stravinsky's Rite ofspring sets the stage for the Disney animators to conjure images of how life developed on a barren, volcanic planet erupting in molten lava and steam.

The first, simple life forms that science alleges developed in the sea are pictured interplaying with each other, a single-celled something splitting into two cells, subsequently forming ever-increasingly complicated life forms until the great dinosaurs appear, only to become extinct through cataclysmic geologic events, After the demise of the dinosaurs, the earth experiences more cataclysms, resulting in the formation of mountain ranges and other geologic features of magnitude.

The overt teaching of evolution cannot be lightly ignored by parents whose children's textbooks place persistent obstacles to their Faith.

PAGAN MYTHOLOGY

With Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, the "Pastoral," the animators reverted to mythology once again as we see pegasi (winged horses), unicorns, centaurs, and nature spirits at play in a pastoral setting. One of the central characters is a bacchanalian little fellow who laps up wine non-stop. His merriment gives the impression that drunkenness is bliss-a role model parents should find unacceptable, particularly to very young, impressionable minds.

These elements interweave with the central theme wherein nude, androgynous cupids work diligently to bring male and female centaurs together for mating.

The most amusing portion of Fantasia is set to Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda. Ungainly ostriches, hypos, and elephants attempt impossible leaps, pirouettes, and other ballet moves in tiny tutus that cannot hide their unflattering figures.

"GOOD VS. EVIL"

To close the program Moussorgky's A Night on Bald Mountain is merged with Schubert's Ave Maria to contrast "the sacred and the profane." But the mariology associated with theAve Maria is, in reality, just as profane as the demonic entity perched upon Bald Mountain, beckoning tormented spirits from a graveyard while making sport of them in their eternal agony. With the sound of a church bell at daybreak, the devil shrinks into hiding. The music segues into the Ave Maria as we see a procession of lights meandering through a forest toward a clearing beyond tall trees whose boughs resemble the arches of some great cathedral in Europe. And with this Fantasia closes to leave the viewer with memories of a great human achievement in the realms of both art and music.

CONCLUSION

I remember Fantasia as the first movie to which my father took me many years ago. He was a violinist who loved classical music and all art forms. And I would say that it was my favorite motion picture for many years. Bach time it was released for a new run I would make an effort to see it. As I grew in my understanding of God's Word, the magic of Fantasia began to fade in spite of my sorrow at having to admit it. Many artists have attempted to put together the art and science of animation since Disney popularized it in the twenties. Some have come close to his studio's finest works, and depending upon one's opinion, may have even equalled it. But no one has ever done it better. For that reason it is difficult to convince even staunch Christians that the beautiful images and cute characters the Disney studio presents are an affront to God. The profane images, though beautiful to the eyes, are not beautiful to my Lord. And to associate those images with good, as do writers of today's "Christian" fantasies, is an affront to Him.

I'm aware that this suggestion will be ridiculed. But to those who think that mythology and fantasy have no lasting adverse effects, I would point to the fact that the vast majority of humanity is living their lives based upon the myths and unreality of those tales they learned as children. No, they do not continue to believe that there is a Santa Claus, or tooth fairy, or Easter bunny, but the conditioning toward wishful thinking has merely taken a more adult form.

Even most who call themselves Christians are living in a fantasy world no less than the world's pagans; the winds of doctrine to which they flock are fantasies. Positive confession, spiritual warfare a 'a railing against the devil, supernatural power that can be attained at the flick of a mental or spiritual switch-all these are fantasies with no solid basis in biblical fact.

The desire to alter one's reality through supernatural means appeals to the forces of darkness in conflict with our Lord. And there is one word that describes it regard-less of the form it takes: witchcraft. In view of these perilous times, we would do well to heed Paul's words:

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; butafter their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. ('I Timothy 4:1-4)

So callous are many toward the Holy Spirit's prompting that they choose to follow not only the fables that men preach in the name of Jesus, but the overfly pagan fables that swim before their consciousness through the world's art forms.

As beautiful to the sight and ears as Fantasia is, it presents evil as good and denies the reality of God as the Creator of all things. Upon viewing it with new understanding I found that the film I had in the past loved so much was impossible for me to enjoy.