"FANTASIA 2000": The Animated Presentation of Music

"Fantasia" and "Fantasia 2000"

Music, like language, directly affects our senses. It originates from the world we perceive and the minds of the creators, sharing many commonalities with literature and painting. In the 1940 version of "Fantasia," you will witness a group of artists inspired by music, using their imagination to create designs and stories. In other words, these interpretations do not come from trained musicians but are rather something fun.

Both Fantasia films were produced by Disney, and their approach naturally reflects Disney's style. They use animation to visualize the music. Over 80 years have passed, but both films continue to showcase three types of music: the first tells a story through music, the second involves music with no specific plot but can evoke a series of mental images, and the third is pure music. These three aspects have not changed over the past 80 years, which also happens to confirm that music composition either portrays a story, a scene, or simply exists as an enjoyable stream of sounds.

The complexity of sound, such as pitch, tempo, dynamics, combined with pauses and variations, easily corresponds to various emotions, including joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. This, in turn, is enough to depict a specific scene or even a story. For example, both films feature Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and in the 1940 version's introduction, the host explains: "Now we will hear a piece that clearly describes a story. In fact, the composer created the music based on the story. It's an ancient tale that's almost 2,000 years old. There's a wizard who has an apprentice, a bright young man. He is eager to learn magic, in fact, he's a bit 'too smart' because he starts using it before learning how to control it. One day, his teacher asks him to fill a cauldron with water. He has a brilliant idea: summon a broom to fetch water. It works at first, but then he forgets the magic spell to stop the broom from carrying water. He soon realizes he can't stop it. We believe that after watching this, every time you hear this piece of music, you'll think of Mickey Mouse as the apprentice."

In fact, symphonic music is easily understood as a complete story or even a grand narrative. For example, in the 1940 version of "Fantasia," "The Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky was used. When Stravinsky composed this ballet music, he himself stated that his intention was to depict early primitive life. So, Walt Disney and his fellow artists believed him, and they didn't use the original ballet form with tribal dancers. Instead, they used a magnificent celebration to express the story of life on Earth. This story, as you're about to see, is not someone's imagination. It explicitly describes what scientists believe happened in the first few billion years of Earth's existence. It scientifically describes this part of the story. In other words, while the composer didn't have a specific story, he still wanted to depict a scene. And this scene can be substituted for a grand narrative. Like "The Rite of Spring," which was originally titled the story of spring's arrival. But the composer himself wanted to show the primitive human worship of the gods and the scene of praying for spring. For Disney, they combined the results of scientific research to present the music as a magnificent evolutionary journey from a barren planet to single-celled life, fish, and dinosaurs.

Similarly, in the 2000 version, the interpretation of "Pines of Rome" has nothing to do with pine trees or Rome but follows the adventure of a lively little whale. It follows the bird's playful antics, enters an ice cave by mistake, finds its parents, and then reunites with a group of whales to fly freely together. Composer Respighi once said, "To clearly recall the charm of Rome, I chose to depict the iconic pine trees from Rome's natural scenery." However, as the music unfolds, you can discover that the story of the little whale seamlessly fits the music. It's like an ancient poem describing a lost battle, but you feel it's about your own lost love. Although they can't be directly compared, they resonate in emotional expression.

As for pure music, it's like "untitled poetry," and it's most closely related to abstract influences. Just as the host in 1940 stated, "If you're listening to this music at a concert, first, you'll notice the orchestra and start imagining a series of conductors and musicians. Then the music guides your imagination. Your imagination might just be chaotic colors, or it could be the shapes of clouds, beautiful landscapes, or blurry shadows, or even geometric objects floating in the air."

Both the 1940 and 2000 versions begin with works of this nature. In 1940, it was Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor," and in 2000, it was Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5." The 2000 version, in particular, is more specific, using abstract depictions of butterflies, birds, water splashes, waterfalls, erupting volcanoes, and the glaring sun to present the music. After all, music composition also draws from the external world of nature and the inner world of the mind. So, Disney presents the content of the music through the natural seasons, plants, animals, and scenery, making it feel quite fitting.

From the opposite perspective, through visuals, we deepen our understanding of the language of music as well.