Disney Films and Music

This semester I'm interning at Columbia records. I'm surrounded by music all day and often outside of the office when I'm helping out with work related duties. During this weeks discussion about disney movies I couldn't help but think about the songs behind the animations. Just as recognizable as a disney princess are the melodies of the songs that accompanied the animation. Songs such as 'Under The Sea' or 'A Whole New World' were musical narration as Ariel expressed her yearning to live amongst people with legs on land or as Jasmine took a carpet ride with Aladdin.

The animated films that came out of the 70's, 80's and early 90's acheived status unparalled by subsequent projects. That is not to say Disney hasn't had a top-grossing movie since (they have had MANY), but considered from a perpective inclusive of musical success, I can't think of a recent set of years when Disney films soundtracks have defined a generation. I could sing along with the music from Finding Nemo or Toy Story (both extremely successful movies) as I watched them, but if someone asked me to hum even one line from a song from either movie now I couldn't do it. To contrast, just writing about Ariel got the song 'Under the Sea' stuck in my head. I would bet that if you played the Alladin soundtrack for a classroom full of college students, at least half would be able to sing along, and most of the rest would be able to hum the melody from memory. Markers of success for the Little Mermaid Soundtrack are the Academy and Golden Globe Awards it won in 1989, the year of its release.

Further distinguishing the Disney princess generation from more recent animated Disney movies is their success outside of the film and music market. The princess generation inspired commodities from halloween costumes to video games (Alladin for Sega anyone?) and most of those commodities were hugley successful. Video games for Finding Nemo exist but you'd be hardpressed to find someone who owns one. Regardless of your feelings about Disney (portrayals of women, race, sex), you can't deny that the power of Disney to permeate the lives of generations of children is awe-inspiring.