30 Days of Disney Meme 25

[trelobita]

*bounce*  The one I have looked most forward to! ^_^   My own little LJ birthday gift to myself!

Day # 25: Your favorite scene from your favorite movie

You honestly think I can pick only one??  Not a chance.  There are no less than ten scenes stashed in the cut.

From 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' (1937):

There are so many amazing things about 'Snow White' and all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into creating it that one could write an entire book about it.  Every frame of it astounds me, and it's extremely difficult choosing only one scene as a favorite.  I decided to go with this one because it's one that always stuck with me over the years.  In spite of all the light and warmth present in the movie, the scenes of darkness, heavy with atmosphere, give it the true flavor of the Brother's Grimm tale it is adapting. *love*


From 'Pinocchio' (1940):

Again, I love every moment of this movie.  But this scene.... I think it is one of the scariest put on film. O_O  As animator Andreas Deja put it, it's like a scene straight out of a Hitchcock film.  Pinocchio's silent reactions of confusion and terror are what really drive it home.  Plus, I love the fact that there's no explanation as to how this happens, yet it makes perfect emotional sense in the tradition of the best fairy tales.  Those other children go unrescued, and the wicked coachman and his cohorts (who seem to get a perverse pleasure out of doing this) go unpunished.  The only victory is that Pinocchio manages to survive the ordeal. It's scary, and it's how it often is in real life.

From 'Fantasia' (1940):

'The Rite of Spring' is one of the boldest things Walt Disney ever attempted (heck, all of Fantasia, really), especially at the time.  It's my favorite segment in Fantasia.  I especially love the beginning of it.  Deems Taylor's narration sets the mood to perfection.  "So now, imagine yourselves out in space, billions and billions of years ago, looking down on this lonely, tormented little planet, spinning through an empty sea of nothingness."  It was also my passion for the music of 'The Rite of Spring' at a very young age that had me suspecting my musical tastes were somewhat odd.  To this day, it's one of my favorite, favorite musical compositions of all time.

From 'Dumbo' (1941):

Aw yeah.  I love this segment like nobody's business.  I love all of Disney's forays into surrealism.  This dark, insane, threatening hallucination sequence seems somewhat out of place in 'Dumbo', but its inclusion only heightens my love of the movie.  And in its defense, it actually serves a purpose to the plot, believe it or not.  I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but I have a great love for brightly colored animation against a black background.  I have no idea why, but it's one of my favorite things ever.  Ever.  >_>

From 'Bambi' (1942):

This scene is a gorgeous tone poem, as are many of the scenes in 'Bambi'.  People praise (or condemn) 'Bambi' for its realism, but I personally don't see it myself, at least not beyond the animation of the animals themselves.  The style of the movie is akin to impressionism.  It doesn't portray a real forest so much as it portrays how a forest feels.  The same is true for this beautiful scene.  This is how thunderstorms feel.  This is another one of the scenes that makes me cry for reasons I really can't put into words.

From 'Saludos Amigos' (1942):

Fun, beauty, color, exotica, creation, transformation....  oh, how I love transformation in animation.  Donald Duck's entrance is trippy and hilarious, and hooray for Jose Carioca's birth scene!  :D  'Saludos Amigos' is one of the less seen and less remembered of the old Disney films, but it's well worth a watch.  XD  Educational, funny, beautiful, and feel-good, it is!

From 'The Three Caballeros' (1944):

The entire last part of this movie boggles and blows my mind.  It's one the most surreal and psychedelic things I have ever seen.  The virtues from the Pink Elephants sequence in 'Dumbo' pale in comparison to some of the bizarre imagery this movie boasts.  More of the bright colors against black that I inexplicably worship.  It's so beautiful and absurdist and fun.  Plot?  What plot?  Who needs a plot?!?  I'm convinced that some of the most unusual animation (and live-action, too!) the Disney studio has ever produced can be found in 'The Three Caballeros'.

From 'Alice in Wonderland' (1951):

There are lots of glorious scenes in this movie, but I especially love this one.  Literally falling into a dream.  Beautiful and psychedelic (as is most appropriate in an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland), but in the more classy and subdued style of the 50s Disney films.  And I love how Alice is so matter-of-fact about the whole thing right from the beginning.  Her immediate reaction to falling into the hole is to say good-bye to her kitten? *grin*

From 'Lady and the Tramp' (1955):

 Lady has such a kind open-mindedness about this abstract concept known as a baby.  This is one of those scenes that I think most beautifully portrays the Disney that most people seem to remember with fondness.  It's saturated with love, keeps the sappiness at bay, and does it all without a hint of irony.  I can watch it over and over and never tire of it, it feels so good.

From 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' (1977):

I think I'll end the entry with this one.  The quiet finale to 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' profoundly moves me.  The bittersweet good-bye to the pleasures of childhood delivered happily, and sadly, by Christopher Robin's sweet, soft-spoken dialogue with Pooh in the Enchanted Place.

If anyone actually picks their way through this monstrosity of an entry, I'll be happy and amazed.  ^_^  Either way, I really enjoyed sharing these glorious scenes and trying to put into words as best I can why I love them so.  I think I might even leave this one public.  >_>

Day #1: Your favorite character
Day #2: Your favorite princess
Day #3: Your favorite heroine
Day #4: Your favorite prince
Day #5: Your favorite hero
Day #6: Your favorite animal
Day #7: Your favorite sidekick/secondary character
Day #8: Your favorite villain
Day #9: Your favorite original character (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, etc.)
Day #10: Your favorite song
Day #11: Your favorite love song
Day #12: Your favorite villain song
Day #13: Your least favorite song
Day #14: Your favorite kiss
Day #15: The first movie you saw
Day #16: Your favorite classic
Day #17: Your least favorite classic
Day #18: Your favorite Pixar film
Day #19: Your least favorite Pixar film
Day #20: Favorite sequel
Day #21: An overrated movie
Day #22: An underrated movie
Day #23: A movie that makes you laugh
Day #24: A movie that makes you cry
Day #25: Your favorite scene from your favorite movie
Day #26: Saddest death
Day #27: Your favorite quote
Day #28: Your favorite theme park - changed to favorite Disney animated TV series
Day #29: Your favorite theme attraction - changed to least favorite Disney animated TV series
Day #30: Your favorite theme park show - changed to favorite live action Disney Film

Comments

[jesskat.livejournal.com]

I did read the whole entry, I enjoy reading about what makes a certain Disney scene special for someone. Especially since many of your choices are ones that are slightly less often cited among fans.

I've never actually seen that Winnie the Pooh scene. I thought I had seen both movies, but now I think I may have seen just one. I always figured Disney wouldn't touch the ending of the book because it was so sad.

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reading the whole entry. I put quite a bit of effort into this one. In a world of animation fans, I often feel rather alone in my absurd passion for such a specific era of Disney, and sometimes (*cough* often) one can't help but scream that passion into the void and hope someone takes notice. *laugh* I know you share my reverence for 'Snow White' at least. I remember you writing a wonderful commentary on it sometime back.

I've never read the book. Do you think they did justice to the ending? :)

Oh, and thank you for the birthday shout! XD I had a most interesting one, as I've already prattled on at in another entry.

[jesskat.livejournal.com]

It's been ages since I last read the book. I do think the dialogue in the movie is close to the book, at least. I'm not quite sure they reached the same kind of emotional impact with the rest of the scene, though. I remember the scene in the book having more of a melancholy feel to it, like this really was goodbye between two good friends. I can't remember if it was described in the book or whether it's just the way I always pictured it, but I wish the movie scene would have had an evening setting, like the sun was just setting over the forest and everything was bathed in soft colors. While I enjoyed the realistic animation of Christopher Robin doing things boys his age tend to do when talking to someone (climbing stones, playing with sticks etc.), there was nothing that really suggested to me that he was in any way sad about saying goodbye to his best friend. Pooh seemed pretty nonchalant about it too, but you could easily put it down to him not understanding the whole situation. In the book I remember the contrast being clearer. Christopher knows what's happening, he just can't or doesn't want to explain it to Pooh in full.

Anyway, that's just my take on it. Like I said, it's been a long time since I last read it, so I could be remembering it wrong. It's just the way I've always remembered that scene because I liked it, despite how sad it was. Otherwise I've always preferred Disney's take on the Pooh characters to the original books, to be honest. Disney's Eeyore is just pessimistic and low on self-esteem which makes him lovable. Eeyore in the book is just plain cynical and even pretty mean with his words sometimes. He's still likable, but as a kid I remember sometimes being confused by some of the stuff he said. I guess the book character is closer to how a real depression sufferer would act in certain situations, which is not quite as cute and cuddly as someone who's "just a little down" now and then.:P

[jesskat.livejournal.com]

Oh, and happy birthday!!