I’ve really been enjoying dipping into the Createquity blog by Ian David Moss.
Another old post of his, written a propos the subsidization of art, hit a spot…My Disney Problem. Here it is: I write lovely vocal music for children, and invariably when I write something really pretty and touching someone says, “It sounds like a Disney song.” And I blush and bristle. I don’t think it sounds like a Disney song. I think it sounds pretty and approachable but…not Disney. ( I am actually teaching a class at Children’s Theatre this term for kindergarteners and first graders called “Sing Disney,” and I have listened to dozens and dozens of those songs, which qualifies me, I’ma say, as a Disney music expert.)
What’s a Disney song? Well there are different kinds of Disney songs because many, many composers have worked for The Mouse; there isn’t a particular style associated with Disney, except a slightly lagging style du jour (Goofy’s Flashdance period; Hercules’s foray into secular gospel.) But a certain approach and execution makes a song Disney. Even when I was a kid something bothered me about it and now that I’m a grownup, I can put it into words, maybe.
What are the elements of Disney music?
First: sagging hipsterism. Like I said, Disney tries to stay au courant but it’s hard to pump out product as fast as trends move, and of course nobody can stay ahead of the self-devouring hipster curve. Disney is also crippled by its need to remain family-friendly, so the shocking edge of popular culture will always be a bridge too far. As a midwestern small-town kid, even I knew that Herbie the Lovebug was but a faint simulacrum of swinging Haight Ashbury, and I hadn’t been to San Francisco or put flowers in my hair.
Next: sexism. The princess thing. It’s 2011 and girls still want to be princesses. No. Girls want to be princesses more than they did twenty years ago, because the Disney corporation didn’t fully exploit what it had until the year 2000. And no, having an Asian princess and a black princess and a Native princess doesn’t make it any better. But princesses are only part of the sexism package; consider the vavavoom aspect. Or the simpering preteen thing. To reams of feminist critiques out there I’ll just add that the girls’ music is pretty sexist. Human or animal, yesterday or today, the women pine away for their men and bat their eyes; they’re refreshing, young and sexy and so are their songs.
Yep, you can rent one of these
There are a few exceptions which, interestingly, involve non-white heroines.* So, Pocahontas…she has a bit of a love affair but her big thing seems to be environmentalism. Because, as we know, even in Captain John Smith days, Natives were Close To The Earth and prescient about the depredations that would result from unfettered development of the wilderness…I’m sorry, Colors of the Wind is wrong in so many ways. Starting with the native tomtom beat pentatonic thing and then the sentiment which is mushy generalizations and feel-goodism. What is a listener to do when the following questions are asked:
Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon,
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
All I can do is turn around and guiltily say to Pocahontas, “No, I haven’t done those things. Why does the grinning bobcat grin?”
Which brings me to the most glaring element of Disney style: misplaced sentiment. I have a couple friends who beat up on my anti-Disneyness on the grounds that I just won’t allow myself to have a good, innocent, childlike, happy experience. Well, dang it I love those experiences, and if they come from a Disney song, I’ll take ‘em. But what I usually get is not innocent pleasure but a knowing, very adult take on childhood and a determined push of children into a place they are not. Take an anodyne hit:
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
That’s why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life
Who could argue with this sentiment, which underpins so many great philosophies? Start with your kid, who is begging for a Disney Princess outfit. But seriously, a) it is in the nature of children (and bears) to be greedy, and b) we could also reasonably argue that superfluity allows human beings to be creative and generous.
But let’s agree that we should scale back our consumption…fine. So is the song an upbeat, secular hymn to self-denial? This presents some dramaturgical problems, for it is sung to a feral boy in a loincloth who is definitely not asking Mr. Bear for a Wii. The sentiment–within the story itself–is misplaced. I conclude that the song is there because a) it’s catchy and b) it appeals to grownups, who wish they were less materialistic, sometimes. How this differs in its moral influence from Eric, Or Little By Little, we will leave for future generations to decide.
But the kids sing along with it, right? What’s wrong with that? Nothing. Kids can sing whatever. It won’t kill ‘em. But ideally, we’d like our kids to have a variety of authentic and challenging artistic influences just the way we want them to be challenged in school or sports. The problem (I’m not the first to notice this, I know) is that Disney Has Taken Over the World of Children’s Music. The music might not be challenging, but it’s what passes for authentic. What else is there?
Let’s look around. I’d start with the idea that, until recently, art for children wasn’t a separate sphere. The great myths, fairy stories, folk ballads, were everyone’s. So it’s interesting to see what people other than The Mouse had to say about Cinderella or Snow White. Similarly, there’s more to “classical” music for children than Fantasia, and it’s worth exploring. Kids can love very sophisticated music. I’m not suggesting they should be educated and bored, but they can be exposed to legit music in the normal course of affairs. Too, the whole realm of popular music is much deeper and more interesting than the niche that gets carved out for children. Just give them variety, and see what they like.
Our ears are conservative and nostalgic. After several generations of Disney world domination, people say things like “they don’t write ‘em like that anymore,” and get gooey about how sweet and perfect and wholesome and real this music is. (There’s a youtube comment from a twelve year old who writes how lucky she is that she grew up with the “classics” and not this “Hannah Montana crap.” I don’t even pretend to understand an art form that makes children nostalgic and conservative.)
But I’m not here to argue with anyone’s taste. Bliss is bliss. Now, there are many kinds of bliss. And children could discover their own if we open the world of music to them. Great music shouldn’t be the exclusive province of classes, lessons and field trips. It should just be there.
(Btw, I have found several Disney songs I’ll be teaching, which I really like. Have to do a little judicious editing, though.)
*There could be be a whole sideline argument about whether it’s unfair and racist that Heroines of Color frequently don’t get their man, which I’m gonna dismiss as specious.
p.s. This post is too long but as for Moss’s question: Is Disney World art? Sure, why not? I’d even argue that it’s subsidized; you can bet a lot of imagineers had federal student loans or attended public schools; and I’d guess Disney has a nice tax situation in Florida.
