One thing I’m really interested in is how old-time Disney movies use music and sound effects to create stylized audio for their characters that they play when the character is on screen. I really like that Disney uses this technique to add to characterization. I don’t feel like I’ve heard this technique used a lot inn more modern movies, so this is a technique that also brings me a lot of nostalgia for when I would watch these movies as a child.
One great example is the audio clip from Aristocats that went viral on TikTok. This is a sound clip that would play when Abigail and Amelia Gabble would walk. Abigail and Amelia are geese, which their sound clip seems to draw from. One of the most memorable parts of the clip is a little fluttering of notes that brings to mind a bird ruffling its feathers, matching the fact that Amelia and Abigail are geese. Another aspect I enjoy is the rhythm of the song, which seems to encourage the listener to mimic the waddle the geese walk with (and influence the cats to walk with as well). It’s also a lighthearted and upbeat tune, which matches Abigail and Amelia’s personalities.
Another one of my favorite ways Disney characterizes through sound is with the mice in Cinderella. Whether it’s one of their songs or music that plays in the background, the music associated with Gus, Jaques, and the other mice is often has a pace that is a little faster and (to put it in the clearest way I can) has a tempo that kind of pitter-patters, similar to the quick yet little steps of a mouse.
One of my favorite things about instrumental music is when it uses just musical instruments to create an image in my mind and tell a full story, which is why I decided to write about these artifacts for my blog post this month. Taking the Aristocats clip as an example, even if I didn’t know what the movie was about or who Amelia and Abigail are I would still be able to guess the song relates to birds – that’s so fascinating to me. The same goes for the Cinderella example.