Dreams Come True: Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studio BY LELLA F. SMITH Creative Director of the Walt Disney Animation Research Library
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s long as man has possessed the gift of language, fairy tales and their close cousins legends, fables, myths, and folktales have served the indispensable function of transmitting intergenerational wisdom. Through oral storytelling such traditions emphasize fundamental values that resonate across cultural boundaries. The enduring strength of such communication derives from an inherent flexibility to adapt to time and place so that the core message is understood most effectively. Over the years, the primary audience might have changed, the storyline may have been altered, or certain elements thought unnecessarily gruesome may have been eliminated so as to better emphasize the story’s message, but the essence of the story has survived. Change and adaptability have been essential characteristics of classic fairy tales as they have moved from their oral roots to written versions to cinematic revisions. Walt Disney felt it was possible to “translate the ancient fairy tale into its modern equivalent without losing the lovely patina and the flavor of its once-upona-time quality.” Although sometimes criticized for making revisions to “classic” fairy tales, Disney’s animated versions of these tales have kept the stories alive and relevant for recent generations of children. The Dreams Come True exhibition, running from November 15, 2009 through March 14, 2010 at the New Orleans Museum of Art, provides the visitor with an extraordinary opportunity to learn how classic fairy tales such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty were adapted from written form by the Walt Disney Studio in order to create a compelling version for the movie screen. The process of transforming fairy tales into films is a complex one that requires the collaboration and creativity of many. Animated films are a unique blend of art and technology, yet the foundation of the film remains the story. Disney understood that “the screen version must perceive and emphasize the moral intent and values upon which great persistent fairy tales are
Andreas Deja, German, born 1957; Belle and the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, 1991; Visual development: ink and colored pencil on paper; Walt Disney Animation Research Library Collection; © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
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founded.” The challenge is to give visual form to the characters and places that comprise the story. The creative team must also understand movement and emotion, how to build tension and create comic relief, how to employ special effects, and how music might enhance the mood or propel the action. Every frame of the final film is the result of numerous decisions that must coalesce into a single cohesive experience. The evolution of the animation art form is inextricably interwoven with the history of the Walt Disney Studio, which arose largely out of the vision and tenacity of Walt Disney himself. The youngest child in a family of modest means, he held fast to his dreams and found inspiration in the stories his grandmother would read to him every evening as well as in books on animation he discovered in the public library. He quickly realized that those books explained how he might some day bring fairy tales to audiences around the world. The international recognition the company he built now enjoys did not arise without catastrophic setbacks along the way. Following the failure of his first business, Laugh-O-gram Films, Disney would say, “It is good to have a failure while you’re young because it teaches you so much. For one thing it makes you aware that such a thing can happen and, once you’ve lived through the worst, you’re never quite as vulnerable afterward.” Men of lesser character might have been crushed by the incident. The exhibition title “Dreams Come True” may apply equally to the life of Walt Disney as it does to the fairy tales he loved. The artwork on display in this exhibition reveals the evolutionary process that each film undergoes on its journey to completion. Arranged chronologically by year of release, the themed galleries of the show will feature classics such as Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. Showcasing more than 600 works in all, Dreams Come True includes examples from all stages of the animation process, including concept artwork, story sketches, character and location designs, layouts, animation drawings, background paintings, and cel setups. Short film clips will accompany the artwork to
Glen Keane, American, born 1954; Ariel and Flounder from The Little Mermaid, 1989; Concept art: gouache and black line (xerographic copy) on paper; Walt Disney Animation Research Library; © Disney Enterprises, Inc.
NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART