July Book of the Month: The Disney Villain

[Mike]

By Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, Hyperion Publishing

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the book and the legends of Disney Animation have impressed me yet again!

An extremely thorough review of the villains (large and small) in some of the Disney shorts and then each and every feature right up until Aladdin.

I love how they can so honestly scrutinise their own work and that of others, never sugar coating what they think about a certain film or character. If something has not lived up to the usual Disney standards of quality, they provide fascinating contexts for what else was going on at the studio (or in the world) at the time that could have contributed to this result. Just as an aside - I find it reassuring that the studio has often been through ups and downs before and the current downturn in Disney feature animation (Pixar aside) has been weathered numerous times in the past.

For me, the most powerful villains have been Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and the Step Mother from Cinderella (on a psychological level). I found Frank and Ollies comments about the step mother interesting as she is one of the only villains who lives with her victim on an on-going basis. It makes the character devlopment and interactions all the more complex.

What does everyone else think? Who is you favourite villain?

[KeithS]

I was just reading the Cinderella Step Mother section the other night - she really was one good baddy...

I love how the authors are willing to criticise the studios work when it is not up to scratch - just read the whole section on Alice to see what I mean. They talk about how the villians in that movie are not being proper villians - such as how the Queen is so lost in her madness that the audience never connects - too many "Off with their heads" and not enough character development.

There have been some great Disney villians - in the more modern era I can't go past Judge Frollo in Hunchback - he is one bad man who oozes malevolence - I mean, he looks nasty, he acts nasty and acts cruel - whilst also hinting at taking other earthly desires by force...nasty man

[Mike]

There have been some great Disney villians - in the more modern era I can't go past Judge Frollo in Hunchback - he is one bad man who oozes malevolence - I mean, he looks nasty, he acts nasty and acts cruel - whilst also hinting at taking other earthly desires by force...nasty man

Hunchback is one of my favourite films for that very reason. Frollo is such an adult character expressing real life adult themes. I was shocked they could go so far in his development without pandering to children ("hellfire" still give me chills). There was an interesting article in Laughing Place mag a few issues back that discussed that very point and the animator who worked on the project - I'll have to dig it out.

When I saw the hunchback musical in Berlin a few years ago, I was actually a bit disapointed with his character (which may also have something to do with the fact that I don't speak German!). Language issues aside, I believe that even with realistic human characters, animation (if done correctly) can be more powerful than live action (or live theatre in this case). I think it may be due to the fact that you don't get fixated on the particular actor playing the role, you just see the character for what they are. A credit to animators like Frank and Ollie for bringing this to life!

[KeithS]

I was shocked they could go so far in his development

Not just in script and animation, but also in the music lyrics - for example in the opening musical sequence:

On uncovering the baby Quasimodo:
"This is an unholy demon. I'm sending it back to hell, where it belongs."

and after killing his mother:
"I am guiltless. She ran, I pursued."

and after being forced by the archdeacon to keep Quasimodo:
"Even this foul creature may yet prove one day to be of use to me"

Oooh...he is nasty! I doubt we'll ever see another Disney animated movie this dark and with lyrics like those!

[Mike]

Oooh...he is nasty! I doubt we'll ever see another Disney animated movie this dark and with lyrics like those!

I agree! Hunchback came out the year I was working in Florida and we all took the day off to see the first screening at Pleasure Island and then attend the premiere of the stage show at the Disney-MGM Studios. I remember being shocked at how "me" the film was. Up until that point I'd always silently endured moments of the films clearly aimed at children but in this one I felt children had to endure all the adult content.
I think the unbroken string of successes in animation up until that point propelled Disney Animation to take even more chances than we would see these days.

"This burning desire, is turning me to sin! It's not my fault - I'm not to blame. It is the gypsy girl the witch who sets this flame! It's not my fault. It's in god's plan. He made the devil so much stronger than the man..."