I’ve come to realize that as the animation companies move away from cel animation feature films towards CGI animation feature length films, there are no more songs in the movies!   When I say there arent’ any more songs I’m not referring to back ground music, but actual musical pieces.  Re-watching some old animations in class such as Snow White made me realize that songs played a huge role in cel animations.  I usually recall memories of watching these animations as a kid through listening to the songs again now as an adult. I want to take a look at what role these musical song pieces played in these cel animations, and look at some possible reasons as to why CGI animations no longer use song sequences.

For many people that have watched cartoons as kids, the songs from these animations bring back childhood memories.  When we were watching “Snow White” in class, I seemed to recall all of the songs in the movie like “I’m Wishing for the one I love” “Whistle While You Work,” and “Heigh Ho, It’s Off to Work We go!”  There are songs from other Disney cel feature length animations that I also enjoyed like Lion King’s “Circle of Life,” “I Just Can’t Wait to be King.” There’s also Aladdin’s “Whole New World,” and “You’ll Never Find a Friend Like Me.”  Mulan has “Reflections,” and “Be a Man.”  There’s the song “When You Wish Upon a Star,” which I think was from Pinnochio, and “Under the Sea” from “The Little Mermaid.”  These are just some among many.

While I admit that sometimes it’s just plain annoying to have a song sequence pop up in the middle of an animated movie, these song sequences actually helped the animation.  One of the ways was that they showed the true artistic capability of the animators, especially in terms of landscape.  The song sequences allowed animators to use a wider range of colors, have unique drawings, and quickly transition between frames.

The song sequences gave the animator artistic freedom.  Along with this, they helped convey the narrative of the plot.  Lyrics in the songs were great devices for doing this.  Mulan’s song “Reflection” told us what Mulan was really thinking about herself and her life.  Snow White’s “I’m Wishing For the One I Love,” and “One Day My Prince Will Come” told us that Snow White’s main dream was to meet her Prince Charming.

The songs were also a great way to compress large amounts of time.  We have to remember that cel animations cannot be very long.  Therefore it is a challenge for animators to show a character’s growth within that limited time frame.  One solution to this problem was the use of songs.  For example in “The Lion King’s” song “Hakunnah Matata,”  Simba is shown as a little kid, and through the song, we see him slowly age as he chills with Timon and Pumba, until he is fully grown by the end of the song.

These songs also serve to show the development of love between  characters, like Aladdin’s “A Whole New World,” where in the span of one song Aladdin and Jasmine fall in love.  The songs also show the character’s struggles, as in Mulan’s “Be a Man.”  These are just some roles that songs played in cel animations.

So the question is if songs had so many advantages and appeal, why in the world have they been discontinued in the transition from cel animation to CGI animation?  The only animation I recall with a song sequence in it was “Shrek,” and that was at the very end of the movie.  Other than that, I don’t remember seeing any song sequences in any CGI feature length animations.  I think one possible reason could be that animation companies are now aiming at a more adult audience to increase viewership and revenue.  Another reason could be to save money by not having to pay singers as well as voice over actors.  Whatever the reason, I do wish they would at least have one song sequence in, if not all, then at least some of the CGI animations.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

**I commented on Emily Witt (#51), and Erica LoMonaco (#26)