Let It Gooooooooo

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Summary
What once was very popular in the past is now making a reappearance, specifically “music from animated movies” (Keegan, 2014). From the 1980’s to the 1990’s, most animated movies were dominantly showcasing a trend in music.  Such films from Disney include: “The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast, and The Little Mermaid” (Keegan, 2014).  After this period, animated movies were only being based on their story, not their musical aspects anymore.  When Disney’s new animated movie Frozen, replaced the very popular, The Lion King, which was top rated for 10 weeks, a previous trend in music was seen to be on the rise again. Another production company that has taken hold of this trend include, DreamWorks Studios Despicable Me 2, with Pharrell’s hit song called “Happy” (Keegan, 2014). The support of having Disney’s Frozen heard all over the radio, is what helped drive it to the top of the charts.  In some cases, most audiences only heard the music before watching the actual movie. This was also backed up through cases of media, such as YouTube, and talk shows. With the vast array of media, production companies now project their movies towards interests that can be collected from social media, and in this case preach it through musicals.

Opinion
This article definitely showed us both that what was once in the past can still be revived because of its dominance that it had. In this case, we see how Disney is trying to enlighten the new generation with modern day musicals.  We do agree that Frozen was a film that catered towards all audiences.  The music definitely helped, it brought attention to the audience who grew up with musicals in films. In short, it gave us a nostalgic feeling. One thing that Disney is known for is to incorporate subliminal messages in their musicals.  For example, Teresa and I both grew up on the classical films, The Lion King and Beauty and The Beast.  We feel as if the incorporation of music helped in keeping the movie alive in our memories. And now it seems to be a trend that Disney wants to re-invite to its newer audience.  Having the availability of social media today, is definitely an advantage for movie production companies, as they can use it to stream to audiences in all different types of ways compared to the past.  We feel as if Disney is the “father figure” of musicals, and now we can see production companies, such as DreamWorks Studios, trying to jump on the bandwagon.  However, with no bias involved, we definitely feel like Disney does it best.

Questions/Feedback
1) Do you believe that musicals are making a return, or will it just be temporary? If yes, how can you support your claim?
2) What was your favorite musical of all time and why?

Citation
Keegan, R. (2014, April 19). Animated movies sing a happy tune. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on October 3, 2014, from http://articles.latimes.com/2014/apr/19/entertainment/la-et-mn-animation-music-frozen