The Scary Factor

I am a classic Disney fan. I like watching the oldies. Of course, I like watching the new stuff like Enchanted and I’m very excited about the Princess and the Frog, but the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana can take a hike. So I am sitting in my dorm room, discussing the DVD release of Pinocchio with my roommate (this was a while back, obviously). I was telling her about Jiminy Cricket, my favorite character of the movie (I promise, this will be a post). She told me that it scared her, even today. Reflecting on that comment, it is true, that movie is scary

The old Disney movies, even with Beauty and the Beast in 1991, had very scary scenes in it. Scenes that still scare me as an adult. I still get a little nervous during Fantasia on the last scene and I jump when the driver in Pinocchio smiles (Here's what I'm talking about). For that reason, I feel they were very powerful in storytelling. As a child, we couldn’t appreciate it but when we grow up and watch it as an adult, it holds our attention. We sense the danger. Even Cinderella had a scary moment, when her carriage is being chased down by the knights (I think this was a little on the unnecessary side). We are moved by it as movie-watchers. It is no longer just some children’s movie but a story that conveys emotion and makes us jump, as adults.

What spawned the scare? What made us jump out of our seats? The villain.

If we were to take most of the scary scene from the classic Disney movie, we can derive it from the villain. For a villain to work, he or she must not have any humor. They can have humorous sidekicks but the villains themselves have to be serious. They had to be evil! Or else the scare factor didn't work. There were no scary scenes in Hercules, (I might be willing to make an exception for the Hydra, if you're convincing) because Hades was a funny character. Yet, we felt at least a little trepidation when dealing with Anton Ego in Ratatouille because he was a serious character.

The scariness has gone away, at least the extreme kind when the shading is dark and mostly shadows and red eyes are used. Enter in, Beauty and the Beast. This was scary because for the first time, the villain isn't scary and the supposed hero is. Beast is frightening to children with his temper tantrums. Then after that, the scary element faded from existence from Disney movies. This could be that scary scenes don't sell or parents nowadays are too cautious with their children. Pixar on the other hand, isn't afraid to be afraid. I still get chills when I see Flik from A Bug's Life with a black eye and Hopper standing over him.

When it comes down to it, the villain has to be scary, or at least a threat to invoke fear. Of course what I fear now in Disney movies isn't what I was scared of as a child. But I'm sure if you mention a classic Disney movie, whether it be Pinocchio, Beauty and the Beast, or in my opinion, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, there will be a small shutter down someone's spine. It can't be helped. As much as we remember the fantastic and wonderful elements of the movie, we still can't shake the fear. Like eating tiny people in Cheerios. And that fear is a part of our childhood as much as the movie was.