Cartoon Music

Running Head: Cartoon Music

Cartoon Music

Cartoon Music

Awhile ago I was flipping through radio stations and I came to one that was playing classical music, the song that was playing at the time got me to pause at that station for a few moments. I didn't know what the piece of music was, or who composed it, but I knew it sounded familiar. I ended up having that theme stuck in my head for about a week, and I was trying to figure out where I heard it before. Finally it hit me, that piece of music is in the cartoons that I used to love watching when I was young, mainly the cartoons such as Bugs Bunny, and Tom and Jerry, which did not have much dialogue within them, therefore, the music drove the cartoon. Many people have been introduced to the music of classical and romantic eras without even realizing it, through the watching of cartoons as a child.

Thinking about cartoons, particularly Warner Bros. Looney Tunes, I began to realize just how important music was to the cartoon industry and how much classical music was used in the making of them. In cartoons music plays several roles, such as set the mood, fill empty space, and emphasize movement. According to Wikipedia Encylopedia, in the 1920s the "Golden Age of American Animation" began with the advent of sound cartoons. Cartoons of this era included rich orchestral scores played by studio orchestras, using original material as well as incorporating familiar melodies from the classical and romantic eras.

During the "Golden Age of American Animation" (1920s to 1950s), a leading influence on sound and animation, was Carl Stalling. According to Daniel Goldmark, Stalling began his career with Disney productions and then began working for Warner Bros. Co. (pg 7). It was there that Stalling began using familiar tunes in his cartoons, and these tunes became a language in which he could tell stories with little or no words. Stalling used classical music because the popular song references were able to shape, direct and manipulate the emotional level of the story, as well as the feeling of the audience. He also used the familiar tunes to add comic effect, by going against the original story of the music, for example, a scene where burglars are entering the heroin's home might be accompanied by a romantic love song, such as "Meet Me in the Shadows" (Goldmark, pg 10-15). Stalling lead the trend to incorporate classical music and classical music styles in animated series. He was able music to tell the story so well that a person could almost turn on one of his classic cartoons and, without even watching the television (just listening), be able to tell what is happening on the screen and to whom.

Cartoons not only used classical music, but often had a large emphasis on the orchestra and the orchestra conductors of the classical and romantic era. For example in Warner Bros. Long-Haired Hare, Bugs Bunny takes on every stereotype that has been attributed to orchestra conductors, especially Leopold Stokowski. He is majestic, fearful, arrogant, authoritarian, and he even wears the typical white tie and tails. The silence allows for the gestures and posturing of the conductor (Bugs as Stokowski) to speak for themselves and direct the cartoon (Goldmark, pg 120-125). Stokowski's conductor stylings are also depicted in Disney's Fantasia, in which Mickey Mouse, wearing the now famous red wizard's robe and blue sorcerer's hat, seams to control the images and sounds within the film.

Another way that the classical and romantic eras were depicted in cartoons was through parodies of famous operas. The most well known cartoon opera is Warner Bros. What's opera, Doc?, in which the classic Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd chase is set loosely to the story line of Wagner's The Ring of Nibelung. According to Goldmark, this cartoon short condensed Wagner's 14 hour opera into 6 minutes. Although shortened dramatically, the producers of this cartoon attempted to not take away from Wagner's concept of "total work of art", which he incorporated into his operas. The cartoon opens with the shadows of an evil looking character "conducting" a ferocious storm. The shadow turns out to be that of Elmer Fudd, with his spear and magic helmet, who begins sing in opera