Summary:
Cory and Laine start an ongoing discussion of the use of magic in Disney films, looking at the cultural context, the fairy tale sources, and the specific practices found in some of the films. We cover Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, and Fantasia in this one.
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Play:
Download: Episode 131 – Disney Magic Part One
Play:
-Sources-
There are plenty of great sources on Disney and fairy tales, but one Cory would highly recommend is the thoroughly researched (and highly entertaining) Disney Story Origins Podcast.
You can read one source version of “The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods” at SurLaLune. They also have an excellent version of “The Little Mermaid.”
Goethe’s poem “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” can be found at the VCU website.
We are in the final days of a contest in which we request your graveyard folklore at the end of this episode, with two potential prize packs available! Learn more about the contest and get complete rules at the official announcement post.
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Promos & Music
Title and closing music is “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Paul Dukas and “The Sleeping Beauty Waltz” by Peter I. Tchaikovsky, both sourced from Archive.org‘s recording files.
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New World Witchery - The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft 
Ursula is my favorite villain too. Smart, clever and so powerful. What did Tritan do to motivate her dark intentions? I would love to hear her origin story.
That was an awesome episode! Gave me some ideas for re-watching the Disney movies that I love, and paying more attention to the magical aspects of it. And also re-reading the stories that inspired the movies! And then there’s the other movies that I enjoy, like Nanny McPhee, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, etc… Every movie I’ve loved since I was a kid that has even a hint of magic, lol.