Here is the juggernaut of a video I've been working on this past month. It encompasses everything I love about the Disney Renaissance, but also all of its history, from its rise, to its downfall. I hope you all enjoy it ;)

Also, if it's of interest to you, I have a patreon that you can support here: https://www.patreon.com/kazetalks

Every little bit of financial support helps me a great deal in continuing to make content for this channel. I would love to do more videos like this, long form content that really dives deep down into its history and my personal journey, and so, if you want more content like this, consider supporting my channel. It's full of perks from having your name in the credits, behind the scenes content, or you can just donate 1 DOLLAR for early access to my videos in the future. But if it's not your thing, I totally understand and you can still support by liking, dropping a comment below and sharing my video / channel on social media.

And you can follow me on twitter here: https://twitter.com/KazeTalks

Thank you again to everyone for waiting this long on this video. It really is my most cherished video to date.

Love you all!

Mad respect for Howard! Disney always had "I want" songs since Snow White but it's only after The Little Mermaid and "Part of Your World" that that's been the formula ever since, thanks to Howard Ashman. The little mermaid, beauty and the beast and Aladdin's songs was written by Howard Ashman. Alan Menken is the one who composed the music. It's a shame that just few of disney fans that recognize and talked about him. He is literally the reason why disney is still exist now. Howard Ashman is a legendary lyricist who made Disney rise from its downfall and started the renaissance era of Disney, who recently returned from his huge career in musical broadway theater world that time. He is the one who directing Jodi Benson to sing Part of Your World. We all know that the original Part of Your World will always be the best "I Want" song in the entire disney universe. Not just because the nostalgia vibe but also Jodi Benson was really well and carefully directed by Howard Ashman, that even her breaths, stress and pause on each syllable are really well and gently cared for. When he directed Jodi, he always said "don't focus to the song, now you're telling a story". Howard isn't focusing of the song and what makes the song sounds good or what makes it a song but how it tells a story. That's why there are many imperfections in his song, because it's the main part of it. An important part of maintaining that type of reserved passion is also that Part of Your World does not change key. In the worlds of pop music and musical theater finishing off with a key change is a helpful tool for bringing songs to a heightened emotional level and when covering Part of Your World, some people have done exactly that but I don't really think that a key change is necessary because that wasn't the intent of the songwriters. Howard said that intensity is better than enormous in this song. In fact I think that's staying in the same key the whole time is what makes it work so well having it push and pull and eventually bring Ariel back down to where she started tells a story effectively it even ends with the same motif it began with showing the audience the life that she wants but then going back to the life that she has. You can know that Howard Ashman was a great lyricist that he can even tell a story from a song. He also made the song dynamically switching from singing to talking and vice versa but the transition between them is still unnoticeable. And it didn't happen once, literally he directed every songs in those 3 films. If you really search on youtube, there are many videos that show behind the scene of the songs making. Like in beauty and the beast, he directed Paige O'Hara the same way too. Just search "Howard Ashman demo" on youtube, you can see how may songs he sung really containt much emotion than current disney songs.

Hard to believe that this beautiful song, Part of Your World, was almost cut from the movie. Jeffrey Katzenberg hated it and thought that it not only slowed down the movie but was boring. Howard fought hard to convince Katzenberg that this song belonged in the movie. And I'm glad he did. Disney renaissance is mostly known by their songs. Before the little mermaid project, Howard gathered the whole disney crew for a meeting. He tell about broadway history to all the crew and they all were impressed at him. Fun fact: Howard did much more than write the songs on this movie, he also brought on board Jodi Benson, directed her during this song, changed an English butler crab named Clarence to be a Jamaican crab named Sebastien, wrote the dialog in the scene where Triton gives Ariel her legs, and also produced the movie with John Musker.


This is how Jodi's said to him
https://youtu.be/itaEZeJoqK0


After The Little Mermaid released and became a biggest success in box office, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken was going to make movie called Aladdin. They've come up with several of ideas and musical numbers but Jeffrey Katzenberg then dragging them to a new project, Beauty and The Beast. Unfortunately, Ashman passed away 6 month before beauty and the beast was released and that movie was dedicated to him that even in the credit scene you can see that they gaved him credit to honor him because of how important he was. After beauty and the beast released, Jeffrey then took away all of Ashman's idea and script, almost 99% of them. But sadly some of the songs were removed in the final film

He is the one who bring the new element broadway musical to the movie. This is the bright spot where everyone started to watching to animated movies again, previously no one was at all interested in animated movies. That's why every single disney movie now has a song in it. Disney keep using this formula until now (but not as effective as in the renaissance) because it's Howard's legacy. You can tell how they respect Ashman that even in Beauty and The Beast credit scene, there's a statement to honor him

"To our friend, Howard,
who gave a mermaid her voice
and a beast his soul,
we will be forever grateful."

Howard Ashman
1950-1991

No wonder why The Little Mermaid be the first disney animated classic who get an oscar nomination. Also Beauty and the Beast is Disney's 30th animated motion picture, a dedication to Howard Ashman before he had passed away and the only classic movie to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Picture.

He was the one who brought “I Want” song to another level! I Want song is literally every disney movies now. "In almost every musical ever written... the leading lady usually sits down on something... and sings about what she wants in life, and the audience falls in love with her and roots for her to get for the rest of the night." - Howard Ashman.

He and his partner, Alan Menken, is the greatest duo that anyone have ever recognized in animated movie history. Also gain respect to Alan Menken, The little mermaid is actually his first score yet he can bring the magic with that scores. You can said that Part of Your World orchestra in the opening scene is the best choir you have ever seen and heard.

Have you ever heard about the quote
"There are three kinds of pianists: Jewish pianists, homosexual pianists, and bad pianists."

-Vladimir Horowitz

That quote actually referring to Ashman because he was Jewish and gay but still doesnt changed the fact that he really putted his care and love the the movies

It's hard not to hear the parallels to his own life. To be a gay man in that day and age (and to be literally dying of AIDS) and to wrestle with that kind of longing, that kind of loneliness, that kind of confusion, that kind of self-hatred... The message comes loud and clear even when it's not sung by a mermaid. Tremendous achievement, brilliant man. RIP.

I can't imagine how much more greater and better Disney would have been doing today if this great man was still alive. It hurts to actually wonder.

The 1990s from 1990 to 1999 was the most consistently great era for animation. The second Golden Age of not just Disney, but animation in general.

This video is criminally underrated. And while Disney 2D animation never reached the same heights as this era, I think The Princess and the Frog was an excellent sendoff.

this video was absolutely amazing! really love how you went in depth in talking about each movie, the aspects that made them great to you, and the visionaries behind them! this is probably the best video documentary you've made yet :)

I haven’t watched the video yet, but I’d like to thank you for your hard work. Your videos have inspired me to be a better writer and artist which is something that I am forever grateful for.
Your first video I watched was on A Silent Voice and it is thanks to that video that I’ve grown to love the film and anime as a whole. It is thanks to that growth as a person that I’m now able to fulfill my dream of becoming an English professor.
I now teach college English as a graduate teacher and I am going to be writing my thesis on A Silent Voice next school year. So thank you for the inspiration and the hard work and thank you Kyoto Animation.

This was an absolute banger! The research, the clip selection, the editing, it was all amazing, great job! And I feel the same way about these movies, especially the Lion King- every time i rewatch them i fear that they might not be as good but i end up loving them even more.

Bruh, I love the passion you put in your video. You're awesome.

What an absolute BANGER of a video, my guy!!! Hope you're proud of this one!

I haven’t even watched it yet but I know it’s going to be a banger. Thank you for all your hard work, it’s greatly appreciated.

The Hunchback disrespect broo nooo😭 In defense of Esmaralda's character, she feels alot more mature compared to other Disney Renaissance heroines. Like she's not a whimsical princess nor a quirky cottage girl (sorry Belle). She's an outcast, a member of an oppressed ethnic minority that lives on the outskirts of society, she uses her beauty to earn more money for herself and others even though she admits to Quasimodo that if she had skills like he has she wouldn't have to dance on the street. Still as she herself admits " I ask for nothing I can get by, but I know so many less lucky than I" shows that she is willing to give up anything for the safety and comfort of her people. Also her romance with Phoebus mainly serves a narrative purpose of contrast in the love.. square ig you can call it. Quasimodo sees Esmeralda as an Angel, a 'heavens light' if you will, Frollo sees her as a demon and temptation of the devil, Phoebus is the only one who sees her as an actual person. Also the argument of "there are to many songs" is just ridiculous, I'm sorryyy. The Hunchback has like one song more than Aladdin cmon. This is a musical, probably the best one out of the renaissance because all of them, because every song (with one exception) are essential to the story and move it along. There's a reason why The Bells of Notre Dame is in Alan Menkens own words: "the best opening number I've written for a film" or why Hellfire is considered  to be one of the greatest villain songs in fiction.

Sorry I really get frustrated when people hate on this movie, especially since it's easily the most underrated Disney renaissance movie, it seems almost forgotten sometimes. But yeah overall a great video, your view point in Esmeralda really intrigued me because I see where you're coming from. I really like hearing other people perspectives and opinions, it's quite eye opening sometimes.

That was amazing! I've been watching a lot of Disney renaissance content here lately and this video really stands out, great job man

18:17 & 20:26 - heck yeah for more posing, man!

Honestly, love the video, every time I see a video of appreciation for animation media as an art, it just warms my heart.

Amazing! Absolutely fantastic! Just no words man. I can't believe that I did this, but i just shared this video to like almost all of my friends, cuz that's just how much I feel like this deserves to be seen. I hope you find joy in knowing that I enjoyed every second of this and getting to be a part of it thru ur community posts, just makes the experience even better. Absolutely worth the wait :) ☺️

15:05 Lol, that conspiracy was really something

I was a child through the Disney Renaissance! What a time!

it's unbelievable to think how animations way before i was born were still such a big part of my childhood and how it effected me. Thanks for letting us go trough this nostalgia trip together with you and experiencing all of it again

Great video!!

I was waiting for this from your community posts lol

YES I’M SO IN LOVE WITH LION KING!! my absolute favorite, I love seeing someone else be so in love with it😌😩💗🫶🏼