Note: most of these blogs were written in August back before Disney caved in and I’ve decided to keep most of them up as I put a lot of work into them. I did cancel one blog that would’ve been a follow up to last year’s Halloween event but I may save that for the future.
The Halloween season is once again here and this is my favorite time of year to blog. I usually like to focus on a certain theme hen looking at villains and I’ll admit that this year’s theme is perhaps rather loose as the theme at best is death. In two cases, characters who represent death and I guess two you can continue represent death.
For our first entry we head back to 1940 and the classic concert film, Fantasia. Now is it hard to cover a villain from a film that has no plot. Yes kinda. Fantasia is a string of short films set to classical music
. It’s true that Walt wanted Fantasia to be a constant thing rotating out different short films. Alas it was’t to be and it is a kind of a shame we’ve only ever gotten two Fantasia movies.
Now, it’s true that most view Chernabog as more an entity than a true villain and that is true to an extent but he is often included with the Disney Villains line up.
Now going back to my original point about death and being a being that represents it, I understand that might a stretch to some but consider that he is the devil and that is even how Walt described him. And while there are other Disney devils, he’s the most famous one
And when we think Devil, that ties into Hell and people who participated in misdeeds end up there. Take note of how gleeful he is when the souls enter his domain. A shot I’m pretty sure that inspired a scene in Hercules.
He delights in others’ misery and while that may not make him a traditional villain, it is still villainous imo. He participates in murder casually sending people into Bald Mountain. It’s gleeful and does make me wonder which Disney Villain has the highest body count. Hmm.
In many ways, Chernabog is the ultimate form of evil that can be found in Disney. I know Maleficent has the title of Mistress of All Evil but I think Chernabog one ups her. And it takes a form of ultimate good to defeat him and in the case of this short film, it’s church bells ringing and playing Ave Maria.
It’s too much for him to handle as his evil cannot withstand the pure joy this brings.
know this isn’t a traditional start but I hope you like this and I promise the next few entries will go back to the regular format. Next time I’ll look at
The Headless Horseman
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He may not have much to him, but he’s still an incredibly imposing and memorable villain in the Disney line up (as well as being the reason I chose to watch Fantasia back in the day).
Exactly, he’s creepy and perfect even with all little screen time he gets
As you and Chris already mentioned, Chernabog is a great example of symbolic evil – a figure to associate all the ills in the world with. And his design makes him a very imposing figure. No surprise he reappears in Disney properties even though he didn’t do much in Fantasia.
Out of curiosity I checked the mythical connections and the original Chernabog was apparently a deity in ancient Slavic folklore associated with misfortune that got seen as an analogue for Satan once Christianity spread through the country.
That last part is rather interesting and yeah his design is a big reason why he keeps reappearing. Heck, a LEGO version of showed up in a LEGO Disney Princess special and even in LEGO from, he was threatening.
It’s certainly a departure from the usual format of your Villain profiles (Disney or otherwise), but there’s really not a whole lot to say about Chernabog. He’s pretty much only there for one short segment of an anthology film, and doesn’t have any dialogue or understandable motivations or much of the things usually brought up when discussing villains.
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My guess is the Headless Horseman profile will depart from the usual format, for similar reasons.
Yeah, for him and the Headless Horseman I had to throw out the usual format as there’s not much to talk about like you said as they’re more representative of peoples fears than being outright villainous