LogFAQs > #968756851

wallmasterz posted...

Disneys the legend of sleepy hollow (1949)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGDWSy9Woug

(8/4/9 = 21)

This classic Disney animated film, based on the short story by Washington Irving (and packaged together with The Wind in the Willows), tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a dandy school teacher who moves to the town of Sleepy Hollow and promptly gets himself into the middle of a love triangle between Brom Bones, the town's local ruffian, and Katrina van Tassel, the daughter of a wealthy family.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is one of the most charming, autumnal, and Halloween feeling pieces of media you can experience around October. I think what I love about Sleepy Hollow is how many different genres it encompasses (romance, comedy, horror) while still being, at its core, a heart-pounding story about superstition, fear, and greed. While I personally think the short story does a greater job of descriptively gnawing at those things, there's something to be gleaned from the simplicity of the animated adaptation too.

Ichabod Crane is the protagonist, but not a good person. He's a greedy, gold-digging womanizer with an intense fear of the supernatural. Unlike most Disney protagonists at the time, Crane isn't necessarily likable. His failings make for an interesting contrast to Brom's idealized strength and bravery - but placing us in the shoes of Crane makes Brom out to be this roguish villain. However, it's Crane, who goes after Katrina not exactly for love but for her money, that ultimately suffers a true villain's end.

The film really comes into its own during the Halloween party. There's a jovial air to the event with Brom and Ichabod boyishly competing for Katrina, with Brom eventually discovering Ichabod's superstitions. And like any good Halloween party, Brom sings the tale of the Headless Horseman, who travels the woods of Sleepy Hollow looking to replace his missing head. Ichabod is terrified; even his own vanity and love for fortune isn't enough to belay his fears, as he flees home from the party jumping at every noise that echoes through the forest.

It's actually pretty chilling how purely Ichabod's fears are illustrated in breathtaking intensity in the final minutes of the short, showing how one's mind and the stories it comes up with are almost more frightening than what actually happens. What I love most though is Ichabod's mad dash from the Headless Horseman manages to inject both fear and comedy into the proceedings, which conveys the comical absurdity of his foolish actions and beliefs while also giving Crane a Gothically cruel end, if you believe he died that night. The film doesn't really have a decision either way - just rumor, and appropriately, superstition. The fate of Ichabod ironically fueling the flames of what he was scared of in the first place - and perhaps providing righteous justification for your own superstitious beliefs yourself.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a classic tale no matter how it's told. The film's rich colors & cozy atmosphere giving way to dark terror in the final moments is just what Halloween is made of. It's a story that provides valuable lessons for all ages, introducing us to the true perils of superstition and greed while simultaneously enlivening the very thing it's speaking out against.