American settings and stories in the animated canon

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Since Disney is an American animation studio, I was just thinking what the most American features in the canon were.

There is the compilation movies, like Make Mine Music and Melody Time and so on. Some of these shorts and featurettes are American, but obviously no features. (Also, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, which was partly based on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" from Washington Irving's The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., which also contain "Rip Van Winkle", is apparently the oldest known examples of so-called fantastic literature in America). Also Fantasia 2000 should be mentioned because of Rhapsody in Blue.

Then there is Pocahontas and Brother Bear. The setting is the American continent, but before the origin of the united states.

From the remaining titles on the list, the oldest one is Dumbo. Then there is Lady and the Tramp. These are the only two from the hand inking era.

After Xerox was introduced, there wouldn't be an fully American movie before The Fox and the Hound. We do have The Rescuers (and Rescuers Down Under), but the movie was based on a series of British books. Aristocats was as we know an original story set in France, and The Jungle Book was set in India, but written by en Englishman (born in India).

Not sure about Oliver & Company. It is American, but based on/inspired by the old story about Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

Movies like The Black Cauldron, Chicken Little and Treasure Planet is set in non-existing places.

The two Wreck-It Ralph is inside computer games, but the arcade and internet servers seems to be in America.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire starts and ends in America, and in between they visit a fictional underground country.

After 2000, features with an American setting becomes much more numerous:
Lilo & Stitch, Home on the Range, Meet the Robinsons, Bolt, The Princess and the Frog (even if partly based on a Brothers Grimm fairytale) and Big Hero 6.

[Farerb]

It depends if you talk about the US or the continent America because while Hawaii is part of the US, it's not actually in America.

[UmbrellaFish]

Something that to me is worth noting is Disney’s use of American actors using American accents for many of its fairy tale characters. In live action movies, there is a tradition to use British actors or British accents in period pieces set in Europe— even when these movies are not set in Britain! Compare the accents of the leads in the 1991 and 2017 versions of Beauty and the Beast. I think these casting choices go a long, long way in “Americanizing” these old European fairy tales.

[Sotiris]

In live action movies, there is a tradition to use British actors or British accents in period pieces set in Europe— even when these movies are not set in Britain!

No wonder those suck so much. That has to do less with tradition and more to do with the rebates and tax incentives offered by the British government to film in the UK. They require a certain percentage of the cast to be British.

[UmbrellaFish]

The tradition is still very real. Movies like Amadeus and Dangerous Liaisons were famous in the 80s for bucking the trend.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

It depends if you talk about the US or the continent America because while Hawaii is part of the US, it's not actually in America.

I was thinking about United States, which is why I pointed out that Brother Bear and Pocahontas takes place on the American continent, but not actually in the US since it didn't exist back then.

Something that to me is worth noting is Disney’s use of American actors using American accents for many of its fairy tale characters. In live action movies, there is a tradition to use British actors or British accents in period pieces set in Europe— even when these movies are not set in Britain! Compare the accents of the leads in the 1991 and 2017 versions of Beauty and the Beast. I think these casting choices go a long, long way in “Americanizing” these old European fairy tales.

English is not my mother language, so I must confess I don't pay that much attention to the accent when they're talking English, unless it's a very heavy accent. I'll try to pay attention the next time I see a Disney movie. The only remakes of classics I have seen so far are the two Alice in Wonderland movies (and the first Maleficent, but that actually a prequel).

[blackcauldron85]

English is not my mother language, so I must confess I don't pay that much attention to the accent when they're talking English, unless it's a very heavy accent.

I find that really interesting! I was born and raised in Massachusetts, so I can understand a New England accent and a New York accent, but other than Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury, Emily Blunt, I suppose, and just random others, like some people on YouTube, I really struggle with understanding other accents, even within my own country, like a southern U.S. accent (there are a few). So it's neat that you can just understand them no matter the accent!

I think of Oliver & Co. to be very American, with its setting, but the origin story is of course Dickens, as you said.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Well, I watch most movies with subtitles, but as mentioned, British and American accents doesn't make that much a difference. Problems have more to do with individual actors, like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, which is almost impossible to understand without subtitles.

Oliver & Co. is American, but since the title is "settings and stories", I just pointed out the story's origin.

Thinking about it, I'm not sure what Big Hero 6. I always imagine San Francisco, but as we know, it's set in the imaginary combination San Francisco and Tokyo in San Fransokyo.

With Pixar it is the opposite. All movies either have an American or fictional setting, except for Ratatouille, Brave and Coco (and the upcoming Luca).