By Paolo Sabbatini The other day I was reviewing a masterpiece by Walt Disney: "Fantasia", an animated film from the 1940s. It is a tribute to my father, who saw the film when he was twenty, in a small town cinema, and defended this sublime work against the protests of his rough fellow citizens. It was definitely an avant-garde work, not very suitable for the "profoundly" rural countryside of that time. One of the salient episodes of the film is "the Dance of the Hours" taken from the 1876 melodrama "la Gioconda" by Amilcare Ponchielli. Disney's humorous adaptation is one of the most moving examples of the scenography of this famous musical piece. But it is only by coming to Egypt that I could appreciate the archaeological and philosophical coincidences between Disney's fantasy, and Egyptian religion, in the occult tradition. Let's see in what way Disney evokes a motif presented, for example, in the temple of Dendera and portraying, in fact, the Dance of the Hours. Disney's ballet is comical: the protagonists are ostriches, hippos, elephants and crocodiles. At the beginning, a group of ostriches unleash their legs and scramble in a rush for their breakfast: they represent the hours of the dawn. The reference to Greco-Roman antiquity is evident, because the first ostrich brandishes a cornucopia full of various fruits, an ancient symbol of abundance and fortune. The fruits are swallowed by the other dancing ostriches in a series of very successful gags. In the case of dancing ostriches, lightness is obvious; we note that the ostrich was present in the days of Ancient Egypt, and its feathers were used in the fans of the Pharaohs, presumably, the same feathers were also used as a counterweight for a dead man's heart, when his soul is submitted to the judgment of the Afterlife. In Disney's work, the ostriches awaken a group of hippopotami and their princess: these are the impersonators of the hours of the day. In a classical setting, very reminiscent of the Greco-Roman temples, these female tutu-clad hippos dance, in another reference to Egypt, when in the past, they were typical Nile animals. Disney plays with the absurd, with the contrast between the lightness of classical dance and the heaviness of those pachyderms. There is a proverb that states that often, the most delicate jobs are best done by fat people. In short, the scenography of Disney's animated design is articulated by the "heavy lightness" of the hippos and the playful and comical quarrels with the ostriches. After the efforts exerted during the day, the princess of the hippopotami goes to sleep. The elephants come out and perform a bubble parade: they represent the hours of the evening. Night comes later: a storm is unleashed, a strong wind ushers in a cohort of evil crocodiles: those are the hours of the night. How can we not think of Sobek, the Egyptian crocodile, often associated with Evil? The prince of the crocodiles and the princess of the hippos chase each other, while the other crocodiles chase the ostriches, the elephants and the hippopotami in a frenetic can-can, reminiscent of the Parisian dance of the late nineteenth century. Frankly, I do not know how much Disney wanted to draw inspiration from Egypt, voluntarily: but these coincidences are so appropriate that they constitute an affectionate and sincere tribute to this great tradition ... with a wink!
