Disney produced many films in the Golden Age which started the family trusted Disney company, these films consisted of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, and Dumbo. While most of these films weren't financial succesess, the films still moulded the Disney company which we know today (Sur, 2020). The characteristics of this era of Disney filmmaking were quite dark with Disney adding quite eerie dark scenes amongst happy, upbeat ones. This era of filmmaking saw Disney pushing the limits in every way possible. These five films started a few important trends in Disney filmmaking. Snow White was the first of the fairy tale-based movies that Disney is known for, Pinocchio started the concept of taking well-known literature and turning it into a child-friendly film and Bambi explored the possibilities of making a movie through the eyes of an animal. Other Disney staples such as exaggerated villains, the use of music and prominent, comedic sidekicks were first introduced in the Golden Age as well (DizAvenue, 2015).

1942-1949 was deemed the Wartime Era due to the arrival of World War II. Disney studios faced mass budget cuts and a reduction of animators due to their availability (Gowsell, 2019). The films produced during this time are not Disney’s most popular and included Saludos Amigos, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, and The Adventures of Icabod and Mr Toad. Each film is made up of various short films which don’t follow the same plot line. Disney focused on producing fliers and advertisements which encouraged citizens to support the war

The Silver Age came in 1950 to 1969, marking Disney’s return to big budget, full length animated films. The era is marked by its beautiful animation style, soft colours, and ornate backgrounds (DizAvenue, 2015). The background in Sleeping Beauty for example was designed to look like a painting. The films follow the same trends set by the Golden Age of Disney Animation where the films follow a fairy tale premise, such as in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, new contributions of highly regarded tales in literature like Pinocchio in the Golden Age were Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, and films which were through the eyes of animals were The Jungle Book, One Hundred and One Dalmatians and Lady and the Tramp. These films proved to be successful to Disney and are carried through to animation today. Walt Disney’s death in 1966 marked the end of The Silver Age with The Jungle Book being the last film Disney personally worked on (Anon, n.d.).

Walt Disney’s death caused a decline for the company with them completing trial and error as they struggled without Walt Disney’s creativity and imagination. The Bronze Age also sheltered away from fairy tales and brought darker stories to the company, these films included Robin Hood, The Aristocats, The Black Cauldron and Oliver and Company (Rotoscopers, 2016) . The era didn’t explore bigger themes like previous eras and didn’t make as much an impact on audiences. This era began to set the framework for a newer, better era in Disney filmmaking (DizAvenue, 2015).

The pinnacle of Disney films occurred from 1989 – 1999 in the Renaissance Era. It saw profound success in the box office with the movies returning to the musical fairy-tale films Disney is known for (Moore, 2022). With The Little Mermaid, Disney saw the best quality of xerography and its first fairy-tale film in almost 20 years. During this era Disney began the Broadway formula with the idea that any of the films could be easily translated on the stage. This era introduced Disney to two of their musical masterminds, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Both men working together proved to be key elements in Disney films for musical success (Howard, 2018). The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan and Tarzan were all films released during this era and are all deemed box office successes During this time, Pixar (not owned by Disney until 2006) were releasing digitally animated films, rivalling Disney’s successes (Barber, 2015). Disney took a fall from 2000-2008 with the success of Pixar and high box office rating franchises such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.

The Post Renaissance era is really defined by Disney Studio trying to find a new method of storytelling. Dinosaur was Disney’s first attempt at CGI animation and got Disney interested in the style of animation. This era was basically a transition period for Disney, while it moved from traditional animation to CGI and from old storytelling to new storytelling (DizAvenue, 2015).