Last night I realized that nearly all Disney musical movies have a song of desire in them. These songs appear early in the movie and paint the desires of our hero(in). You know where the protagonist comes from, what they are struggling with and what they desire. The whole movie focuses on trying to attain that desire. And sometimes they figure out that what they truly want is actually something totally different. Or that they should take a different approach in getting it.
It’s a good mechanism for showing character development. It’s also a very easy way. Disney movies are aimed at a young audience, so that makes sense. But it’s something you can learn from when you’re working with stories. It’s important to know early on what’s going on in the protagonist’s life, what their obstacles are and what they want.
I made a quick playlist on Spotify for this collection of Disney songs. I don’t know if I have all of them, but I know most of them are in there. If you think there’s one that needs to be on the list, let me know in the comments below.