Aesthetics and Art

 In 2014, Disney debuted its cinematic version of the popular Broadway musical, Into the Woods. This Sondheim original is a dark satire musical featuring well known storybook characters such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack from Jack and the beanstalk. The musical intertwines the characters stories into one, showcasing each fairytale but giving them more of a realistic ending.

The way Sondheim had written the musical, he utilizes the outer-directed tasks of art, which refines society and culture by offering the ideal, see into the present to reveal our world and to cope with the labors of life. He does this through showcasing fairytale stories which offers society and culture the ideal. For example, when Cinderella gets to go to the ball, or Jack gets the magical beans would be offering the ideal. When things take a turn, and these characters face reality, is when the audience can see into the present to reveal the real world. For example when Cinderella is having the time of her life at the ball but is then hit with the stroke of midnight, and reality steps back in. Things go back to normal, she still has to maintain the life she had before. The same would happen for Jack as he climbed the beanstalk, stole from the giants in the sky, having them come down a break havoc among humans. In the story, the characters will have to cope with the labors of life, after losing many characters along the way and trying to reset the curse the witch had made. When having to cope, one of the most famous scenes of the musical, “no one is alone.” This musical number embodies the characters coping with the labors of life, for it is one of the most sad and heartwarming scenes of the musical. It is scenes like this that make the musical’s aesthetic heartwarming and make the viewers feel connected to the art of the story.