Milton and the Mouse: Was Paradise Lost Lovingly Ripped Off?

Abstract

A demon parade? Ghouls running amuck? A battle between good and evil? Are these scenes from an epic piece of literary masterpiece or a cartoon drawn to the sounds of classic music? The answer to this question is simple: both. Milton has created a beautiful retelling of the first chapter of the bible answering what really happened between God and Satan, and why there is a war waging between good and evil. There is another retelling of a battle between a satanic figure named Chernabog, and the power of good. This retelling can be found in Disney’s Fantasia within the piece entitled “A Night on Bald Mountain.” Are these two stories closely related? Did Walt Disney and his artistic team of animators borrow their sights from the detail writing of John Milton’s Paradise Lost to create their own reputation building masterpiece within “A Night on Bald Mountain.” I find this a fun and impoartant question to ask because it has not been asked in a printed work before, yes similarities might have been compared but not studied to a full extent of how close these works appear.