Comments on: Disney, Mickey, and Childhood’s Betrayal

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 23:28:26 +0000

I wouldn’t argue with that assessment, though to be fair, he’s pretty smart for a dinosaur.

By: Who Would Call....

Who Would Call.... — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:55:59 +0000

Also, Barney does not act innocent, he acts idiotic.

By: Who Would Call....

Who Would Call.... — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:54:57 +0000

OK….. Just putting this out there.

I have friends who are 15 and love the Mickey Mouse that is what you guys call boring. HE IS NOT BORING!!!!!!! and if Disney makes Mickey Mouse edgy – like Hannah Montana pole-dancing – it will make a lot of fans boycott Disney. They (Disney) do not enjoy making kids smile – they (Disney) want kids to be seeing shows for ADULTS!!!! For instance, the Disney Movie ‘Camp Nowhere’ is meant for 50 year olds, as kids would think it’s too scary.

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:08:36 +0000

I don’t entirely disagree, David. But for better or worsse, Mickey abandoned that niche and left it to others (like Bugs, Daffy and Woody Woodpecker). He has a role and a job now—it may be boring, but somebody’s got to do it. They aren’t going to fire Mickey as the symbol of Fantasyland and the Magic Kingdom, so we’ll have an edgy symbol. Well, an edgy Mickey won’t be qualified for that job.

I’d also say that Mild Mickey is for kids younger than 8, at least today.

Boy, thanks for the links—I remember all but one…never saw the Nazi fight. Fabulous.

By: David

David — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:53:13 +0000

Before the 1950s, before Mickey donned that goddamn tux and tails, he didn’t have a truly “dark side”; he was just a classic scrapper. Not a *bad* guy at all—just a raffish, determined adventurer who won the world’s attention by being “Chaplin, Fairbanks, and Lindy rolled into one,” as a 1930s publicity release called him.

Here’s Mickey as a gun-toting western hero:

Here’s Mickey socking it to the Nazis during WWII:
http://disneycomics.free.fr/Mickey/show.php?num=30&loc=YM057

Here’s Mickey showing genuine grief at the thought that Minnie has been lost:
http://disneycomics.free.fr/Mickey/show.php?num=25&loc=YM014

And here’s Mickey battling wild pirates:

This is one of the greatest fictional characters ever—and you know what? He wouldn’t have become great if he were dead boring from the start, regardless of how much you may value a “symbol of the innocent in childhood.”
That’s a role for Elmo, Barney, and Big Bird.

I’m a comics and animation fan who was lucky enough to grow up in the 1980s, when many of these classic Mickey cartoons and comics were first being reissued—even if the new Mickey material being made at the same time featured the boring character you claim to love.
As a grade school kid—supposedly the focus group for the dull, naively smiling Mickey you champion—I chose the gutsy, determined, heroic, fallible and mischievous version over that pasteboard naif, and so did my friends. When a later Mickey cartoon came on, even at eight we didn’t want to watch it.

New material reviving a more interesting Mickey? Whether this is just the game or something more, it’s long overdue.

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:40:05 +0000

Never even discussed the issue of whether the “make-over” would “work,” but you’re right. A couple of decades ago, these sorts of things were in the other direction: Popeye, for example, was made less violent. But that was the fun of Popeye—watching him beat the tar out of Bluto. Nobody watches Popeye amy more, unless it’s the old Fleischer version.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:25:32 +0000

I’ve heard some things about this, and the only think I can think is the same thing I thought when the Loonatics came around: “this is lame.”

Maybe it’ll be fun, but Mickey is going through the same nonsense that Sonic the Hedgehog went through; for some reason, the people who made Sonic thought we wanted an epic and dramatic storyline while we were running really fast and collecting rings.