Mickey Mouse Character Essay

A century ago who would have believed a sm on the whole little, rodent creature would be the icon of not just a multi-billion dollar company unless also a symbol of innocence, y come forthh, and, happiness. The icon of rail line is n matchless other than rice paddy sneak, a reference work that has hundreds of different meanings to millions of different people. But the paddy field the reality knows today is not the same resume mouse that audiences k unfermented when he do his basic common appearance in 1928. Rather through show up the eight decades hes been around, paddy field black eye has evolved and grown, just as the public has. Where paddy field was once a mischievous, abrasive, adventurer everyplace the years hes change into a cheerful, calm, educational tool.But the marvel lately has been whether paddy field creep is still a relevant figure in a fast paced, high-tech world full of video impales and transaction films. Where barely does the eighty-three year-o ld rice paddy common mackerel fit in with newer icons such(prenominal) as Super Mario and Spongebob Square underdrawers? Disney hopes to answer this doubtfulness by rebranding the aging mention to once again become an important quality in the coming(prenominal) decade of the teens. By going back to the essential qualities of humor, he ruse, mischief, and adventure that once made up rice paddy Mouse, Disney can rediscover a mention that is truly snipless.Its important to note that rice paddy Mouse wasnt always the prize creation of Walt Disney you see once upon a time thither was a newfangled active creature known as Oswald The Lucky Rabbit. Oswald was a happy, upbeat fellow who practically found himself in sticky situations whether it was run away vehicles1, danger at war2 or his girlfriend getting kidnapped by a shadowy figure wearing a top hat when hes submiting to milk a robot cow3. Sadly Oswalds happiness soon came to an end when his course of actioner Walt Disney realized despite universe the man behind the event, he actually didnt own the seriouss to the animated rabbit, as he was property of the distri moreoveror Universal Pictures. Up stiff over his contract, Disney broke his ties with Universal, which meant leaving twain his staff and Oswald behind.When attempting to come up with a new cartoon caseful he himself would own, Walt Disneys look wandered back to the days he worn out(p) living in Kansas City. His studio there was frequently run over with field mice, and he found himself particularly close with one specific mouse. When bored with work he would play with the mouse, training the rodent to extend in a small circlethrough the outgrowth of operant conditioning by pathetic its nose with a pencil whenever it began to leave. Walt therefore decided to view as the character flummoxed after the mouse he grew so fond of. The basic design apply for Oswald was still retained, with mostly minor changes to make the character res emble a rodent rather than a rabbit. Walt originally planned to prognosticate him Mortimer, but his wife thought the name sounded pretentious. The two compromised on the name rice paddy, and with that the most storied cartoon character was born.Contrary to popular belief, Steamboat Willie was not Mickeys first appearance, but rather it was six months earlier with the short-circuit Plane Crazy (1928). Based after famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, the short consisted of Mickey becoming a pilot as an attempt to impress his time to come girlfriend Minnie Mouse. The Mickey in the short is quite possibly the furthest you could get from what he is today, as his goal throughout the cartoon is to get an un forgeting Minnie to kiss him age flying the plane.After some(prenominal) futile attempts, he tries to get the kiss by victimisation force on her until she has no pick but to parachute out of the plane to escape. Mickey Mouse lusting so heavily after a kiss would be deemed bad enoug h by todays standards, let alone victimization physical force to try and get it. Now Mickey wouldnt be caught dead doing any activity. Soon other Mickey Mouse cartoon was made titled Gallopin Gaucho (1928), but it wasnt until Steamboat Willie (1928) that the character would catch on.Steamboat Willie was a complete revolution at the time in 1928. go The Jazz vocalist was the first picture to use sound, it was unaccompanied used sparingly throughout the film. Steamboat Willie on the other generate was a celebration of sound in film, acting in many ways as a technical pose off. Bells chime, cows moo, steam whistles blow, and more than than to fork out off the marvel that can number when the sound one hears directly correspondents to what appears on screen. The short became an instant success and officially launched the career of the boyish cartoon star.Mickeys appearance in the short is particularly reminiscent of a rodent, curiously when compared with his later design. H e has beady eyes, longtail, and lacks the trademark gloves the character is known for. His nose is more protruded from his face, while his ears are placed closer to his head giving him an overall scrappier look. Mickey is also portrayed as smaller than hes normally shown, being significantly smaller than a cow.4While Mickey is shown to still be fairly happy-go-lucky, hes not innocent kind fellow the public now knows. He pulls a cats tail repeatedly with the intention of getting it to squawk out, simply to contribute to his impromptu jam band. Mickey laughs and grins almost roguishly, taking immense delight in what is visually causing the cat pain. He even swings the cat around and around, until throwing the animal carelessly crosswise the room to move on to his next victim. Mickey is clearly abusing the animals hes supposed to be taking care of. The cartoon ends with Mickey being mocked and laughed at by a parrot to which he responds by throwing a potato he was peeling at the bird, knocking the creature into the water.Mickey then listens closely to hear the off screen sound of the bird struggling in the water only when to burst out in laughter at the birds misfortune. Compared to the tame Mickey that the character later turned in to, its shocking to see he originated as a separate of sadistic fellow. Yet ironically, Mickey looks more innocent than ever as he throws his cares away, make tuneful instruments of the various animals around him. To kids, Mickey was a representation of fun and excitement. He turned whatever speculate he had into an entertaining adventure, even if that meant getting in trouble sometimes. The mouse had a distinct temper that seems to be lacking in the goody-two-shoes of today.The genres of Mickeys early cartoon ranged greatly from short to short, with everything from prison movie spoofs5 to war satires6 to a surrealist nightmare7. Though each cartoon shared a similar wizard of humor and fun. That is except for the 1933 short T he Mad Doctor, which features Pluto being kidnapped by an evil scientist who attempts to separate the dogs head in order place it on top of a weakly interacting m hind endive particles body to find out if the end result will bark or crowing or cackle8.Mickey enters the Mad Doctors lair, avoiding the skinny trap after booby trap, and even fighting off an army ofskeletons until he himself is caught and nearly sawed in half. In the end it turns out the whole experience was a dream, but nonetheless the short is quite terrifying for what was thought of as childrens fare. In the Journal of Popular Film and Television professor Rick DeCroix said that the short was, perhaps the first animated horror film played more for chills than laughs in fact, it was so unfinished that British censors deemed it unsuitable for viewing by children.9 Even many theatres in the U.S. banned the short, refusing to allow such scary material to be shown to young kids.More Mickey Mouse cartoons continued to b e produced at an increasing rate, as the character grew more and more popular. But with newfound popularity came increasing demands to make Mickey Mouse a more wholesome character for the later half of the 1930s. In his book cunning of Walt Disney from Mickey Mouse to the Magic states artist and popular culture studier Christopher Finch writesMickey had become virtually a earthal symbol, and as such he was expected to behave properly at all times. If he occasionally stepped out of line, any number of letters would arrive at the Studio from citizens and organizations who felt that the nations moral well-being was in their hands Eventually he would be pressured into the role of groovy man.10The character of Mickey had become too big to continue his troublemaker ways it soon became unvarnished the character would have to change to accommodate his sudden fame. In 1928 he was groping and physically fulfilling Minnie Mouse (Plane Crazy) but by 1936 Mickey would settle for a handsha ke with Minnie to show their expressionings (The Rival). Many of Mickeys characteristics were transferred to new characters such as Donald Duck and Dippy Dawg or give out known as Goofy. Three began to share more cartoons together with Mickey being the rational solid one, while Donald and Goofy were the silly more outrageous characters. Donald would eventually start appearing in more cartoons than Mickey, as the angry duck provided funnier material than the moral mouse. But the change in Mickeys character didnt come suddenly rather he gradually reformed his mischievous ways.Mickeys occupations also began to change as he moved from the countryside and barnyards to concentrate on more widely distributed positions. He soon started playing polo (Mickeys Polo Team) and more upscale activities, partially establish on Walt Disneys newfound inte residuals. By the forties Mickey had moved into the suburbs and wear more school clothing. In cartoons like the 1942 short Mickeys Birthday P arty he can be seen donning a snap-brim hat with red ribbon, a button down blue shirt, and a cane.11As Mickeys character and profession began to change so did his appearance to reflect his new image. Professor Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard did an lengthy study of the character from a biological artistic perspective concluding the followingHe has mistaken an ever more childlike appearance as the ratty character of Steamboat Willie became the cute and inoffensive drove to a magic kingdom. By 1940, the former tweaker of pigs nipples gets a kick in the ass for insubordination (as the Sorcerers Apprentice in Fantasia). By 1953, last cartoon, he has gone fishing and cannot even subdue a squirting clam. The Disney artists transformed Mickey in clever silence, often using suggestive devices that mimic natures own changes by different routes. To give him the shorter and pudgier legs of youth, they lowered his pants line and covered his spindly legs with a baggy outfitHis head grew relativ ely larger- and its features more youthful.12The character of Mickey Mouse eventually began to physically reflect the audience Disney started aiming at. Mickey began to shift into the position of being a peer of the children who watch him. He no longer was a rodent, but rather a child just like the kids who wanted Mickey Mouse merchandise.1953 was the last theatrical Mickey Mouse short and it wouldnt be until two years later that the character would reappear, this time in the form of the television show The Mickey Mouse partnership. The series was a variety show that consisted of live action serials, newsreels, and classic Mickey cartoons.It was an attempt to cash in on a new audience of young children who hadnt yet seen vintage Mickey underdrawers. This is a format that would be replicated several times over the next few decades as the show reappeared in the 70s and the 90s, with each episode repacking old cartoons. This displayed a impregnable shift in the character as the cart oons in theatres had a universal appeal, enjoyed by both adults and children, but The Mickey Mouse Club was clearly meant for kids only. From this point on Mickey was a childrens only character, and his new roles would display this. The Mickey Mouse Club also is the start of the character as an educational tool as a many of the shows non-cartoon segments were aimed at teaching kids valuable lessons and morals.New Mickey Mouse material was scarce throughout the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties with the only study Mickey film/TV appearances being three theatrical shorts13 and one direct to video movie14. Mickey during this period became less of a character and more of a corporate icon. He appeared allover the money machine theme parks Disneyland and DisneyWorld, along with finding his face plastered onto all kinds of merchandise and word of honor that pertained to the Disney company.During the 2000s the character of Mickey Mouse was finally put together back into producti on with the creation of the show Mickey Mouse plant. The series was made up of all new shorts featuring Mickey and friends, picking up right where the Mouse left off in the 50s, living in a comfortable suburbia. The show didnt last long, being taken off air in the late 2000. Instead the shorts were reformatted to fit a new series, House of Mouse, which put Mickey as the head of a dinner theatre where all the Disney animated characters gathered to hang out and watch cartoons.Half the show consisted of new material with Mickey running the club, while the rest was shorts from either Mickey Mouse Works or vintage color cartoons. The character also appeared in four direct to DVD movies, two of which being byproducts of The House of Mouse and the other two being Mickeys Twice Upon a Christmas (2004) and The Three Musketeers (2004). Despite being placed in all these different settings they all stuck to the recent strain of Mickey Mouse, boring and calm as ever, with the character forced to play the straight manto all the crazy people around himMickeys main cartoon appearance today is hold to the preschooler series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the ultimate culmination in his progression from all ages cartoon icon to a little kids only educator. The characters animation is slow and careful, trying to remain at a pace three year-olds can easily follow. Unlike The Mickey Mouse Club this series contains no classic Mickey shorts, being entirely educational based programming enwrapped thinly behind a narrative. But there is no disguising the fact that the show is limited in its appeal, having a clear audience of three to five year-old toddlers. Mickey Mouse, a character that previously climbed serious mountains15, explored the jungles of Africa16, and fought off hordes of skeletons17, barely shares any form of resemblance with the great mouse he once was.As the character became non-existent in film and watered down within television during the aughts, the area Mickey Mouse s character became most interesting lies in the realm of video games. While he has appeared in them since the early eighties, it wasnt until the release of the 2001 Square Enix game Kingdom Hearts that the character began to be acknowledge as a true video game icon. The Kingdom Hearts series is a labyrinthine combination of Disney characters mixed with the Final Fantasy video game franchise.The game takes place in a universe that consists of numerous worlds, typically based off a Disney film or a set of Disney/Final Fantasy characters. A large portion of the main storyline is put into motion when the formula of the prominent world known as Disney Castle disappears in an attempt to rid the universe of onset darkness. The ruler is, of course, none other than King Mickey Mouse.Throughout much of the first game Mickey himself is rarely seen, but his trademark mouse ears icon is displayed frequently as the symbol of Disney Castle. The characters talk astir(predicate) how great and p owerful the King is, but he only makes one actual appearance at the very end. At the time Disney wasnt quite sure how the game would turn out, and as such was weary of having him be a main character, so he was allowed to appear in one mise en sceneonly. Due to the games overwhelming success the character became more significant its numerous sequels and spin-off titles, especially in the 2006 game Kingdom Hearts II. Its in this title that the character attempts to recruit himself a true video game hero, displayed as powerful and valiant. He defeats enemies in a exclusive blow, strikes fear into bosses eyes, and is all around a truly strong threat. Yet Mickeys personality remains happy and upbeat as ever. Squire Enix was able to use his goody two-shoes personality to put a new twist on the character.18Mickeys regular clothes in the Kingdom Hearts universe is a play off his traditional clothing, keeping with the basics of white gloves, redshirt, and chicken boots. They then added e xtra details such as the straps on his shoes, tinges of silver and black, along with large zippers to try and give a slightly more complex, mature look. Though a lot of the time spent with Mickey Mouse occurs when hes dressed in all black, wearing a cloaked hood that is the trademark of a mysterious organization within the game. This is how the character looks when fully reveled for the first time in Kingdom Hearts II, being an effort to make the character look cooler and more stylish then hes typically portrayed. The game establishes right away that while he may still be Mickey Mouse, this isnt the same guy that teaches math on television. This rendering isnt quite a radical overhaul, but rather a step in the right direction to bring the character back to his hero, adventurer roots.19The radical overhaul in Mickeys character would actually occur four years later in the 2010 release of the video game Epic Mickey Disneys first big attempt in years to completely create and redesign the character for a new, contemporary generation. With this the company itself has recognized that the character has become out of touch with current audiences, so what better way to began a characters modernization than by making the reintroduction first occur in the newest medium of storytelling, videogames. Epic Mickey is a much darker take on the character that has more in line with the mouse of old than the currently familiar suburban incarnation.20The story involves Mickey breaking into a wizards workshop, making a mess of winder on the model of a magical land the wizard created. He accidentally spills paint sheer allover the world when trying to clean his mess up, and runs away before the wizard can birth to catch him in the act. Years go by with Mickey being carefree, not thinking close to the trouble he created until the day a mysterious creature pulls Mickey back into the workshop and drags him into the model world. The world is now known as The Wasteland and is where cartoon characters disappear to when forgotten by society.While Mickey Mouse appeared in new shorts and adventures over the years, those he left behind cease up populating this abandoned world. The leader of this land happens to be none other than the original forgotten character himself, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, being his first official appearance since 1943. Mickey is forced to face the consequences of his selfish actions that caused the conclusion of their world, going around helping old faces that once were his friends, but due to forgotten time feel more like strangers.The gameplay itself revolves around the idea of using paint, which creates, or thinner, which destroys, to solve puzzles. This allows the gamer to directly decide whether Mickey is a hero or an anti-hero. Mickey never can go as far as to truly harm another character, but he can choose the easy way out or be selfish to better himself over others. This lets the game act as a bridge over between the old mischievo us Mickey Mouse and the righteous modern Mickey. The characters art design reflects this combination, as he is a mixture of both the original and the more current Mickey. The rest of the games artwork is distinctly dark and dreary, which represents the studios attempts to inform consumers Mickey isnt just for kids. He can be a mature character, caught up in a question of morality and the tribulations that come with fame and leaving friends behind.21Epic Mickey is a good start, but just one game isnt enough. Disney is going to have to be more aggressive if they hope to keep the character relevant as the new millenniums teen years soon kick in. The apprehension needs to be pulled of the character and he must be promoted as more than just a corporate mascot. The greatest step they could take would be to finally release a feature-length Mickey Mouse film. In the eighty plus years the mouse has been around he has never had his own uncut feature. Hes appeared in parts of movies, such as with Fantasia (1940), along with Fun and Fancy kick (1947), but never a whole film.The main fear has always been that if a Mickey movie came out and performed poorly it would reflect badly on the character, harming his image. But it appears the company is beginning to change their learning ability as news broke in March of 2011 that such a movie might happen, as long time Disney animator Burny Mattinson revealed hes been working on a pitch for a film staring Mickey Mouse, along with his friends Donald and Goofy22. Such a film is exactly the major kick-start the character needs. It would allow a true fresh start to the largest audience possible.Mickey Mouse has evolved and changed over the years, but the publics love for the character seems to never go away. One cant be certain what exactly Mickeys future holds, especially as the characters copyright finally expires in 2023, meaning unless Disney finds a way of interfering then the cartoon icon will enter public domain. Disney is d esperate to make the character relatable to all ages again, and it seems the key is to reevaluate what once made him so great. Mickey Mouse is the most versatile cartoon character in history and theres a reason he has lasted so long. Mickey has survived eighty plus years remain in public consciousness, and it isnt hard to believe that with a few adjustments hell survive another eighty more.