The mouse
It is Mickey Mouse’s 80th birthday today.
Now I was never a huge fan of Mickey. He’s always been just a bit too much of a goody-two-shoes for my taste. Donald Duck was always my favourite in the ‘Disney family’. If there was anyone who could be relied on to completely screw up everything and respond in the most extreme and stupidly funny way possible it was Donald. Mickey is just too reliable, predictable and dull. Watching a Mickey Mouse cartoon is kind of like what it would be like watching a cartoon about me. i.e. boring.
Still I have a soft spot for Mickey, mainly because for me he symbolises a mystical mid-century America that I’ve long been entranced with. I grew up watching repeats of Disney cartoons from the 40s and 50s and fell in love with that land of neat template houses, wirelesses playing Rosemary Clooney, big beautifully polished cars, cheeky talking squirrels and domestic bliss. Everything was neat, orderly and nice in Disney cartoons.
Some might say this was just unrealistic and dull, but I loved this mythical world of mid-period Disney. That’s my Mickey Mouse and my Disney. I find most Disney cartoons since 1970’s The Aristocats insipid and sickly (except for Toy Story). Nothing compares to childhood illusions, eh?
Tags: dirty nostalgia
November 19th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Happy Birthday to Mickey! I was always a bigger fan of Donald Duck myself. I still like Mickey though. I love all those old cartoons. Mickey does represent to me Americana of the 50’s, etc. It doesn’t get much better than Disney during the earlier years. I’m not that big on them these days.
November 19th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Sounds like you are very similar to me then Keith. I think the problem for me with more recent cartoons is that they always have to have some kind of moral message. When I watch kids TV with my nephews I’m always taken aback by how thick they lay it on and how unsubtle the ‘messages’ are. I like the fact that Mickey and Donald weren’t always reminding you to help other people, co-operate, read books etc. It was all just entertainment.
November 19th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I always found the fact that Mickey wears white gloves a bit troubling. What’s he got to hide? Terrible psoriasis?
But I liked the neat houses with the spotty tie-back curtains and big radios.
November 19th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
That’s a good point. I’ve never thought about the white gloves before. I imagine it’s so that he can easily do ‘the white glove test’ after Minnie Mouse has spent the day dusting the big radios.