Okay so this is basically a response article to something that R8 said he would talking about in his next In Too Deep Into Disney. Where he stated that he is going to go over why Mickey Mouse sucks as a character. My reaction, I was upset that this to be sure. Because Mickey has been my my favorite cartoon character since I was 11 years old. So to see a character I love is going to be badmouthed. Yeah, it didn't sit well with me. Is it petty that I'm doing a response article to something that hasn't even gone up yet. Perhaps but being the big Mickey fan, I am, I had to get my voice heard on this issue. Anyways, with this I want to try and show the many different sides of Mickey. Because Mickey is not just the "Gee Whiz, everything is just perfect" character that people tend to mistakenly stereotype him as. I do apologize in advance for this one may turn into a rant. Okay, so let's start with the next film, that R8 is reviewing. Fun and Fancy Free. In my opinion this isn't even good backup to make the Mickey sucks claim. Because in that there is Mickey and The Beanstalk. A very good short and the last time Walt Disney ever voiced Mickey.
This short shows a side of Mickey that people tend to forget. He can think on his feet. Why if it weren't for Mickey tricking Willie, Mickey Donald and Goofy probably never would've escaped. Mickey is the one who distracted him by asking Willie to perform his magic so that Donald and Goofy could get the harp and escape. In that instance, Mickey took charge became the leader. Sure, he usually is the leader but let's also look at Mickey and something I said about him. In some of his shorts, he is the ordinary man that finds himself in extraordinary situations. Such as this one but the situations aren't what make Mickey engaging to me. There are many sides to his character such as he is a good guy and sometimes has to make hard decisions. Let's look at one of my favorite Christmas shorts for this example, Mickey's Good Deed.
In that short, Mickey had to make the hardest decision of his life. Well, one of them, he sold Pluto just so that a family worse off then him could have a better Christmas. Is that something a sucky character would do? NO!!! Sure, we see the nice guy Mickey the most but he does have his flaws and I can give you two perfect examples of where his flaws get the better of him. Let's start with The Sorcerer's Apprentice
What happens here? Well, like I need to tell you but anyways, Mickey's curiosity about Yensid's hat gets the better of him and when his master is away, he puts it one and basically causes the huge but entertaining mess that we see throughout this segment. And he does get punished for his actions in the end but that is another side that we see of Mickey and not just here but in other places, he can get in over his head. Which this perfectly leads into my next example, Runaway Brain.
This short here showed that Mickey isn't perfect and he sometimes forgets important events such as his & Minnie's anniversary. So there is a flaw of Mickey right there, he can be forgetful and as I was saying Mickey gets in over his head in this short. By going to that creepy doctor and having his brain switched with Julius.
Here, Mickey didn't think things through. So yeah, there is another flaw of Mickey's, he sometimes gets in over his head, he doesn't always think things through and he can get angry if you push him. Just look at Mickey's New Car for that.
In this short, we see what happens when Mickey gets annoyed as he trades his old jalopy for a new car with so many features that the car takes over and Mickey gets annoyed with the car because he does not have control of what is going on. A lot of us have been in that situation before, where we have no control and it causes to become angry and frustrated. Well guess what, that happens to Mickey in this short. We get to see a frustrated Mickey Mouse.
Now what about Mickey recently? Well okay, I'll admit that Disney isn't doing everything they can with him and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse really only shows the Nice Guy side of Mickey but that's okay for the type of show it is.
But if you want a more mature and in my opinion somewhat tragic take on Mickey, turn to Epic Mickey.
Why do I say tragic? Well because Mickey is responsible for what happened to Wasteland in that game. He wasn't thinking ahead. Gee, that seems to be a big flaw for Mr. Mouse. He didn't know what ramifications would be. He has to try and make up for his mistake. Something he did that hurt others. This was a great idea for Mickey, in my opinion.
So at the end of the day, Mickey is a nice guy but he like any real person has his fair share of flaws. He's not perfect. None of us fans should claim him to be perfect either. If you are truly a fan of Mickey Mouse, you should be able to recognize his flaws as well as his strengths. Now this isn't an attack on R8's opinion but I feel like people who say Mickey sucks, don't understand him. Again as I mentioned previously, there is some bias as I'm a huge Mickey fan. If you guys could see my room, it's decked out in Mickey memorabilia. Back on topic, there is more to Mickey, then I feel people give him credit for. Again, I apologize if this came off as a rant but I wanted my voice to be heard on this issue. And trust me, I went back and forth over whether or not to write this article but in the end, I felt that I had to. Peace!
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See you're working on the theory that I think Mickey Mouse sucks as a character because he is flawless, which is not entirely true. Yes a part of it does come from the fact that more often than not Mickey is a Mary Sue (see Kingdom Hearts for that example) and Epic Mickey was designed to combat the sterility of the character, proving that there was a problem with the character if Epic Mickey was needed to be made.
ReplyDeleteNo one of the main flaws of Mickey is that he is a flat character. You can put him at any time at any place and he'll still be the same. He never changes to suit his enviroment, he just stays the same character. Which is great in theory, but after 80 odd years Mickey Mouse has never really gone anywhere new or interesting. He's been the same thing from day one. But you could argue that is sorta the point of the character, to be just an everyman.
Another flaw Mickey has is that he's not nearly as interesting as his two co-stars, Donald and Goofy. Both of them had shows going and still have quite a lot of screen time, much more than Mickey himself. Mostly because they are the more interesting characters. Sure Mickey can get angry, but Donald can get more angrier and be more interesting. Sure Mickey can make mistakes, but Goofy can make more interesting ones. Next to these two characters Mickey tends to come off rather flat and uninteresting.
But most damning of all is how Mickey isn't allowed to change. Whilst he's not perfect, he's not far from it, and Disney will never let anyone challenge that notion. Epic Mickey failed because they were forced to keep Mickey pretty much the same as he always was. Sure they brought out the more mischevious side that was missing from the character in recent years, but he never really does anything new. And any time they do try anything new (see Runaway Brain), it often backfires because it feels like a caricture of Mickey Mouse, not the real deal. It feels forced.
Ultimately Mickey is a character that can be put anywhere and fit right in. And whilst it's fine in small doses, after a while you tend to just see the same thing over and over again. I watched a ton of Mickey Mouse shorts, both black and white and colour, and they tended to be very repetitive in the nature of them.
If you've seen one Mickey Mouse short, you've seen them all. All because Mickey never does anything new or interesting in any of them
(course this is a defence at midnight before I've seen Fun and Fancy Free, so I reserve the right to expand on my opinons, but that is a rough idea of why I don't think the character is the most interesting in the Disney stable).
He suffers from the same problems that a lot of long-running characters like Superman, Ash Ketchum etc tend to suffer from. Namely there's only so much to do with the character before you just repeat yourself ad nausaum and run it into the ground.
ReplyDeleteBut the flipside being any time you try and evolve the character and do something new it feels like you've gone too far and thus too out of character. Thus you're damned if you stay the same and bore the audience (see some of the latter Mickey shorts), but damned if you try to evolve because it feels like your violating the character (see Runaway Brain)
DeleteFirst Mickey isn't a Mary Sue and you are wrong in saying that if you've seen one Mickey short, you've seen them all. And while I respect your opinion, I will not agree with you. I'll admit this article partly came from a place of anger. Because Mickey is my favorite cartoon character and there are very few things as a Disney fan that set me off but buddy, you found one of them.
DeleteAlso you say if you've seen one Mickey short, you've seen them all. I don't agree. Let's take a look a my two favorite Mickey shorts as those both show different sides of the Mouse. Let's start with Mickey's Good Deed. In that short, we see a Mickey who has to make a hard decision and put the needs of others above his own needs. Now as for my all time favorite short, The Band Concert. In that short, we see Mickey in a leadership position as the conductor and we also see a frustrated and annoyed Mickey as Donald is getting on his
DeleteNerves and I've heard the Goofy and Donald are more intresting characters argument from many Disney fans but it is not one, I buy into. Am I say Mickey is more intresting. No, the three of them each have something different to offer. At the end of the day, we are never going to agree on this.
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