"Mickey Mouse started as a mischievous, rebellious trickster in the late 1920s," writes Justin Papan in his newsletter, "a subversive figure who connected with audiences struggling through the Great Depression."
As the cartoon mouse's popularity grew, Disney softened Mickey: "his rough edges were smoothed over. His design became rounder, more human-like, and his once-relatable charm faded into a blank slate onto which anything could be projected. This shift made him ripe for reinvention—not just by Disney, but by the culture at large."
Papan traces the history of non-Disney depictions of the trademarked rodent in his illustrated essay, from Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's fly-ridden, bloodshot-eyed Rat Fink, to Ralph Steadman's swastika shirted icon, to being immortalized in David Bowie's 1971 song, "Like on Mars" ("It's on America's tortured brow / that Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow. Now the workers have struck for fame, 'cause Lennon's on sale again.")
Papan who worked on Mickey Mouse cartoons for Disney in 2013, writes, "Like Bowie, I view Mickey with both affection and frustration — torn between admiration for his legacy and disappointment in what he has become."
Previously:
• In this 1969 cartoon, Mickey Mouse enlists in the Vietnam War and gets killed
• I'm excited to play 'Epic Mickey: Rebrushed'
• Mickey Mouse Goatse on eBay
• Mickey Mouse's red shorts have entered the public domain
• Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney accidentally signed Rhode Island tax refund checks
• Master ventriloquist Jay Johnson shares the charming tale of his Mickey Mouse watch collection
• Remembering 'Mickey Mouse Acid' LSD stickers of the 1980s
• Mickey Mouse will enter the public domain on January 1, 2024
