Mention the name of Walt Disney and one can’t help but imagine images of superior animation, magnificent theme parks, an entertainment and financial empire, and the little boy who started it all: Mickey Mouse.
In 1928, Walt Disney had fallen on hard times while working in Kansas City. Most of his hired animators had left him and went to work for a competing studio. Things looked bleak, but out of a desperate situation a new character emerged. Inspired by a mouse that hung around his office, which at one point Disney could no longer buy cheese to feed him, Mickey Mouse was born. Mickey Mouse is now the most recognizable cartoon in the world. His enduring appeal to people of all nations is one of the great phenomena of the 20th century. The question of why Mickey Mouse has been so successful has been discussed from time to time. Some debate that it’s because he was one of the first seriously animated characters. Others say that the way he is drawn is unique compared to other cartoons. Although Mickey Mouse’s success seems to be a mystery to many, his success is the embodiment of Walt Disney’s value.
In this essay I will look at Mickey Mouse using critical value analysis. Values analysis is the identification of a value or values that define a culture or a person. So in this article I will look specifically at what value Mickey Mouse represents and why that value has made him the most successful cartoon character in the world.
Mickey Mouse’s optimism stems from that of his creator, Walt Disney. In an interview, Walt Disney said the following:
“Sometimes I’ve tried to figure out why everyone was attracted to Mickey. Everybody’s tried to figure it out. No one I know of. He’s a really nice guy who never hurts anyone, who gets into trouble through no fault of his own, but he always manages to leave smiling.”
Mickey “always manages to come out smiling” because Disney learned to “come out smiling.”
Looking at all the moments in Walt Disney’s life when he was down, one can see that nothing could stop him because he always got back up. Growing up on the farm in Marceline, Missouri, his family had his share of hard times. Two years in a row the crops failed and Disney’s father, Elias, had to mortgage the farm. Then the well where the Disney family and cattle drew water became contaminated. After swine fever struck the herd of pigs, Elijah became seriously ill with typhoid fever. He was between life and death for several weeks in the hospital. Walt’s older brother, Roy, enlisted in the US Navy during World War I and Walt, inspired by his brother but still a year too young to enlist, persuaded a Red Cross recruiter to enlist. to let him join. Walt was sent to France in October 1918, when the war was practically over. However, he saw the devastated lands over which the war had been fought. He spent ten months in France and told his friends that it was “a lifetime of experience.”
In the fall of 1919, Disney tried to get a job as a newspaper cartoonist in Kansas City, but was turned down by every newspaper. He was discouraged but remained determined and got a job at Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio. There he became friends with a Dutchman named Ub Iwerks. A few weeks after Christmas, they were both laid off and Disney and Iwerks decided to “show up smiling” and start their own business. They got a job in February 1920 with the Kansas City Film Ad Company.
Disney began experimenting with animation and gradually completed several cartoons that it sent to local theaters. He approached the owner of the Film Ad Company, A. Vern Cauger, with a suggestion to develop a series of animated shorts. His idea was rejected, so Disney decided to “surge” again and strike out on their own. He raised $15,000 from local investors and used the money to set up a small studio with a crew. Walt joined his brother Roy’s as business partners to eventually establish the three-bedroom Disney Brother Studios in Los Angeles.
Walt signed a contract with New York distributor Margaret Winkler and its sponsor, Universal Studios, for one series and an option for two more of “Alice’s Wonderland.” An animated comedy featuring a live-action six-year-old boy filmed in a cartoon setting. The initial contract called for one cartoon per month. In 1924, Margaret Winkler’s husband, Charles Mintz, took over the distributorship and demanded one film every three weeks. In 1926, with a steady income, a new studio was built and a new animated character was developed, named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It started in 1927 and became a great success. In 1928, Oswald’s current contract expired and Mintz concocted a plan to make Disney and his studio bow to him, slowly attracting most of Walt’s staff. Disney negotiated with Mintz for a new contract and was surprised when Mintz offered him less money and told him to take it or leave it. Within days, most of the other Disney animators began working for Mintz as well. Roy Disney was very upset and asked his brother, “Do you realize what kind of situation we’re in? We’ve lost our animators and it looks like we’re going to lose our studio.” Facing the first major crisis of his career with a “smile,” Walt held secret brainstorming sessions with Ub Iwerks and his brother Roy his. At a time when things seemed to be at their worst, Mickey Mouse emerged here.
Like his creator, Mickey also went through hard times and was always able to pick himself up. In 1928, Mickey starred in his first film, “Plane Crazy,” followed by “Gallopin’ Gaucho.” His third film was a great innovation that incorporated sound for the first time called “Steamboat Willie.” In “Steamboat Willie”, Mickey gets into a “fight” with the captain, but tries to keep his trust and pretends he isn’t afraid of him when his expression sometimes dictates otherwise. Even in the early cartoon shorts, Mickey doesn’t back down from his troubles. There were many times in Walt’s life when he was faced with a terrifying situation but he had to hold his head high and move on. “Mickey didn’t look for trouble, and he didn’t complain; he rolled with the blows…as in “The Little Tailor”, he showed warrior’s wit and won, once again, a kiss from my dear…Minnie.” Walt Disney’s pen drew Mickey Mouse to remain upbeat as he faced the fight.
Mickey Mouse’s personality is that of its author, Walt Disney. As a young man, Walt Disney always impressed friends and family alike “with his mischievous curiosity and fun-loving nature.” His younger sister, Ruth, noted that he had an attractive personality and was “always coming up with ideas.” She said that throughout her life, “Walt always seemed like a boy to me.” Mickey is the type of person who is always playing tricks and pranks. The whole concept behind the creation of Disneyland and Disneyworld, the two major theme parks, and their spokesperson, Mickey Mouse, is to inspire people to keep the wonder, youth and fun of life alive in everyone. Walt Disney always seemed like a boy to his sister Ruth, just like Mickey Mouse. A cartoon never gets old and never changes with age, never dies. When Ub Iwerks was shown preliminary sketches of Walt’s Mickey, he said, “He looks just like you: same nose, same face, same whiskers, same mannerisms and expressions. All he needs now is your voice.” Walt admitted that he looked in the mirror and used his face as a model and that many of the facial expressions were his own.” Mickey’s attractive charisma of youth and joy in making others happy comes from the imagination of Walt Disney’s desire make others happy…
Mickey Mouse’s perseverance to succeed is the reason why he is so attractive. In America, most people were all “little.” The decade leading up to Mickey Mouse saw the United States experience World War I, and a year after Mickey’s creation came the Great Depression. The distance that separated the rich from the poor was immense. There wasn’t much in between. On the contrary, the number of poor and middle class far outnumbered those at the top end of the social scale. Walt Disney had also lived together with the United States during these difficult times. Disney had always been the “little guy.” Hollywood was always pestering him and trying to take advantage of him. He talks about when he was disastrously poor in his tiny Kansas City office and one of his friends was a little mouse. He says: “I used to crawl across my desk and feed him pieces of cheese. I became very attached to him and looked forward to visits from him.” Disney had nothing but a mouse to look forward to. “He would take the cheese out of my fingers and then curl up and fall asleep in the palm of my hand,” he said. Then there came a period when he couldn’t even buy cheese for the mouse anymore. In those difficult times, Disney remained determined to make his dreams come true, just as everyone else in America wished too.
When the time came when Walt Disney succeeded in creating Mickey Mouse, he couldn’t help but put into that mouse the same value trait that Disney had in himself. Disney knew he had become a success because he decided to never give up. He decided to take the value of “never give up” and put it into animated form. Mickey Mouse is an animated creation of the value of “never giving up”. Mickey Mouse is so attractive as a cartoon because people in the United States and around the world recognize that value of never giving up in Mickey. Mickey Mouse’s value is a direct representation of that same Walt Disney value. The greatest possible human achievement is to get back up once more. Anyone who possesses this quality can never be defeated and can do anything. People realize that and can feel it in the Mickey Mouse persona. People want to be like Mickey Mouse and that’s why he’s so cute.
Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney have exactly the same value. “There’s a lot of Mouse in me,” Disney said of himself. Both are great successes. Disney’s success stemmed from the worldwide appeal of Mickey Mouse. Mickey’s success stemmed from Walt Disney’s worldwide appeal.
Looking at Mickey Mouse as the text that has permanently become a global phenomenon, and then its creator, the value of “never giving up” is easily identified as the one they both have in common. It is the value that they and the people who admire them also have in common. It answers the question why Mickey Mouse has become so successful. He is the incarnation of the Walt Disney character. They both had extremely difficult times in their lives, just like most people at some point in theirs. They both endured the hard times because they knew they would eventually succeed. People identify with both because they know that sooner or later they will succeed if they exercise the same “never give up” value.