Yesterday I was vacuuming my room when a thought struck me: why the hell do we still care about Disney (apart from it practically owning our souls)??? Even newborns who have no idea who or what Mickey Mouse is are these days adorned with onesies decorated with pictures of him and all his friends (see some of the more humourous pictures I found). But why does he have such an influence - on both the young and the old?
The funny thing about this one is that the kid actually looks like Yoda
This kid's parents obviously think they're funny...
I found this child's sleeping position fantastic - Not much else going for this picture...
In class this week we read a piece by Elizabeth Lawrence discussing this lasting impact Mickey has had. If you want to read it for yourself, it's called "In the Mick of Time: Reflections on Disney's Ageless Mouse". But my summary's going to be better so I wouldn't bother. Also if you're a college student, you live for reading summaries...
What stuck out in the article is that Mickey is more than a friendly character in a film - he is an ideal to which we all aspire. Young children can relate to his youthful character and personality, but his persona represents so more. He is the epitome of ageless enjoyment, a feeling of youth that all people can relate to matter what their age. A particularly interesting comment that Lawrence makes is that Mickey outlived his contemporary counterpart, Felix the Fox (never heard of him either...) because he represented an image people were comfortable with. While Felix was made of sharp, angular features, Mickey was made of comforting circles - a shape which has "never harmed anyone"...
Speaking of circles, such as those of life, here's the picture of the day:
NONE OF THESE PICTURES ARE MINE
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