Mickey Mouse started his career as what has been described as "at best a fresh and bratty kid, at worst a dimunitive and sadistic monster". In Steamboat Willie, he honks ducks with tight hugs, uses the teeth of a cow as a xylophone, and winds the tail of a goat like a music box. Mickey wasn't truly depraved; he just engaged in "pure, amoral, very boyish mischief". Because Mickey was somewhat fashioned after Charlie Chaplin, there were many similarities between these two characters.
Parents were alarmed with Mickey's obnoxious and crass behavior; a deluge of letters flooded Walt Disney's office, demanding a "kinder, gentler" mouse. Accompanying Mickey's physical makeover came a definite shift in behavior. Mickey was no longer loud and brash, but more quiet and charming. Mickey, then and now, is not particularly funny; he is attractive in a pleasant and appealing fashion. This is a trait that was inherited from Disney himself, who was not known to be truly humorous. Mickey abandoned slapsick comedy; he would forever be destined to be a "nice guy" with this major alteration.
Mickey's persona continued to soften as his physical traits smoothed out. One can say that he became a "goody-two shoes"; Mickey would never do anything questionable. He also gained more human traits: Mickey is probably the first mouse to wash a car or to conduct a symphony orchestra. Unlike the average mouse, he would never carry parasitic mites or nibble on electrical wiring. In essence, Mickey became a perfect gentleman-- but in the body of a mouse.
As Mickey grew in popularity around the world (although his heyday was quite brief; after World War II, Mickey ranked third in a poll regarding favorite cartoon characters-- Donald Duck took first while Bugs Bunny landed second), Mickey's abilities increased. He could do anything and everything well; he would never be doing anything remotely immoral. Should something terrible befall Mickey, there is always an innocent reason behind the trouble. Because of this angelic construction, there are definite parameters as to what Mickey can and cannot do. Mickey is expected to be a lovable and sweet mouse. Thus, his wild days must stay in the past... but everybody loves Mickey nonetheless.
These days, Mickey is still widely known for his charm, manners, and shy kindness. "Mickey" is synonymous with all that is good and benign; he is the ultimate symbol of happiness and delight. Mickey has survived through the ravages of World War II (where his name was the code word for the entire Allied mission) as well as the different trends that the world has followed. Whether he is donning an immaculate tuxedo or clad only in swimming trunks, Mickey will forever be hailed as the greatest mouse to grace the earth.
"In 1936, Adolf Hitler declared Mickey Mouse to be an enemy of the state in Nazi Germany."
Sine Hitler is a favourite subject of vandals, I tried to verify this, but as can be imagined google searches for such things return too many spurious results. Can anyone verify this? Tnikkel 06:44, August 1, 2005 (UTC)
On my last trip to Germany about 15 years ago one of the museums in Berlin had an exhibition called something like "In the reich of Mickey Mouse" (In das Reich des Mickey Maus?). The exhibition had posters and other documents giving a chronicle (in German with a bit of English translations here and there) of the rise and fall of Mickey Mouse cartoons in Germany between the two world wars. It noted that Adolf Hitler was enraged at the great popularity of those foreign movies, and was most angry when he was told that members of the Nazi party would sometimes come to assemblies with Mickey Mouse pins on their lapels. This eventually led to a legal ban once he had come to power. It was all part of his campaign against foreign influences. --AlainV 03:47, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
I have removed the claim that Hitler declared Mickey Mouse an "enemy of the state" in 1936. Documentation for this claim (repeated on many Internet sites, many simply echoing Wikipedia) is lacking. It should be noted that Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary on December 22, 1937,
The exhibition "Als Mickey Mouse Nach Deutschland Kam" (When Mickey Mouse Came to Germany), at the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Museum of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany), which ought to be considered an authoritative source, says,
The Mickey Mouse cartoon The Barnyard Battle was actually banned in 1930, three years before the Nazi Party came into power; it was permitted in 1931 after the offensive scenes were edited out. — Walloon 04:24, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
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