Is Mickey Mouse Real?
I was sitting and watching the TV news one day when a reporter said: “Mickey turned 50 today and there was a big birthday party for him . . . .” which started me to thinking. I’ve got nothing against Mickey Mouse personally, you understand: no axe to grind, no secret fount of hatred. He’s been around a long time and is now more or less a permanent part of the American cultural landscape, especially for children. Granted, animated cartoons in general may not be considered high art—nothing of the literary majesty of a Shakespeare or the enduring humor of a Mark Twain but nonetheless an accepted part of movies and television for a very long time.
I understand that it’s big business, a form of advertising and name recognition, to pull such stunts, but really! A birthday party for a cartoon character! I know now, in retrospect, that I probably should have left the TV story pass without ruminating about it, to the unfortunate distress of myself and hardly anyone else, but I could not free myself from one persistent burning question: WHO is having the birthday party?
I know the question seems very simple, but before I could be satisfied with the obvious answer, I had to ask myself another question: WHO is Mickey Mouse and how was he created? A long time ago—more than 50 years now—an artist named Walt Disney liked to draw cartoon characters. He became quite good at it and, as the movie industry developed, he began drawing for animated film, or cartoons. Eventually he went on to establish Disneyland—modestly named after himself—and went from drawing cartoon characters on paper with black marker to founder of one of the most successful children’s fantasy parks of all time: of the tons of money he made by creating a land of magical fantasy for children, no more needs to be said about that. But in answer to the question concerning the origins of Mickey Mouse: this cartoon character began as a black line on a piece of paper, put there by a marker held in the hand of Walt Disney. That was the moment of birth, if you will—but black lines nonetheless!
Now mind you, this birthday party was not for Walt Disney himself, a real human being and an actual person, but for a cartoon character he once drew. I’m aware of the fact, of course, that at Disneyland and elsewhere, young people are hired to put on costumes representing a lot of different famous cartoon characters: Minnie Mouse and Goofy and Snow White . . . . among many others. I’m not sure about what’s going on in the minds of kids, especially those hooked on TV cartoons from an early age, but most adults recognize that there is an ordinary person underneath the costume. If a person goes to a sporting event, such as football or a baseball game, where each team has a mascot, adults know that a person–man or woman–has dressed up before the game to play a role.
After all, they have try-outs for the part of the mascot, as they do for cheerleaders or for positions on the team itself, for that matter. The Philadelphia Phillies baseball team has a famous mascot called the Philly Chicken, whose ingenious on-field antics are well-known for being more acrobatic and funnier than those of most other mascots. At the end of the day–out of sight of the throngs of crowd–this tired mascot back in the clubhouse will receive help from friends getting out of that heavy costume.
In this sense at least, the team mascot is not a real chicken but a cleverly-costumed player who performs like an actor on stage and finds creative ways to entertain the crowd and make people laugh.
Likewise, the person inside a Mickey Mouse costume is real and no doubt he or she has a real birthday, too, but “Mickey Mouse” is not a real person, was not born in a hospital, and does not have a mother: you get the idea. Now, to answer the question: “How was Mickey Mouse created?” Well, he was created as black lines on a piece of paper, a comical looking bipedal mouse with big ears and a bigger smile. That is his origin, pure and simple, which brings me full circle back to my original question: WHO is having the birthday party?
I am not satisfied with the answer that it is the 50th anniversary birthday party of black lines on a piece of paper, because those black lines do not constitute a real sentient being–even if in children’s imaginations they believe Mickey Mouse is real after a visit to Disneyland where they “met” and “hugged” and “shook hands” with all the Disney mascots, including Mickey and Minnie. At best the kids only met one of hundreds of young people who have donned inanimate costumes designed to look like their favorite cartoon characters.
Young children may be fooled so but what about us adults? Somehow I can’t help wondering if any other grown-up, besides myself, ever questioned this matter?
For most people, a birthday party means a cake and presents. The guest of honor is the person whose birthday is being celebrated, who welcomes friends, blows out candles on a cake, opens presents, and whose life is joyously celebrated by family and friends because he or she became one year older. A cartoon character drawn on a piece of paper can do none of this, not being alive and not being real, as a human birthday celebrant is real.
As an aside, there is usually a mother present who remembers well the pangs of labor and what she endured when her son or daughter was born. No need to mention any of that aloud, since such memories are not necessary for the enjoyment of the occasion. The child, only a child after all, has plenty of time in the future to learn of such matters. Yet in a very real sense, even if left unspoken, it is not merely the child’s birthday that is being celebrated—it is also the awesome bravery of the kid’s mom who gave birth and made that life possible.
This sense of awe and reverence, this connection to mothers everywhere, is becoming lost in modern times. I think the process is being accelerated when we cheapen the wonders of birth and life by celebrating the “birthday” of a cartoon character that was never alive in the first place! How can a black line on a piece of paper have a birthday party? And have we become so unthinking, so unfeeling, as a nation that we can no longer take the time to distinguish between a hand-drawn cartoon character and a real person?
As far as I know, no one pointed out that the “guest of honor” started life as a drawing and is unable to blow out candles, eat cake, open presents, or have independent thoughts and feelings—unless one resorts to the cheap sophistry of substituting the young people dressed up in their costumes, designed to approximate the original cartoon character, but is that the same thing as a real person having a real birthday party?
It would make just as much sense if the guests invited did not include any people at all–just other young people dressed up in funny-looking mascot costumes, or, even better, an avalanche of pieces of paper with other black marks on them representing still other cartoon characters—they are the ones that should be invited! Yes, indeed! Invite a drawing of Goofy, hold it high and release it in a light breeze so the paper may slide and glide through the air to land near sheets of paper with drawings of other cartoon characters—and let that be the gathering of “friends” who came together to celebrate the birthday of one of their own.
As I said at the start: “I was sitting and watching the TV news one day when a reporter said: “Mickey turned 50 today and there was a big birthday party for him . . . .” which started me to thinking . . . .
