The Dark Side of Mickey
When things went brilliantly wrong with “the mouse that started it all”
January 13, 1930.
It´s the day a beloved cartoon character crashed into our lives in a plane built of his own making.
The anthropomorphic mouse with the big ears and the even bigger heart has grown into one of the leading cultural icons of both the 20th and the 21st century, being the first animated character to receive its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and having met nearly every US president going down in a straight line from Harry S. Truman (excluding Lyndon B. Johnson).
In his advent to fame, Mickey has donned the mantle of a farmer, a detective, a sorcerer´s apprentice and a musketeer, gaining a reputation for being clever and resourceful, always on the lookout for the next mystery or adventure.
Trying to kill himself over the rejection of his lady love, Minnie, does not seem to fit the bill.
Yet this is the exact plotline of a seemingly bizarre series of comic strips released in the 1930´s where our favourite mouse goes all Werther, trying to shoot, gas, drown and hang himself after he catches Minnie kissing a sleazy conman named Mr. Slicker. The story itself was suggested by Walt Disney, who was known to be the ultimate gag man. It was also inspired by 1920´s film Haunted Spooks, starring comedian Harold Lloyd, who similarly tries to kill himself.His attempts to commit suicide end absurdly, the scenarios ranging from discovering that his pistol is nothing more than a water gun to the pool he tries to jump in ending up being too shallow.
Slapstick humour of this kind was popular in the silent films of the era, starring the likes of Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, the latter attempting to similarly do away with themselves over failed love in Hard Luck (1987) and Cruel, Cruel Love (1914).
And yet, it flows. The hero courts death as if his life depended on it. Still, there is no despair on his face, not a whiff of melodrama. He seems to favour the minor league emotions: determination, embarrassment and a gentle sense of ennui
This is how Anthony Lane describes why suicide humour worked at the time in the New Yorker, also hinting at what attracted Disney to the off-kilter premise.
For a week, artist Floyd Gottfredson wrote about Mickey´s continuous attempts to end his life, from October 8 to October 24, 1930.
Despite the controversial choice in topic neither the production studio nor any newspapers running the strip raised any objections.
Yet these are not the only instances when the cartoon character deviated from his usually predictable storyline.
The same series features Mickey hankering for a glass of beer to go with some cheese he discovers in a storeroom, Gottfredson having him swear when things don´t go his way. At one point, he abuses a race horse for failing to come through for him on a bid, claiming that it´s ‘not even worth sending to the glue factory’.
(Mickey does relent in the end so that his trusted companion does not come to share Boxer’s fate in Animal Farm, the dystopian fable by George Orwell set to be published 15 years later.)
Change of Face
The wholesome family mouse living an orderly life in a quiet, suburban neighbourhood with his dog, Pluto, is an image of the cartoon character harking from the 50's, one that he acquired after becoming the erstwhile “mascot” of the Disney emporium as well as the host of the Mickey Mouse Club.
Mickey´s decline was due to his heroic nature. He grew into such a legend that we couldn´t gag around with him. He acquired as many taboos as a western hero-no smoking, no drinking, no violence
Walt Disney´s defense as to why the mouse wasn´t up to his wilder antics anymore still applies to this day.
Cartoonists would go on to claim that they preferred drawing Donald as they could have the irascible duck with temper problems live out all the ‘forbidden’ Mickey storylines instead.
The casual manner in which Donald vents his anger when an omelette falls on his head or when he chases his nephews with a broom across the house over a prank is something readers of all ages and times can relate to whereas a perfect hero might inspire admiration but not overt attention-another reason as to why Donald Duck has outgrown the mouse in popularity.
Yet this isn´t a celebration nor a defence of cruelty in animation. It´s an attempt to remind us of a character who made an era by toppling giants, conducting a band in a tornado and even commanding the oceans and planets- because, honestly, the Mickey who was an adventurer,he was the real deal.
