Althouse: Finally, Mickey Mouse will be an asshole.

November 4, 2009

Finally, Mickey Mouse will be an asshole.

He needed some edge.

51 comments:

Unknown said...: More and more, the people who run Disney seem hellbent (no joke) on destroying it.

WV "undiz" (I know) What the suits are doing to everything Walt believed in.; 11/4/09, 9:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Walt's probably spinning in his liquid nitrogen tank.

Peter; 11/4/09, 9:03 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: I have a feeling this isn't going to turn out well.; 11/4/09, 9:04 PM
XWL said...: Mickey's always seemed like an asshole of the passive/aggressive kind to me.

His seemingly blithe attitude and general incompetence covers his constant, seething rage.

Donald, on the other hand, may blow his top form time to time, but once he's had his tantrum, he'll get down to business and get the job done.

If I want someone to rely on, I'd much rather have a Donald Duck in my corner than a Mickey Mouse.; 11/4/09, 9:05 PM
ricpic said...: The Disney Corporation is pure evil.; 11/4/09, 9:17 PM
Anonymous said...: The end of the world as we know it.; 11/4/09, 9:21 PM
blake said...: Actually, he was edgier in the early cartoons, no?; 11/4/09, 9:35 PM
Wince said...: Wasn't Walt Disney himself a prick?; 11/4/09, 9:59 PM
Anonymous said...: When you're Disney, and one of your shining talents is Whoppie "It isn't rape rape" Goldberg, nothing they do to tear down Mickey Mouse will come close to the line they've drawn.

My kids will never set foot in another Disney/Pixar property or movie.

They destroyed the brand with their child rape defenders. It's no surprise they're going to rape Mickey next.; 11/4/09, 10:06 PM
PoNyman said...: Agree with XWL. Mickey has always harassed Donald Duck. I've stopped reading some of those Disney books to my kids because of that subtle belittling that is thrown into the story.; 11/4/09, 10:06 PM
jayne_cobb said...: For those Donald Duck lovers here's an image of him from the game.

Hopefully Disney will do a better job at making Mickey darker than Sega did with Sonic.; 11/4/09, 10:19 PM
Michael E. Lopez said...: I'm with XWL... Mickey's always been a bit of an asshole.

Exhibit 1: Steamboat Willie; 11/4/09, 10:21 PM
careen said...: @Florida. I'd ask you to reconsider when it comes to Pixar. Here's something they did reasonably under the radar that I only saw on the local news:

http://tinyurl.com/l52gvv

@xwl hah. Porky Pig was the one that worried me.; 11/4/09, 10:38 PM
JAL said...: "New Coke" anyone?; 11/4/09, 10:47 PM
JAL said...: Pixar people are not Disney people.; 11/4/09, 10:51 PM
Fred4Pres said...: "What do you mean 'will be' Mickey Mouse was always an asshole."

Minnie Mouse; 11/4/09, 11:01 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Disney on Ice.; 11/4/09, 11:02 PM
Penny said...: To my mind, the fact that American kids can't relate to Mickey says more about the kids than it does Mickey.; 11/4/09, 11:13 PM
Penny said...: *Puts on her Mickey Mouse Club ears and sings for the last time*

M-I-C K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E; 11/4/09, 11:17 PM
Methadras said...: Oh sure, take something that is one of the greatest icons of Americana and good old, childhood fun and foul him for the sake of changing the image because you want that brand to hip and trendy. Well, you know what, all Disney is going to end up doing is have the Southern Baptists boycott them again. Was it worth it Disney?; 11/4/09, 11:31 PM
Gahrie said...: Mickey and Minnie Mouse are in a courthouse getting a divorce-

Judge: So, Mr. Mouse are you sure you want this divorce?

Mickey: Yes sir your honor.

Judge: And the grounds you are seeking is that Ms. Mouse is mentally unbalanced?

Mickey: No your honor. I said I wanted a divorce because she is fucking goofy!; 11/4/09, 11:48 PM
Chase said...: a DARKER Mickey?

How about what he faces:
The game also features a disemboweled, robotic Donald Duck and a “twisted, broken, dangerous” version of Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World.”

Now THAT's Truly SCARY; 11/4/09, 11:54 PM
Anonymous said...: I always thought Mickey's whiteface shtick was racist.; 11/5/09, 12:07 AM
daubiere said...: kids today need more darkness, menace and unpleasantness in their lives. happiest place on earth?? fuck that!

up next: disney characters in bukkake porn.; 11/5/09, 12:58 AM
Steven said...: kids today need more darkness, menace and unpleasantness in their lives.

They sure do. All the dark, menacing, and unpleasant fairy tales of Western Civilization have been Disneyfied.; 11/5/09, 2:01 AM
Ken Pidcock said...: The Boss Is Here; 11/5/09, 6:11 AM
Anonymous said...: Careen Wrote: "I'd ask you to reconsider when it comes to Pixar. Here's something they did reasonably under the radar that I only saw on the local news."

So ... let me see if I understand this.

On the one hand, you have Disney/Pixar employees like Whoopie Goldberg defending the rapist of a 13-year-old girl; agitating for the release of Roman Polanski.

And on the other hand, you have Pixar buying a kid who has cancer a DVD in order to garner positive frong-page press coverage that they'd otherwise have to pay for with real advertising money.

Somehow, these things don't quite seem the same to me.

Disney/Pixar advocates, through its employees on The View, for the legal release of the rapist of a little girl, who was drugged first. Their employees on The View support the rapist - to the point where they don't even want to call it rape.

And you want me to let my kids near these fucking beasts?

No thanks, lady.; 11/5/09, 6:28 AM
Anonymous said...: JAL Wrote: "Pixar people are not Disney people."

Yes, they are.

Disney announced on January 24, 2006 that it had agreed to buy Pixar for approximately $7.4 billion in an all-stock deal. Following Pixar shareholder approval, the acquisition was completed May 5, 2006. The transaction catapulted Steve Jobs, who was the majority shareholder of Pixar with 50.1%, to Disney's largest individual shareholder with 7% and a new seat on its board of directors.

Don't. Buy. Apple.

Don't. Visit. Disney.

Don't. Watch. Nemo.

They're all banned because they support and agitate for the release of the rapist Roman Polanski.; 11/5/09, 6:35 AM
KCFleming said...: Pikers.
Palestinian children get to watch Mickey Mouse promote jihad and terrorism!

It's just cute as hell.

"We, tomorrow's pioneers, will restore to this nation its glory, and we will liberate Al-Aqsa, with Allah's will, and we will liberate Iraq, with Allah's will, and we will liberate the Muslim countries, invaded by murderers".; 11/5/09, 6:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Daubiere wrote ... "Kids today need more darkness, menace and unpleasantness in their lives? ... Up next: Disney characters in bukkake porn?"

I don't know if that's dark enough for the twisted souls that inhabit Disney/Pixar.

After all, one of their employees claims the drugging and anal rape of a 13-year-old child isn't really "rape rape." They're agitating for the release of her rapist, who has been on the run for 35 years and was finally caught.

What's next for these sick bastards will probably be Mickey doing snuff films.

Don't. Buy. Apple.

Don't. Visit. Disneyland.

Don't. Watch. Nemo.

They're banned.; 11/5/09, 6:41 AM
Michael Haz said...: I have a long-held suspicion about Donald Duck's alleged nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie.

I suspect they aren't actually "nephews", but are Scrooge McDuck's and Daisy Duck's illegitimate ducklings.

Disney has been covering this up for decades so as not to sully Daisy's reputation, and because Scooge McDuck's attorneys have threatened to reveal certain facts about Goofy and his lack of a female counterpart.

My suspicions were confirmed when I took a wrong turn at Disney World last summer and accidentally wound up in a character-only break room. I overhead Scrooge McDuck refer to Daisy Duck as his "ducklings' Mommy".

The Daisy/Donald marriage is a sham. It's has been an open secret for decades that Donald has a thing for Loons.

Shame, Disney, shame.; 11/5/09, 6:48 AM
Michael Haz said...: The Disney/Pixar problem is far broader than just Mickey Mouse. You need to look for the hidden themes that are hidden, even in animated films that are "for the children."

Be very wary.; 11/5/09, 6:56 AM
Shanna said...: The game also features a disemboweled, robotic Donald Duck and a “twisted, broken, dangerous” version of Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World.”

Now THAT's Truly SCARY

That is definately the most interesting part of this. I think they could make a hell of a horror movie set in the "it's a small world" ride, with all the creepy dolls just singing that song over and over again. Shudder.

My nephews watch some sort of Mickey's clubhouse show and it is lame as hell. Completely defanged. It's pretty much unwatchable but the kids like it. Wasn't mickey the sorceror's apprentice in that cauldron movie?; 11/5/09, 6:57 AM
traditionalguy said...: It's only a publicity release to sell a video game coming out next year. If the great Apostosy now rewrites cartoons, then NYT notices it more than when it was busily rewritting American history and the Christian understanding of faith. The creators of this Brave New World do understand that what young children learn thru cartoons becomes a part of them when they are running things 40 years later.; 11/5/09, 7:01 AM
Skyler said...: The old black and white Disney cartoons (you can find them easily on youtube) have a pretty violent and scrappy MIckey Mouse.

He only seems to have become the modern syrupy do-gooder since the fifties.; 11/5/09, 7:50 AM
knox said...: the top creative and marketing minds in the company

What creative minds? Disney hasn't made a good cartoon--that wasn't done by Pixar--in years.

They might be the least creative entertainment company in business.; 11/5/09, 8:13 AM
Tibore said...: "The first glimmer of this will be the introduction next year of a new video game, Epic Mickey, in which the formerly squeaky clean character can be cantankerous and cunning, as well as heroic, as he traverses a forbidding wasteland."

Epic Mickey?? I sense an Epic Fail coming.; 11/5/09, 8:24 AM
Tibore said...: You know, come to think of it, according to Ariel Dorfman, Disney characters have always been assholes in the Overbearing American Imperialistic sense.

Not that I'm giving much credence to someone who deconstructed Donald Duck through a heavily distorted lens of Marxist ideology (Honestly! I'm not kidding. Dorfman did this.), I'm just saying that there's someone out there who's always thought there was a malicious undercurrent in Disney cartoons. Just between us folks, he's full of (*BLEEP*!!), but regardless of the low regard I have for him, he did write that analysis. Honestly, and with zero irony too.; 11/5/09, 8:28 AM
sonicfrog said...: Uhm... Hello.... South Park Did It First!

Mickey was always EVIL!!!!

(how can I have been the first to post this?); 11/5/09, 9:20 AM
Triangle Man said...: Mickey is a big narcissist. He is a man-child-mouse.; 11/5/09, 9:34 AM
blake said...: sonicfrog,

A decade before South Park, Berke Breathed gave us "Mortimer Mouse" in the short-lived "Outland", who had unkind things to say about evil Mickey.; 11/5/09, 9:44 AM
blake said...: knox,

Bolt was decent.

Dunno if it counts: It has Lasseter's fingerprints all over it.; 11/5/09, 9:45 AM
Quasimodo said...: The old black and white Disney cartoons (you can find them easily on youtube) have a pretty violent and scrappy MIckey Mouse

that is fer sure. Mickey was a nasty little rodent early on.; 11/5/09, 9:51 AM
William said...: As Mickey aged and matured, he became a corporate spokesman. I suppose at one time he was a smart ass, but as far back as my childhood in the fifties he was kind of stodgy and dull. Scrooge McDuck was the truly adventurous member of the Disney family. I suppose that was a kind of subliminal endorsement of capitalism.....I don't think they want to make Mickey an asshole. They probably want to give him a little of Bugs Bunny's edge. Bugs seems to have weathered time with the most grace and stability. He is the cartoon character that Americans admire most....Me,I'm with Wiley Coyote. Acme made the world, and I just try to live in it.; 11/5/09, 10:00 AM
Largo said...: Don Rosa's Donald Duck Family Tree.; 11/5/09, 10:17 AM
Shanna said...: Scrooge McDuck was the truly adventurous member of the Disney family.

Duck Tails woohooo…I used to love that cartoon. Wonder if it's out on DVD's.; 11/5/09, 11:15 AM
traditionalguy said...: My favorites disney characters were Chip and Dale, the little chipmonks, and the good dog Patch in 101 Dalmations.; 11/5/09, 11:28 AM
Anonymous said...: Pricky Mouse?; 11/5/09, 12:10 PM
blake said...: Scrooge McDuck had a long and storied history in the comics, starting in the '40s. The comics are among the most highly sought in Disneyana, commanding hundreds (or thousands!) of dollars for mint condition.

My mother had a mint condition collection. Her mother burned it. (Some people live the cliché.)

"Duck Tales" I think captures some of the spirit of Carl Barks' character.; 11/5/09, 4:42 PM
Shawn Levasseur said...: Uh oh, it looks like Disney's purchase of Marvel has the unintended side effect of having Mickey being replaced by a Skrull!

(Welcome to inside joke theater, where few, if any will understand.); 11/5/09, 8:08 PM
akorozco said...: Does anyone remember how Mickey Mouse began? He was mischievous. This isn't a reinvention, he's getting back to his roots. http://www.newsy.com/videos/mickey_gets_a_makeover; 11/9/09, 8:42 AM