Disney as an organization has executed loads of horrible issues, what company hasn’t, however for artwork as a complete simply one of many worst is the help it put behind the Copyright Time period Extension Act, in any other case referred to as “The Mickey Mouse Safety Act.” It primarily elevated how lengthy copyright may be held over a property earlier than it enters the general public area. You have most likely not too long ago seen that even Disney wasn’t in a position to cease the earliest incarnation of Mickey Mouse, Steamboat Willie, from getting into the general public area, which means that anybody can now use that particular model of the character nevertheless they like. So in fact the primary massive undertaking to come back out of it was an overly-edgy horror sport that may have some Neo-Nazi canine whistles in it.
Am I shocked? No. Am I disillusioned? In fact, however not even only for the plain causes. Doable Nazi connections apart (the devs are altering the title and declare they’re towards any form of Nazism), I simply cannot consider something extra creatively uninteresting than making a sport that is simply “Mickey Mouse… however like… he is all effed up???” It is not even very unique! On the identical day, a Mickey Mouse slasher movie was introduced, which moreover a reasonably enjoyable title (Mickey’s Mouse Lure), seems horrifically amateurish. Judging by the complete title of the trailer on YouTube – “FIRST EVER MICKEY MOUSE HORROR FILM!!!! [sic]” – you form of get the impression these behind it had been all in favour of being first over doing something fascinating. Plus, the costuming is not even pretty much as good as equally-edgy Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.
Certain, you possibly can’t precisely name the Steamboat Willie model of Mickey Mouse a very fascinating one, however we have already seen that it is potential to do fascinating issues with him. It is clearly not for everybody, however for higher or worse, Kingdom Hearts does have a model of the mouse that no different Disney media does. Come on, he famously left one of many fundamental characters trapped within the realm of darkness, a spot the place time actually does not transfer and there is nothing good to be discovered, for a complete decade! That is wild!
Even higher than Kingdom Hearts’ tackle Mickey is without doubt one of the finest Nintendo Wii video games ever made, Epic Mickey. Certain, you might argue Epic Mickey is a bit edgy too, however in a captivating, Scorching Subject form of means, somewhat than a “we’re actually pushing boundaries by having Mickey Mouse kill somebody” form of means. It was a sport that put real thought into all the forgotten characters, the excess quantities of merch polluting the world, even pondering the ethics of abandoning a star like Oswald the Fortunate Rabbit and changing him with some mouse. Epic Mickey was bizarre, and Disney actually would not let a sport like that occur now, which is why we must always cherish it all of the extra.
It is precisely as a result of Disney would not make Epic Mickey now that we must be encouraging unusual, bizarre, perhaps even emotional takes on a personality folks can recognise everywhere in the world. Actually, it is fairly magical when Mickey Mouse, the Mickey Mouse, turns up in Kingdom Hearts, showing solely to ship a handful of traces and save the day! It’s potential to really feel emotional about one of many largest representations of capitalism there’s, even throughout the context of its creators, so think about what we might do if we distanced him from them and made him our personal?
I do not know, perhaps I am simply getting previous (I am nearly 27, you see), however I believe there’s room to be a bit bit extra adventurous with traditional works. On the very least, now that Steamboat Willie is within the public area, there’s at all times the potential for him to crop up in additional fascinating methods. Or perhaps only a higher wanting horror sport.