Boring Mickey?

RMorris306@aol.com RMorris306 at aol.com
Sat Mar 17 19:13:31 CET 2001


In a message dated 3/17/01 7:04:23 AM, dcml-request at stp.ling.uu.se writes:

<< 
You're right. Some of those three-part adventures *were* exciting. But when 
you look back on them, you often see that the only real *humor* comes from 
Goofy doing silly stuff. Mickey himself, as a personality, tended to be 
*boring* in those stories, something that would carry into other, shorter 
Mouse material. Whenever somebody tried to do a one-part non-exotic detective 
story, it often turned out unmemorable. And whenever somebody tried to do a 
"gag" story with the Mouse, it would crash and burn! Yes, I'm aware there's a 
nostalgic feeling in some quarters over these stories from simpler times - 
but then some people think the '50s - as an era, not just as a source of 
comic stories - were themselves really great!

As much as I enjoy several of the Paul Murry-drawn Mickey stories, overall 
they give a hollow, one-dimensional, middle class WASPish 1950s-like view of 
Mickey *himself* that might have been acceptable thirty years ago - but 
shouldn't be today! (And I don't blame Murry for this. He has been known to 
say that he didn't like Mickey's personality at that time, either.) Mickey 
comes off as boring and bland - a characterization that was carried into 
other producers' stories. Why do so many people tell me they *always* skip 
the Mickey stories? Because those stories were *boring* for years! I've heard 
that writers and editors used to *dread* having to write or edit yet another 
5-page story where detective Mickey and his clumsy sidekick Goofy would solve 
the mystery of who stole some rich woman's pearls.

Fortunately, some years back Egmont decided to infuse Mickey with most of his 
original personality again. As a result the Mickey Mouse stories Egmont 
produces these days are some of the best ever made, at least in my mind.
 >>

I don't really think that's the problem. I've always thought Mickey's 
"boring" personality was, in some ways, almost inherent in the 
comedy/adventure genre. Most of the classic series in that genre, especially 
the European ones, do indeed combine a somewhat bland (but clever) hero with 
a big, strong (but rather dense) sidekick: Suske, Wiske and Lambiek, Tintin 
and Captain Haddock, Pogo Possum and Albert Alligator, Rocky and Bullwinkle, 
Asterix and Obelix, etc. Mickey isn't any more boring than Tintin or Rocky 
the Flying Squirrel or Asterix the Gaul would be on his own...because their 
essential function is as straight men to the foolish or clumsy or obsessive 
types around them. The individual teams vary, of course (Captain Haddock 
isn't stupid, but he IS hot-tempered, clumsy, and a borderline alcoholic), 
but the characters fit together well, and the focus on a relatively 
even-tempered, even bland, character like Mickey or Pogo helps to bring 
sanity out of mystery and comic confusion.

All that said, I can't truly object to giving Mickey something of his 
"original" personality...but a little of that goes a long way. I really don't 
think today's audience would like to see Mickey squeezing a nursing sow like 
a bagpipe or picking Minnie up by her underpants, though he did both in 
"Steamboat Willie."


Rich M.



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