Character birthdays

[Katie Sullivan]

Perhaps Scrooge dislikes Christmas so much because his birthday
is very close to it, and his birthday was overshadowed by it! 
My aunt and her granddaughter both have birthdays within a week
of Christmas, and we always have to be careful to wrap their
gifts in BIRTHDAY paper, not CHRISTMAS paper to make sure their
birthdays are regarded as separate occasions.

I like that theory from a characterization standpoint.  ;)


Otherwise, I agree with Don Rosa that EXACT dates for the
characters' first appearances are pretty much impossible to
ascertain.  Technically a character's "birth" is the moment the
author/artist first thought of the character and sketched it. 
Carl Barks probably sat down and doodled a little rough sketch
of a cranky-looking Donald lookalike with sideburns and glasses
as he prepared to draw "Christmas on Bear Mountain," and THAT is
the first appearance anywhere, anytime, of Scrooge McDuck.  But
when was that first doodle put on paper?  It's almost certain
that Barks himself didn't even remember.  After all, at that
point, Scrooge was a one-time character to use in a Christmas
story, and that was that.  He had no way of knowing what an
important creation he had then.

To me, a character has two "birthdays."  One is approximately
when the character made its debut, i.e. in a comic strip or on a
movie screen.  These dates are difficult to pin down, especially
in comics and other printed media.
The other birthday is the birthday within the character's
universe, the one he and his fellow characters celebrate.
So Donald's CHARACTER's birthday, in our world, would be
whenever he debuted (The Wise Little Hen's release date, I
suppose), and Donald's PERSONAL birthday would be the date he
celebrates, within his own world:  Friday the 13th, or whenever.
 
Does that make any sense?  I mean, Donald doesn't know he's just
an imaginary duck made of ink.  As far as he's concerned, he's
real.  So within the context of his reality, the day he was born
or hatched (and let's not re-open THAT debate! LOL!) is his
birthday.  The day a cartoon debuted in a parallel universe
doesn't mean anything to him.

(Speaking of which, if Donald's birthday is Friday the 13th in
Don Rosa's universe, no wonder he was fascinated by the history
of that date in the Crusader Kings story!)  :)

My head hurts now...  ;)


Katie Sullivan
http://www.sullivanet.com/

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