Mickey Mouse was born in 1928 on a train ride from New York to the West Coast. Walt Disney an animator who had just lost the rights to his creation Oswald the Rabbit and needed a new character. He remembered the field mice that used to live in his studio and so it was that Walt Disney created one of the world’s most familiar and beloved characters. The original Mickey, however, was not the same mouse that today’s children adore. Wearing only shorts and shoes with a long tail behind, he wasn’t the upstanding theme park proprietor we know now. If you have seen his debut film, �

As Mickey became an icon, artists began to reproduce him in their own work as a way of paying tribute to a powerful star. So many artists have made use of Mickey Mouse’s image, each one using their own style to communicate the essence of Mickey, but one defining element in each seems to be the ears. Regardless of how an artist chooses to interpret Mickey, the ears, smile, and character that we all know remains. Mickey Mouse is an every-man image, one that shows up in our everyday lives now. No matter what situation he is placed in, Mickey distinguishes himself. According to John Updike, "like yin and yang, like the Christian cross and the star of Israel, Mickey can be seen everywhere a sign, a rune, a hieroglyphic trace of a secret power, an electricity we want to plug into. Like totem poles, like African masks, Mickey stands at that intersection of abstraction and representation where magic connects." Mickey brings us into Disney’s imagination, but somehow keeps us in tune with reality at the same time. The symbol of Mickey Mouse is so strong that you can compare it to the many symbols in cultures around the world.

What was it about this mouse that made Mickey such a symbol of American ideals? Between the wars, he became a symbol of resolve for Depression-weary Americans. During WWII he was a bomber pilot flying for the Allies. Mickey has been everything from a golfer to a doctor; he can do anything and everything well. Should something terrible happen to Mickey, there is always a reason behind the trouble, and it is never his fault. Mickey is a lovable and sweet mouse. He represents how most Americans want to perceive themselves. Updike goes so far as to say that, "The American that is not symbolized by that imperial Yankee Uncle Sam is symbolized by Mickey Mouse. He is America as it feels to itself plucky, put-on, inventive, resilient, goo

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