Mickey Mouse Case

A controlling purpose is present in all forms of media be it the academic essay, the internet, or Walt Disney’s cartoons. In the academic essay it is often stated clearly and well defined especially in contrast to other forms of media. Regardless of the type of media the definition is the same. A controlling purpose is the scope and direction of that form of media, the reason that it exists. I believe that the controlling purpose behind Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse is a creative function of profitability shaped by the social culture throughout that products life.

Walt Disney was a creative genius but like many successful people was met with extreme failure before his success. His first company Laugh-O-Gram Studios went bankrupt due to financial mismanagement. Instead of getting down on himself he took the opportunity to turn it into something useful. On a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood, where he and his brother Roy opened the first Disney Studios, he created the first version of Mickey Mouse and the beginning of an empire.

Mickey Mouse’s character represented something that Walt Disney was probably subconsciously looking for at that low point in his life. Escape. Mickey could be whatever Walt Disney wanted him to be; mischievous, playful, gutsy, even somewhat cruel or sadistic and especially youthful, Walt Disney’s dreams became Mickey’s soul. This escape- connection was something that American audiences latched on to right away. Both adults and children experiencing the ravages of the great depression were quick to enjoy a few minutes of Mickey’s antics in Walt Disney’s animated video shorts. Mickey’s initial appeal to American audiences quickly made him the most popular cartoon character on television. This popularity also brought light some of his less desirable qualities. Disney’s Studios were flooded with letters from “citizens and organization that felt that the nation’s morals’ were in their