This paper traces the cultural and artistic legacy of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse from the birth of animation in the early twentieth century through the rise of computer-generated films. It examines Disney's pioneering technical innovations — synchronized sound, the multiplane camera, squash-and-stretch animation — and the emotional depth he brought to characters such as Donald Duck, Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, and Dumbo. The paper also explores how Disney's work resonated during the Great Depression, influenced global animation including Japanese anime, and laid the creative foundation for modern studios like Pixar. Ultimately, it argues that Disney's true achievement was his ability to connect animated stories to genuine human emotion.
When a small singing and dancing mouse appeared on the scene in 1928, it was more than just the birth of an animated character — it was the beginning of something much greater. That little mouse changed the world in many different ways over the course of more than eight decades. Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse as part of an entire legacy of cartoon characters who would go on to impact all of American culture, not just the children the films were geared toward. Disney used animation and imagination to bring joy and fulfill the dreams of countless individuals. Anyone old enough to speak about Disney will mention Mickey Mouse and the places where dreams come true. Disney possessed an astounding ability to give children a greater sense of imagination. His theme park, Disneyland, is a place unlike anywhere else not only in the United States but in the world. Walt Disney shaped children's lives and opened their minds to worlds that seem inconceivable. While many think of Disney simply as the creator of Mickey Mouse and Disneyland, his impact on American culture went far beyond cartoons and theme parks.
Ever since the beginning of mankind, people have been trying to capture a sense of motion in their art. From hieroglyphs found on Egyptian walls to paintings discovered in caves in the mountains of Greece, the desire to capture motion is something humanity has long sought to achieve. With the advent of the camera, people were able to experiment with photographs and use them to create a sense of motion.
Before Walt Disney began making animated films, Stuart Blackton made a short film in 1906 called Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (James 2011). This short film was comprised of funny faces drawn on a blackboard, which he then photographed and erased (2011). He would then draw the next stage of the facial expression and repeat the process. This was the first type of "stop-motion" effect, and it amazed audiences because it made the character appear to come to life (2011). By the 1920s, however, these "gags" were becoming increasingly unpopular (2011). There was no story line or any type of character development, which disappointed audiences (2011). With the exception of Winsor McCay, who created Gertie the Dinosaur in 1914, and Otto Messmer's Felix the Cat — both of which astonished and delighted audiences because they were more advanced — the potential of animation was not yet evident (2011). Of all the earlier animated characters, Felix the Cat had by far the most developed personality; however, at a certain point Felix stopped developing and his creator relied on "crude visual tricks to entertain the audience as opposed to developing a stronger screen persona" (2011).
Before Disney, many animations were based solely on "primitive gags and violence" (James 2011), which is still quite true of some animation today. "One character would beat another mercilessly, only to have his victim instantly recover and return the favor. Perhaps the hero would swing his sword and reduce the villain to baloney slices" (2011).
One of Disney's first characters was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who starred in 26 silent cartoons made by Disney between 1927 and 1928. These were made for Charles Mintz, who had a distribution deal with Universal (Disney Archives 2011). Some of the animated films starring Oswald were Poor Papa (1927), Trolley Troubles (1927), Neck 'n Neck (1927), Oh, What a Knight (1928), Sleigh Bells (1928), and Hot Dog (1928), just to name a few. Disney lost the rights to Oswald, however, and was thus forced to create another character (2011).
Mickey Mouse was the character that Disney created after losing Oswald. In the beginning, Mickey Mouse was simply a reworked version of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit; Disney refashioned Oswald by shortening his ears, rounding out the figure, and making the character more friendly and loveable (Watts 30). These round ears, face, and body would become symbolic. Mickey was the epitome of goodness — the mouse that everyone wanted to take home. It was these qualities that people everywhere, especially during the Great Depression in America, wanted to believe in, which is another testament to Disney's importance.
Disney came up with the idea of basing a short film on Charles Lindbergh's recent transatlantic flight and made a short film called Plane Crazy, following up shortly thereafter with another cartoon called The Gallopin' Gaucho (Watts 30). However, Mickey Mouse did not catch on among distributors as a simply illustrated short film, and so Disney decided to utilize the latest innovations in live-action films — he added sound to the first Mickey Mouse shorts (Greene & Greene 19). Disney's idea was certainly a daring one and would change animation film history forever. The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson had premiered in 1927, and Disney decided to make a film starring Mickey that would be synchronized to sound. Steamboat Willie was made as a silent film, but its action was later syncopated to the songs "Steamboat Bill" and "Turkey in the Straw," with marks on the film cueing the music, sound effects, and scant dialogue (Watts 30). Before taking the film to New York to research sound technology, Disney stopped in Kansas City and had a musician friend quickly compose a formal score for the cartoon, timed according to the marks on the film (Watts 30). Steamboat Willie premiered at New York's Colony Theatre and was an instant hit (Watts 30). Mickey Mouse soon became an international success (Greene & Greene 19). It was this film and Disney's innovation in animation and sound that would catapult him into brilliance.
Another one of Disney's loveable and wacky characters, Donald Duck, exploded onto the scene in his 1934 debut in the Silly Symphony short The Wise Little Hen (Thomas 129). Donald was the height of a duck and he looked, for the most part, like a duck.
At the very beginning, Mickey Mouse was able to do just about anything physically. He was drawn using a series of different-sized circles and moved with what animators referred to as the "rubberhose technique" (Thomas 151) — action that has little relation to human or animal movement. By the 1930s, however, cartoons were becoming more sophisticated and Mickey was evolving alongside them. A man named Freddy Moore was the first to apply a technique called "squash-and-stretch" to Mickey, which made him much more human-like and overall more appealing (151). Mickey's face gained more definition, which gave him greater character. "For the first time, Mickey had a cheek when his teeth went together" (151). Before this innovation, animated characters lacked human quality, which distanced audiences from them. Disney's decision to make Mickey more relatable to humans was another factor that transformed the art of animation.
Though Mickey was becoming more sophisticated in the mid-to-late 1930s in terms of pliability and figure, there were problems. While he was much cuter than before, he now lacked the "primitive vitality" of the earlier cartoons (Thomas 151). Because Mickey was so mild-mannered, he came across as a rather passive character — he was never the instigator of any shenanigans. The mischief was always enacted by the broader characters around Mickey, who became stars in their own right and received their own series due to their popularity: Donald Duck and Pluto in 1937 and Goofy in 1939 (151). Animators and story writers were confounded by what to do with a four-foot mouse (152).
Mickey's girlfriend, Minnie Mouse, made her film debut alongside Mickey in Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928 (Disney Archives 2011). She never had her own cartoon series like Donald Duck, Goofy, or Pluto, but she appeared in 72 cartoons with Mickey Mouse and Pluto (2011). Minnie Mouse would later become very famous at Disney's theme parks and has long been known for her sweet sayings: "Why, hello!" "Aren't you sweet!" and "Yoo-hoo! Oh, Mickey!" (2011). The creation of Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and Minnie Mouse proved beyond any doubt that Disney could craft many different adorable and distinct characters whom audiences would grow to love.
In 1933, following great success with Mickey Mouse, Disney made one of the most famous short films of all time: The Three Little Pigs (Selden 45). This short film had both sound and color, and its song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" became the number-one popular hit song in the United States (45). The film carried great symbolism, arriving at the front of the Great Depression. Despite the fact that very few people had money to spend on movies, audiences flocked to see The Three Little Pigs (56). Disney's movie gave many people hope and the belief that they could persevere through hard times. The wolf became symbolic of those hard times — if three little pigs could keep a wolf away from their home, surely regular Americans could keep hunger and poverty at bay as well (45). The Three Little Pigs went on to win an Academy Award for best cartoon of the year (45). Disney's movies were becoming much more than children's entertainment; they reverberated within a nation during a period of hardship.
During the Great Depression, many theatres began offering "double features" (Selden 56), which meant that after renting two movies to show audiences, there was not much money left over for short cartoons. This worried Disney because there was no longer sufficient demand for his short films (Krasniewicz 87). He had to think of something new, and the first idea that came to mind was to make an animated feature-length film. As a boy in Kansas City, he had been inspired by a silent film version of Snow White, and so this seemed like the perfect subject — it had everything audiences wanted: tragedy, romance, and humor, thanks to the seven dwarfs (56).
"Snow White, multiplane camera, and feature-length filmmaking"
"Dumbo, Pinocchio, Bambi and human emotional resonance"
"Pixar, computer animation, and Disney's lasting influence"
"Disney and Mickey as twin icons of American culture"
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