I don’t know if you’ve seen Mickey Mouse recently, but he looks like this:
Horrible. I hate it. Why is he so skinny? Why can I see his flesh through his eyes? How are his trousers staying up?
That’s not to mention his animatronic depiction in the new(ish) Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway ride in the Disney parks:
Is that his nose or an awful growth on the side of his head? Either way, I find it repulsive.
He used to look like this:
Completely inoffensive. Cute if anything. With proper pupils and trousers that obey the laws of gravity.
Granted, he hasn’t always looked like that (a different topic entirely, but I implore you to look up ‘old Mickey Mouse Disneyland’ — perhaps during daytime hours and with someone else in the house). He has previously looked like this:
And like this:
And, when he first appeared, like this:
This version of Mickey Mouse is from the 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie. There are a lot of similarities between this version of Mickey Mouse and the new (horrible) one: the pupil-less black eyes, the skinny limbs, the wide mouths, the rat-like noses, the black and white faces. New Mickey is like an angular, modernised, exaggerated version of Steamboat Willie. In fact, here’s an image of Steamboat Willie and new Mickey together in a recent cartoon — it didn’t take much alteration of Steamboat Willie’s design to make him fit with the current cartoon:
I don’t think this is a coincidence. (Conspiracy theory territory ahoy!)
Steamboat Willie — the short film and the original design of Mickey Mouse — will enter the public domain on 1st January 2024. This means the copyright will expire and, for the first time, the film and its characters will be available for use by anyone who wants to use them (i.e. not just the Disney company). It is only the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey that is entering the public domain; the others pictured above, and all others that have been created after 1928, will remain protected by copyright for now.
Obviously, Disney don’t want this to happen. We know this because the company successfully pushed for extensions to copyright protection in the past. In 1998, copyright protections were extended in a law that was dubbed ‘the Mickey Mouse Protection Act’ due to Disney’s notable enthusiasm for the law change. Note: this was a general amendment to copyright law in the US, it was not specific to Disney and Disney were not the only party lobbying for it. But it does demonstrate that Disney are keen to hold on to Mickey Mouse’s copyright.
At time of writing, the Mickey Mouse copyright is due to expire in a matter of hours so clearly there hasn’t been another extension of copyright protections. But that doesn’t mean that Disney no longer care. ‘The Mickey Mouse Protection Act’ was not an affectionate nickname and the Disney company were not viewed positively by the public for their efforts in extending copyright. Public perception is extremely important to the Disney company which is, I think and others have also speculated, the reason they haven’t tried to extend copyright again since 1998.
Instead, I think they have taken internal creative decisions in order to situate themselves in the optimal position ahead of Steamboat Willie entering the public domain. One of these decisions is the new Mickey Mouse design.
As well as the copyright protections that are expiring, Mickey Mouse is also protected by trademark, which never expires as long as Disney keep filing to maintain it. This means, essentially, that any future non-Disney creation using Steamboat Willie cannot be perceived by the public as being affiliated with Disney. I think Disney have done two things to help increase the likelihood that audiences will associate Steamboat Willie creations with Disney. One, they continue to use the original Steamboat Willie image (including on merchandise and as a short clip played before new releases). Two, they have modernised the Steamboat Willie design in the form of new Mickey to increase the chances that audiences will associate a potential future non-Disney modernised Steamboat Willie design with Disney.
You may be thinking to yourself, ‘If that were the case, wouldn’t they have given Winnie the Pooh an ugly modern redesign as well given that he entered the public domain at the beginning of 2022?’
If so, let me firstly commend you on your off-the-top-of-the-dome knowledge of Winnie the Pooh’s copyright status. And let me secondly say: I’ve considered that.
Disney don’t care as much about Winnie the Pooh as they do about Mickey Mouse. One reason being that he’s not an original Disney character — he came from AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh book and it is that original version of the Winnie the Pooh character that entered the public domain in 2022. But the main reason is that Mickey Mouse, as well as being an original Walt Disney creation, is the icon, the mascot, the logo and the most recognisable symbol of the whole Disney company. So it makes sense that Disney want to protect their rights to, and the associations of, this image.
And it’s not like Disney don’t have reason to believe people will use the newly public domain characters for whatever they can as soon as they can. We have already seen new Winnie the Pooh media since he entered the public domain. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a horror film, was released in 2023.
The creators had to ensure to only use the features of Winnie the Pooh that came from the original, now public domain, story and avoid any features still under Disney’s protection (like his red t-shirt).
So, by cementing the public’s association of the original Steamboat Willie image with the Disney company and by increasing the likelihood that the public will associate modernised cartoon versions of Steamboat Willie with the Disney company, I think Disney are doing all they can to limit future use of the image of Mickey Mouse, potentially Disney’s most important creation.
I’m excited to see whether a monstrously non-Disney version of Mickey Mouse will appear in the near future. Happy new year and happy Mickey Mouse Public Domain Day when it comes.
Footnote: the Steamboat Willie version of Minnie Mouse will also enter the public domain on 1st January 2024, and she has suffered a similarly horrible redesign, but I've focussed on Mickey here for ease and because he is the main man mouse.