Embrace Your Dark Side

They say that girls mature earlier than boys, and so it seems as we see so many female cartoon characters evolving to become more lady-like and shedding their early-days naivety. But, do not worry. The boys are not that far behind. For starters, Mickey Mouse is going to take the first step and reveal to us his inner dark side which he’s been hiding from the public for so long, because he thought you were too innocent to handle it.

Welcome Epic Mickey.


Warren Spector, his creator, says that he wants Mickey to “be able to be naughty – when you’re playing as Mickey you can misbehave and even a little selfish.” He is “being pulled out of” his “comfortable and safe cartoon world” and dumped into, what Spector calls, “the cartoon wasteland” where the retired and forgotten Disney characters live (Nelson). However, Spector ensures us that Mickey will never be “evil.”

The cheery, nice, and giggly Mickey Mouse that you’ve always known is no more. He is dark, and he is dangerous. He’s decided to get in touch with his base animalistic self that he’s suppressed for so long and is going to release it to save a lost and broken world. There is no escape from this transformation, because “the more destructive [Mickey’s] behavior [is in the game], the more the famous mouse becomes to resemble a rat” (Nelson). Mickey Mouse did some serious soul searching into his hereditary.

Dear Donald Duck will also be featured in this apocalyptic vision of Disney as Animatronic Donald.

What in the world happened to him? Did he get kidnapped and forced to assimilate with robots a.k.a. the Borg in Star Trek? There goes the “uncle” I remember. He probably doesn’t even recognize Daisy at this point now.

What is the message of all these cartoon transformations? Are we supposed to embrace our darkness and become one with our “naughty” but not “evil” side?

More like, are males the ones who are to have an outlet for their animalistic desires? Should they be like the wolves mentioned in Angela Carter’s “The Company of Wolves,” that in the midst of all their aggression, strength, power, and hunger, they also contain a hint of sadness for there is no redemption and satisfaction for their own appetite? Let out the beast inside all humans that we wish to tame but cannot, for it is a beast we all fear and cannot never get rid of no matter how hard we try. This dark world is a dangerous yet alluring game.

As the males turn into cunning and slick predators, the classic female characters are fed a completely different message. It reminds me of the main character of Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Connie, a young fifteen years old girl who “had a quick, nervous giggling habit of craning her neck into mirrors or checking other people’s faces to make sure her own was alright,” knew that “she was pretty and that was everything.”
“Connie sat with her eyes closed in the sun, dreaming and dazed with the warmth about her as if this were a kind of love, the caresses of love, her mind slipped over onto thoughts of the boys she had been with the night before and how nice he had been, how sweet it always was, not the way someone like June would suppose but sweet, gently, the way it was in movies and promised in songs." - "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?"It seems that the media wants people to become more in touch with their sexuality, although the forms of the sexes’ sexualities are entirely different. One is a soft, glamorous, and naturally beautiful type of attraction. The other is a dangerous, predatory, and aggressive sort that is supposed to be equally as enticing.

Whose side are you on?

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For more interesting articles:
Azaria Jagger takes a look at the sexual undertones/overtones of Epic Mickey - Mickey Mouse's 'Naughty' Makeover Promises to be Disturbing
The New York Times Article by Brooks Barnes - After Mickey’s Makeover, Less Mr. Nice Guy
Article by Sara Nelson - Mickey Mouse gets a makeover in Epic new video game - and this time Disney's giving him a dark side