1mo ago

I'm going to see Mickey 17; do I need to watch the other 16 Mickey movies first?

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I recommend you start with the Mickey Mouse Club, just to make sure you have all the background.
- Actually lore-wise the world building really starts with steamboat willie. If you miss out on that the character progression and backstories are just gonna make no sense.
  
  True, but the Steamboat Willie lore is rooted in comedic stage acts of the 1800s - most of which are lost to time.
  Which is to say, it's hopeless for any modern viewer to truly understand.
  
  To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Steamboat Willie. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of early animation history, most of the gags will go over a typical viewer's head. There’s also Mickey Mouse’s unyielding optimism, which is deftly woven into his characterization—his cheerful resilience in the face of adversity draws heavily from the Great Depression era, for instance.
  The true fans understand this; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny—they reflect something profound about the American spirit. As a consequence, people who dislike Steamboat Willie truly ARE fools—of course, they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the brilliance of Mickey whistling while steering a steamboat, which itself is a cryptic nod to the labor struggles of the early 20th century.
  I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Ub Iwerks' genius unfolds before their eyes. What fools… how I pity them.
  And yes, by the way, I DO have a Steamboat Willie tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only—and even they have to demonstrate that they understand the significance of rubber hose animation beforehand.

9 comments