I’ve had an essay like this float around in my head for a while now. And after my drag post blew up, I made a poll asking if people wanted me to make more essays. But to be honest with you, I made this way before the poll was actually done (the prologue and intro I mean), so whatever the results come out to be— well, I hope this was all worth it, and I hope you get something out of this, and I hope I get something out of it too.
Gender and Mickey Mouse is a fascinating topic (to me at least), I think the best way to put it is that there’s to sides of the conversation; one simple, one analytical. The former is about masculinity and how Mickey is clearly supposed to represent the positively masculine figure, while his two biggest foes; Peg Leg Pete and Mortimer Mouse represent toxically masculine figures. That’s quite simple to understand and I’ll get more into it later, but the other half… not so much. You see, the other half involves analyzing the universe that Disney had built themselves, how it works differently from ours and how we respond to those differences. I think it’s only fair to start with the simple side first: Mickey and Positive Masculinity.
Mickey and Positive Masculinity; AKA the Really Boring and Obvious Part
It’s no secret that Mickey isn’t “traditionally masculine”, but masculine in a different way. Let’s do some comparison with Pete and Mortimer, Pete is a towering brute who uses force to get what he wants, and Mortimer is a sleazy womanizer who tries to charm Minnie. Of course, Mickey counter acts their toxically masculine traits with his positive ones, like his kindness, respectfulness, and his wits. Disney uses Mickey to teach the audience how to be a good man and therefore a good person.
This is frankly obvious, isn’t it? You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to reach the conclusion, that this is the relationship Mickey has with gender
and nothing more, but that wouldn’t be entirely the case, the idea that this is the extent of this topic would be dishonest. We haven’t even considered the other side; the analytical side. The part where most people would definitely side-eye you if you ever mentioned. I call this part Mickey Mouse and Gender.
Mickey Mouse and Gender: Oh Boy!— or uh, Girl? It?
To start, we first have to deconstruct how gender is defined in the Mouseverse (the universe where Mickey Mouse lives). Mice don’t really seem to vary in shape based off gender like how humans are since Mickey and Minnie are practically built the same.
The Mouseverse actually defines gender in two main ways; clothing and performance. Minnie is a great example of this, she wears hyperfeminine clothing and uses dainty hand gestures in order to signal that she’s a woman. You can see this specified in her art guidelines below
You can also see this with Mortimer since he displays hypermasculinity through clothing and performance as well.
But Mickey on the other hand isn’t so consistent, his clothing is neither hypermasculine nor hyperfeminine and is even comfortable crossdressing. His performances also vary from boyish to dainty.
In fact, we have examples of where Mickey is in both extremes. The most hypermasculine we ever see Mickey is in the 1955 Nash Rambler commercials.
He’s clearly supposed to be a traditional 1950s husband. He has a wife, two kids, and is the one who drives the car in the commercial. Reflecting the good ol’ American values of the time.
On the other side of the spectrum, it would obviously go to the Paul Rudish Mickey shorts. His voice is flamboyant and operatic, he uses expressive hand gestures, and he has also been repeatedly shown to be bad at traditionally masculine hobbies like sports (but is oddly good at makeup).
Mickey’s gender is as attached to his identity as being a Musketeer or the master of the keyblade. It’s a fluid performance that he can shift and shape anyway that he pleases, whether Walt Disney would’ve liked it or not, he made an androgynous character. Mickey lives in a world where anyone can truly be anything that they like, whether be man, woman, or in between. Gender is Mickey’s oyster.
It’s an interesting case where bigotry isn’t perpetuated by the source, but by the audience. The best way I can demonstrate this idea is with every Mickey fans least favorite media…
Mickey Mouse parodies: Ha Ha the Mouse Acts Like a Girl!
(Please do NOT harass the creators mentioned in this section. Please and thank you.)
Mickey Mouse parodies can be spilt into two camps (a lot of two’s in this essay huh?): the subconscious and the obvious. The subconscious would be your ceo Mickeys. Ceo Mickeys usually have a few things in common, they wear suits, they are aggressive in some shape or form, and they have no moral standards. Good examples of these would be your South Park Mickeys and your Myth of the Machines.
Ceo Mickeys are much more masculine than regular Mickey, they make the audience say to themselves “haha, Mickey wouldn’t do or say that!”. The audience mentally notes Mickeys “abnormalities” when it comes to him being a man. How he lacks “normal male traits”. The mockery of his femininity is shared amongst the audience, not exactly the media. Think of it as an inside joke or observation.
The other is much more obvious, these would be your Mickey being cheated on and Mickey gay jokes. Mickey being cheated on or implied cheating makes fun of him for not being “man enough” to be able to keep his girl. And Mickey gay jokes makes fun of Mickey’s voice and gives him some kind of vague queer identity. Think of Goofball from Brain Dump, where his Mickey Mouse voice is part of the character’s gag, and Hassan Khadair who makes crude gay jokes with a Mickey puppet (of course not all of them are gay some are just crude)
Almost all Mickey Mouse parodies boil down to the joke being “Mickey is effeminate, and we’re making fun of that” or “Mickey is already effeminate and we’re subverting that”, whether it’s obvious or not. The simple truth is that we kinda hate Mickey’s femininity so we use it as a cheap punching bag whenever we make fun of him. So if you’re a Mickey fan, you have a very intellectual reason to tell your friends about why you hate Mickey Mouse parodies!
In all seriousness, our constant desire to laugh at or subvert Mickey’s gender identity definitely does not go unnoticed by Disney. Now, I’m not saying that parodies are the main reason of this phenomenon, but I do think it’s in a joint effort in…
The Cisifying of Mickey Mouse
As time went on, Mickey’s gender became more “set in stone”. His gestures went from a spectrum from boyish to dainty to strictly boyish, if he’s not wearing in his classic red shorts he’s only wearing suits or hoodies and other masculine clothing.
Disney has solidified him into one gender role, one he cannot break or bend, one he cannot experiment with, but only play exactly what he is told. A grand actor, in a subpar role. The only time we will ever see a gender queer Mickey is if we want him on a button or a shirt, commercialized to only sell us the idea that Disney hates queer people a little less then we already know. Mickey’s queer gender identity is dead, and we all killed it.
To be honest, I’m not really sure. I don’t know how you make a conclusion about a fictional mouse’s gender identity, or how it has been sanded down by ceos, or how we take pleasure in insulting Mickey’s gender queerness. I guess the best thing I can say is referencing what I said earlier, the two sides; simple and complicated. You the reader can pick which ever one you believe, or heck, even make up your own side. Mickey is an actor after all, Mickey can fit in any role your heart’s desire, he or she or it will be Mickey Mouse at end of the day. Besides, we’re all here right? Might as well!
So, go out there and give Mickey Mouse the role of a lifetime, and thank you for reading!
If you’re reading this, again, thank you for reading! It means a lot to me to know that people care for what I have to say, genuinely thank you. I would appreciate if you would reblog or comment, I would like these essays to become broader conversations and viewpoints (it also lets me know I’m not just talking to an endless void). It could be constructive criticism, a part that you enjoyed, or even your own perspective on the topic. I would like it either way.
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