My three-year-old is addicted to a Mickey Mouse Christmas Special, in which a loose thread connecting disparate holiday-themed slapstick is Mickey’s attempt to fill Donald with the Christmas spirit. As Donald stubbornly resists, Mickey becomes more passive-aggressive and wanders off, completely flummoxed that his friend does not share his seasonal joy. Alas, Donald says no more than “Humbug”, leaving the viewer to surmise that his lack of spirit is simply a character flaw or moral failing. I felt the urge to stick up for him. “What if he’s Jewish? Muslim? An atheist?”

Like I said, my kid is addicted. Repeated viewings have led me to the point where I had to react to preserve my own sanity. Mission, er, accomplished?

Tags: christmas, consumer culture, holidays, Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 at 2:18 pm and is filed under In Contempt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.