Is Mickey Mouse all right?
Is Mickey Mouse good reading for kids? People have been arguing about that for decades, with some ranting and raving directed against the subtext of the Disney stories. Marco Respinti writes about that in this article that I translated, which was published on the Italian online daily La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the publication of the first Topolino comic book. Mickey Mouse, a very young eighty-year-old. By Marco Respinti (Translated and edited by L. Pavese) Mickey Mouse (“Topolino” in Italian) arrived in Italy on December 31, 1932, and for most Italians his is now a familiar name. However, the mousy detective does not have a real family, and for that reason there are some who argue that Mickey Mouse is not a good example for our children. We think that fear is exaggerated, even though today’s Disney production is rather ambiguous. ...