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Mickey Mouse: Emblem of the American Spirit Garry Apgar. Walt Disney Family Foundation Press, 2015. Disney Culture John Wills. Rutgers University Press, 2017.
Music in Disney's Animated Features: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Jungle Book James Bohn. University Press of Mississippi, 2017.
November 28, 2018, will mark Mickey Mouse's ninetieth birthday and the anniversary of the release of his first film, Steamboat Willie, which premiered at the Colony Theater in New York City on November 28, 1928. Mickey Mouse, his creator Walt Disney, and the company that Disney founded continue to attract academic interest, as evidenced by three recent books, each a fine contribution to Disney scholarship.
"Mickey is nothing if not iconic" (18), writes Garry Apgar in his introduction to Mickey Mouse: Emblem of the American Spirit, which could aptly be described as the definitive biography of Disney's most famous character. Apgar, who has a PhD in art history from Yale and previously edited A Mickey Mouse Reader, brings expertise and a critical eye to his subject. He treats Mickey as a star, describing his career arc, changing visual image and persona, character merchandising, and audience responses. Apgar is a careful scholar, acknowledging that the many myths surrounding Mickey, from his creation to his formation and fame, are not necessarily true and that many versions of the same events exist. He likens Mickey to another star, Charlie Chaplin, suggesting that Mickey had it easier: "The star image of Mickey Mouse would be more intense, variegated, lasting and happier than Chaplin's, if only because, as a fictional figure, he was free of realworld woes and personal frailties" (112).
Mickey, however, is just as complicated as Chaplin or any other celebrated or reviled popular culture figure, and the strength of Apgar's book is his...