Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice
Fantasia (Walt Disney, 1940)
I.
Goethe's Der Zauberlehrling (1797) is a ballad composed of
fourteen stanzas with an unusual rhyme scheme. It tells the tale of an
occult master and his young disciple who discovers that objects are not
always there simply to serve us and may in fact be invested with a malevolent
spirit; that an enchanted realm is not necessarily a safe space to inhabit.
Whilst the poem remains popular in the German-speaking world, I suspect most people know the story of 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' thanks to its adaptation by Walt Disney in the animated film Fantasia (1940), starring Mickey Mouse - a character about whom the philosopher Byung-Chul Han writes in his fascinating short work Undinge: Umbrüche der Lebenswelt (2021) [a] ...
II.
According to Han, the representation of material reality in the Disney universe and Mickey's relationship with things radically changes over time.
In his earliest adventures, inanimate objects of all kinds have their independence and behave in an unpredictable - somewhat treacherous - even dangerous manner. Mickey is constantly obliged to grapple with these objects and they remain a permanent source of frustration for an anthropomorphic mouse attempting to impose his will upon the world, as well as providing comedy gold.
For as Han rightly notes: "The cartoons are entertaining to a large extent because of the villainy of things." [46]
Sadly, however, times have changed and one of the depressing aspects of life today is that things have lost
their mischievous character. In transforming material
reality into a safe space that offers no resistance or dangers, we have succeeded in subordinating objects to our control.
In
other words, objects are obliged to behave themselves and even though we
manipulate and exploit them, they no longer have the right to rebel or
extract their revenge:
"The villainy of things is now probably a thing of the past. We are no longer maltreated by things. They are not destructive; they do not offer any resistance. [...] Things are submissive. They are submitted to our needs." [46-47]
Han continues:
"Today, even Mickey Mouse leads a digital, smart and immaterial life. His world is digitalized and informationalized [...] the representation of material reality is markedly different [...] Things no longer have an independent life; they are obedient tools for solving problems." [47]
Is this a good thing? Is it right for a cartoon mouse to teach children that there is a quick solution - an app - for everything?
I don't think so.
And, personally, I would prefer life to be problematic; that physical reality remain something we constantly bump up against. I rather like being at the mercy of objects which not only want to harm or make fools of us, but also support, sustain, and comfort us.
Ultimately, I agree with the young witch who recently informed me: 'When non-things beckon us to enter a virtual abyss, it will be the saving power of actual objects that will summon us back into the nearness of the nearest.' [b]
Notes
[a] This work was translated into English as Non-things: Upheaval in the Lifeworld, by Daniel Steur, (Polity Press, 2022). Page numbers given in the above post refer to this edition.
