Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Please don't post about US Politics.
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
Mickey in Steamboat Willie just looks... odd.
The 'normal' Mickey is still under copyright so not a lot was gained through Steambiat Willie losing copyright protection.
Sure it would be nice if we coud use more modern elements of Mickey. But I don't agree that this isn't a big deal.
Before 2019, one couldn't have blamed us for expecting nothing to ever pass into the public domain again. Steamboat Willie would have passed into the public domain in 1955 had 13 distinct acts of Congress (prompted by lobbiests from, among others, Disney) between the years 1976 and 1998 not extended copyright each time Steamboat Willie came close to entering the public domain. The last one in 1998, the "Sonny Bono" Copyright Term Extension Act was called by its detractors at the time the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act." Basically Mickey Mouse and Steamboat Willie are probably the most emblematic works in any conversation of copyright run amok. So, if nothing else, the copyright expiring on Steamboat Willie is a hugely symbolic occurrence.
But also, it's not as if people aren't using Mickey in works already. I've seen several web comics just here on Lemmy. And there's a video game in the works.
I'd love to see WB do something -- anything -- with the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse.
And finally, does Steamboat Willie Mickey really look that different from more modern Mickey renditions? The eyes are probably the biggest difference. But also realize that now that Steamboat Willie (and at least one other early Mickey Mouse animation) is in the public domain, there's room for other modern-looking reimaginings of Mickey Mouse that might differ from the modern Disney Mickey Mouse.