Evil Mickey Attacks

Japanese propaganda cartoon, 1936.

All is pleasant on the island with dancing and singing until Evil Mickey on his bat and with his bat hoard and snake hoard attack the island. The people are terrorized but one of them calls for help from a samurai.

A girl is captured and tied up and evil Mickeys and snakes dance around her like the stereotyped Native American dance.

One of the natives gets help from a book and calls forth a samurai.The samurai issues a call and soon a whole group of odd-looking beings emerge from the same book he had been in.

The samurai and others gather to fight Evil Mickey.

An aerial dual starts.. Suddenly the bats all explode and Mickey loses the fight he is in then gets changed into an old mouse. Then the group celebrates.

I'll give my interpretation of the cartoon although I don't know if it is the same as that of the person who made it. Mickey Mouse was made in 1928 so he was known enough to have been used in this cartoon and the audience would have known who he was supposed to be. He is representing the United States. The island people are the stereotyped view of all Southeast Asian island people, happy, simple, and living a wonderful life until the United States comes along. The traditional Japanese defenders are called upon and they defeat Evil Mickey and the island returns to normal.



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