Disney Pinball

A schizophrenic Mickey Mouse has a delusion that the parrot on top of the pinball game is talking to him.  Mickey proceeds to talk some smack right back, inserts a quarter and initially works the machine, probably as the shop owner is frantically dialing 911.  Then Minnie shows up and Mickey starts losing, implying she’ s the reason and revealing the misogyny ingrained in the Walt Disney Company.

Mickey pumps more money into the game attempting to get the upper hand and Minnie grows impatient and tells him to quit playing.  Sounds reasonable, right?  But the whole reason Minnie wants him to “wrap it up” is because her broke ass can’t afford a soda and she’s waiting for Mickey, the breadwinner, to buy her one.  She needs to go get a J-O-B and quit playa-hating.  Hell, her man wouldn’t be paying attention to a pinball machine if she was delivering the goods.  I was hoping Mickey would give her some strong pimp hand but that is one whipped mouse.

Mickey then proceeds to pump his life savings into the machine.  The combination of the stress and flashing lights sends Mickey into a full-blown psychotic episode with visual and audio delusions.  Mickey imagines he’s inside the pinball game fighting the evil pirate who has kidnapped Minnie .  Clearly Minnie represents Mickey’s lost sanity and his attempt to regain a grasp on reality.  This cartoon is a metaphor for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Mickey emerges from his psychotic episode having won a free game and again he imagines the talking parrot taunting him. Initially tempted, his sanity (Minnie) wins out.  Not only does Mickey refuse the game he physically destroys it, a confident testament to his desire to recover and live a normal life.  This cartoon is a metaphor for Fight Club.