Mickey Mouse as Luke Skywalker: Does it really matter?
Dr Leonie Cooper
by Dr Leonie Cooper
On the day before Halloween, the Disney Company announced that they had acquired LucasFilm, the company owned by George Lucas. While there are regulatory processes still to be settled, the video of George Lucas signing away the rights to the Star Wars franchise went viral. On forums, Facebook and Twitter and fuelled by the announcement that Star Wars VII would be released in 2015, the impact of Disney’s takeover is still hotly debated. Will Disney breathe new life into a rather tired format or does this merger signal the end to a recognisable Star Wars universe or, even more horrifying, its Disneyfication?
The media responded to Lucas’s decision with dire warning: fans will not be happy. Why does it matter that Mickey Mouse might infiltrate the films, comic books, games, TV shows and memorabilia that make up the Star Wars multi-verse? In the entertainment industry, these kind of acquisitions are not uncommon – Disney has already acquired Pixar and Marvel Entertainment. A clue exists in the multitude of mashed up and remixed images that have accompanied the flurry of texts, posts and tweets. and one, in particular where Mickey Mouse, dressed as a Jedi, poses in epic battle with Darth Vader.
Does this Disneyfied version of Luke Skywalker speak of a presumed fear on the part of fans that Disney’s imagineers will ‘taint’ the Star Wars mythos? First of all, who exactly are these fans? Are we supposed to presume that those invested in the outcome of this symbolic battle are only the so-called fanatics who have dressed up as Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker, played thousands of hours in the games, and even trained to be a Jedi at retreats sponsored by the Jedi Church?
Fandom is not an act of mistaken identity or misguided investment in media consumption. In fact, franchises such as Star Wars (along with Star Trek) have enabled scholars to understand how the appropriation and remixing of media content enables the formation of social bonds and community. The irony of Mickey Mouse as a Jedi is not surprising in this context, given members of such participatory cultures have often parodied their own precarious position as creative agents that are nonetheless subject to the whims of the designers. Mickey’s battle with the forces of Evil, so to speak, is a reminder that these participatory cultures have formed from ongoing struggles, not just in terms of the content or design of the newest game or film but about who has the right to participate in the creation of cultural identities.
The fan is actually a stand-in for all of us ‘prosumers’, as we are called up to actively participate in media cultures. In today’s world of transmedia storytelling, where the holy grail is to find a franchise that can be marketed across media forms, we occupy an equally precarious position. In all the playful appropriations and heated debates surrounding this event, there’s an inherent ambivalence towards this situation. It’s evident in the contradictory roles that Disney is asked to play. Easily typified as Darth Vader and an agent of the dark forces of conglomeration bent on achieving complete dominion of all channels of media production and distribution, Disney is also the benevolent caretaker now in charge of future incarnations of the Star Wars universe.
In his speech after the signing, Lucas expressed his faith that Disney will preserve his legacy for future generations. It does appear that whether Mickey Mouse becomes a Jedi is a matter of belief. Disney is more than a brand, it’s a religion and so, too, is Stars Wars with its mono-myth of the hero’s journey and its built-in moral codes. Once these two worlds merge, will the future be imagineered in the terms offered by another remixed image that depicts Luke Skywalker looking at a silhouette of the Disney logo rather than the setting suns of Tatooine?
In this scene from Star Wars, Luke yearns for another life beyond the horizon. I am reminded of the acceptance speech of the newly re-elected American President in which Obama spoke often of moving forward and invoked that most potent of memes for the American psyche - progress. Fan activism, scholars tell us, can tell us much about how to motivate political and civic participation. Concern then with the fan’s response to Disney’s takeovers is really about whether we continue to invest in America’s belief that their future will unfold as it has already been written, as long as the right leader is chosen. What matters when Mickey becomes Luke Skywalker is that we pay attention to who participates in the imagineering of our futures and in whom we entrust that which is created. George Lucas may end up with a retirement fund that includes 40 million Disney shares, but we are all stakeholders.
Dr Leonie Cooper is a Lecturer in Art History and Theory in the Monash Faculty of Art Design and Architecture (MADA).