What Mickey Mouse Reveals About Being Human |
Mickey Mouse is more than a simple animated character. He represents a particular emotion that most people experience before they have a chance to process what they've seen. From Mickey Mouse's two black dots for his ears, his round-shaped head, his big doe-like eyes, and his expressionless smile, it is clear that one can understand Mickey Mouse without being told anything about him.
The design of Mickey Mouse conveys specific universal characteristics that allow easy recognition from the least desirable location within a noisy movie theater (typically, the back row). In part, that recognizability has been achieved through careful choices about how to represent Mickey Mouse. The geometric shape of Mickey's face (rounded) and large eyes are indicative of the infant stage of development, which makes him appear forgiving and approachable, as well as signaling his harmlessness.
From an evolutionary standpoint, human beings developed the capacity to recognize an infant's ability to communicate and defend themselves. The use of large eyes and a small nose is a universal feature shared across cultures. It elicits feelings of warmth and parental care towards the baby from the adult. Therefore, when we react positively to Mickey Mouse, we are activating a robust biological response.
There is also scientific evidence to support these arguments. Numerous studies have shown that humans respond positively towards baby-like characteristics (such as baby schema features) even when these features appear in drawings rather than real human faces (Glocker et al., 2009). Mickey Mouse looks friendly to humans not only because of the way that he looks, but because Mickey activates a profound and direct biological response within humans
Make-believe often gets treated as something we're supposed to outgrow, something sweet but unserious. In reality, pretending is serious business for a social species like ours. Imagination lets us........