Mickey Mouse Short ‘Camping Out’ Cartoon-izes Warfare
by Frank Martin
Despite its brutal nature, warfare is very lucrative in terms of storytelling. It’s the most raw and primitive form of conflict there is. Regardless of the reason for the war, it pits two sides against one another, where audiences can clearly see a battle in progress. And yet, cartoons have no problem taking war, which is by all accounts one of the darkest inventions humanity has come up with, and found ways to humorize it for an audience of children.
A great example of this is the Disney short “Camping Out.” Released in the 1930s, this black and white short features Mickey and Minnie on a camping trip with friends. Their fun is interrupted when a young mosquito starts causing trouble. He’s swiftly swatted away, but the mosquito returns to his family, who vows to get revenge. From there, the swarm storms the campground and begin attacking the group. Mickey and his compatriots immediately take action by fortifying their location and fighting back.
The war between Mickey’s side and the mosquitoes can’t be described as anything else. The group uses corn, peas, and other everyday objects to fight back against the mosquitoes. The short even highlights imagery of World War I as they use these items like a machine gun to plow through the mosquito lines. Even after the mosquitoes are injured, they operate as a finely tuned force to repair themselves in an assembly line and get back into the fight. Of course, there were many ways that this conflict could have been depicted in the short. But the filmmakers had no qualms about invoking very specific imagery in depicting this war as just that. It just shows that even something as horrible and heartbreaking as war can be cartoon-ized under the right conditions.
“Camping Out” is now streaming on Disney+.