Line #3 WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseInVietnam


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shortsubject_5.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Mickey, as seen in the short]]
3	An anti-war underground short created in 1969 by Whitney Lee Savage (father of Creator/AdamSavage, future host of ''Series/{{MythBusters}}'') and Milton Glaser.
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5	Officially titled ''Short Subject'', it involves WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse wanting to see the world, so he joins the army. He is sent to serve in the Vietnam War, but things take a turn for the worst the moment he arrives in Vietnam...
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7	Initially thought to be lost, an incomplete copy was rediscovered in 2013 by a Website/YouTube user, while the full video was uploaded five years later. Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAtnOkqO_l0 here]].
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9	Also see ''WesternAnimation/BambiMeetsGodzilla''.
10	----
11	!!Tropes found in this short:
12	* AnachronismStew: The US didn't use steamboats or bolt action rifles in the 60s.
13	* CurbStompBattle: Mickey didn't even fire a round before getting killed.
14	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Like many underground animated films of this era, it's in black and white.
15	* DownerEnding: Mickey gets shot in the head, and dies.
16	* DyingForSymbolism: The short uses Mickey as a symbol of innocence, and its loss during the war.
17	* ExtremeCloseUp: The short ends with the camera zooming in on the face of Mickey's lifeless body, where his smile slowly forms into a frown.
18	* GoOutWithASmile: Subverted. Mickey gets shot in the head still with a smile on his face, but it slowly gives into a frown as he lays bleeding.
19	* InexplicablyTailless: For some reason, Mickey is drawn without his tail.
20	* LeFilmArtistique: Short runtime, [[DeliberatelyMonochrome black and white]], and a [[TrueArtIsAngsty bleak]] yet violent [[DownerEnding conclusion]] of the innocent protagonist (in this case, Mickey Mouse) all to hammer home a specific moral. Not surprisingly, it was made for the Angry Arts Festival, a "protest event" that encouraged artists to express their concerns about the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar and their desire to end it.
21	* LimitedAnimation: This being an underground animated short and not an official Disney cartoon, animation is [[TropesAreTools only used as needed to carry out the intent of the short]].
22	* MoodWhiplash: At first, it looks to be an homage to Mickey Mouse's 1930s shorts with a wartime theme, then suddenly, Mickey is unceremoniously killed after he sets foot on Vietnam.
23	* PenName: The short's only credits are for "Max Cats" and "Whitney Sledge".
24	* PerpetualSmiler: Up until the end of the short, Mickey keeps a smile plastered onto his face.
25	* PublicDomainAnimation: Whitney couldn't copyright the short since it was unauthorized.
26	* RecruitersAlwaysLie: Mickey takes the invitation to join the army from a billboard promising that he will "see the world". He barely steps foot in another country before being fatally shot.
27	* SoundtrackDissonance: Herbert Chappell's "The Gonk" (better known nowadays for its use in ''Film/{{Dawn of the Dead\|1978}}'') plays once more after Mickey's death scene.
28	* TheSpeechless: Mickey never says a single word throughout the short.
29	* UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar: Of course.
30	* WarIsHell: The moral of the short is that war is horrible.
31	* WartimeCartoon: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]], as it uses the conventions of the trope to criticize not just the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII cartoons it takes inspiration from, but also [[WarIsHell war in general]].

Context WesternAnimation / MickeyMouseInVietnam