Mickey Mouse has been characterised as “the anthropomorphised mouse” (Krause, 2023). This conclusion is supported by a great number of aspects related to Mickey’s appearance and lifestyle.
In terms of his physical characteristics, he has a straight posture instead of walking on four legs. Looking at his dress, he wears shorts, shoes and gloves very much in the manner a human would wear these garments. Even more importantly, Mickey feels and acts like a human being, showing feelings, analysing situations and taking decisions, even brushing his teeth, and showing a distinct personality. Another aspect that signifies the non-animal feature is that he lives in a house and owns a dog. He uses human language to communicate with his friends and likes making jokes.
Mickey is therefore clearly related to the first technique of anthropomorphism (Akshaya & Chellerian, 2021): He appears as a mouse, but other than that shares all characteristics with that of a human being. This makes it easy for audiences to understand and directly relate to the actions and Mickey’s views.
Mickey Mouse is brushing his teeth in Mickey's Morning on Disney Junior
This is an important aspect that may help explain the tremendous success of Mickey Mouse, but also his friends. Animation must allow audiences to relate to the animated characters in order to capture and maintain their interest. By injecting myths into the stories of non-human characters, the viewers experience the feelings and emotions of animated animals and, at the same time, thanks to anthropomorphism, may connect them with images of characters constructed in their minds (Akshaya & Chellerian, 2021).