ub iwerks

Two ways through which Disney’s older animations create entertainment, are exaggeration and character development. A fitting example is “The Barn Dance” created by Ub Iwerks in 1929. In the opening scene, Mickey Mouse is riding in his carriage. He whips the horse to get it to accelerate and suddenly the horse quickens from a steady trod to a jumping gallop. Soon the carriage begins to gallop as well, instead of rolling along smoothly. Next, we arrive at Minnie Mouse’s house as Mickey has offered her a carriage ride to the barn dance. Mickey’s love for Minnie is established through the hearts floating around his head throughout.

In this scene, Minnie is presented as the woman that all the men want, as a competition between Mickey and Pete ensues when Pete arrives in a swanky vehicle. Mickey doesn’t have a car horn like Pete, and so he uses a duck’s call by squeezing the duck to impress Minnie. Minnie continues to test the waters throughout the animation, going back and forth between Mickey and Pete when one disappoints her. During the dancing scene, Mickey continuously steps on Minnie’s feet and legs and his shoes grow impossibly large until he is trampling Minnie. Upset, Minnie goes to dance with Pete, reinforcing the way she is portrayed as having no commitment to neither Pete nor Mickey. This spurs on the love Mickey has for Minnie as he continues to impress her.

Another interesting aspect is the repetition of movements that make the character’s cohesive. In the scene at Minnie’s house, Mickey and Minnie both throw their noses upwards towards Pete in dislike. This is typical for Mickey because he does dislike Pete. However, after Mickey steps on Minnie’s toes while dancing, Minnie throws up her nose towards Mickey in dislike. Before, we didn’t see the full extent of Minnie’s non-commitment to the two boys, yet now Minnie has returned to Pete who she left just a scene prior, which in turn spurs on Mickey’s competition with him.

Sydney McPherson