[Joseonggwan's Global Humanities Journey] Disney's 100 Years, from Ratatouille to Oncomouse

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Disney animation. The character that globally popularized Disney animation is undoubtedly ‘Mickey Mouse.’ Born in 1928, he is ninety-six years old. With Mickey Mouse’s huge hit, his girlfriend Minnie Mouse also became famous.

Mickey Mouse, the icon of Walt Disney.
[Photo by Wikipedia]

The biggest hit in animation history might be ‘Tom and Jerry,’ produced by MGM. The protagonists are a clumsy cat (Tom) and a clever mouse (Jerry). While mice are generally objects of disgust and extermination in reality, in MGM animation, it’s quite the opposite. Jerry is always cute, clever, and utterly lovable. He teases Tom thoroughly and then slips into his mouse hole. The setup where the weaker outwits and torments the stronger thrilled and excited viewers.

Pixar animation ‘Ratatouille.’ I watched it breathlessly in one sitting. The setting is Paris’s top-tier Gusteau restaurant. The protagonists are Remy, a stray rat with naturally developed senses of smell and taste, and Linguini, a kitchen apprentice facing dismissal due to lack of cooking talent.

Remy and Linguini join forces and promise to collaborate. Remy hides under Linguini’s hat and directs him in cooking. As word spreads that the food they create is delicious, customers line up at Gusteau restaurant.

Disney Pixar Animation Ratatouille Poster.

Ratatouille refers to a traditional vegetable stew enjoyed in the Provence region of France. ‘Rat’ means ‘mouse’ in both English and French. According to the French dictionary, ‘rat’ refers to a male rat. ‘Ratatouille’ is both the name of the dish and uses ‘rat’ as a prefix, implying ‘rat and cooking’ right from the title.

Rats live wherever humans live (except Antarctica). Rats are broadly divided into two types: rats and mice. Mice usually refer to house mice that inhabit only one place. Rats are sewer rats, larger than mice, with longer tails.

Charlie Chaplin (1889?1977) was born in Lambeth, South London. It is the poorest neighborhood in London. It was the initial settlement area for people coming to London from former African and Caribbean colonies. In Lambeth Cannington, where Chaplin spent his childhood, plaques marking traces of his life are attached in several places.

A plaque is also attached to the exterior wall of the house where he lived around the age of nine. This plaque refers to Chaplin as a ‘filmmaker’ and a ‘water rat.’

Water rat? At first, I was puzzled by ‘water rat.’ After checking the dictionary’s bottom entry, I confirmed that ‘water rat’ can also mean ‘tramp,’ and I nodded. Isn’t the character Chaplin created in 1923 at the Hollywood Mack Sennett studio costume warehouse the tramp? Chaplin was indeed a wanderer.

Plaque attached to the house where Charlie Chaplin lived in Lambeth, London. The inscription "Water Rat" can be seen.
Photo by Jo Seong-gwan

My first trip to New York was in the early 1990s. My first impression was that New York streets were much dirtier than I had expected. The view from the Empire State Building observation deck was breathtaking, but on the sidewalks below the skyscrapers, I often felt unpleasant. Rats were coming in and out of holes under the pavement blocks. The rats roaming the subway tracks and street food areas in New York are ‘rats.’

One of New York’s long-standing concerns has been ‘rat extermination.’ But all remedies were ineffective. Eventually, in April 2023, New York City established a dedicated senior official position for rat extermination (Director of Rodent Mitigation) and selected someone through a public competition. Overcoming a 900-to-1 competition rate, Kastle Corradi was appointed as New York’s first-ever ‘Rat Czar.’ The ‘Rat Czar’ decided to focus on creating an environment where rats find it hard to live. The time for restaurants to put out food waste was extended from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. This is what ‘Rat Czar’ Corradi said in a newspaper interview.

“What we are focusing on is ‘taking away their food.’ Until now, Manhattan’s restaurants have carelessly put leftover food from tourists from all over the world on the streets. They were setting a dining table for rats.”

Rats mostly survive by eating food left by humans. As long as leftovers exist, rats will exist. The principle of ‘Rat Czar’ Corradi is to lengthen the time rats go hungry to reduce their population.

Among animals, few have suffered as much persecution and disdain from humans as rats. This is reflected directly in language use. ‘Rat’ is always used negatively, from insults to proverbs. Phrases like ‘rat bastard,’ ‘rat’s tail-sized salary,’ ‘birds hear daytime talk, rats hear nighttime talk’...

Rats became targets for extermination because they spread germs and consume grain. The Black Death, which killed 30?50% of Europe’s population in the 14th century, was transmitted by rat fleas parasitizing house mice. House mice living on cargo ships entered Europe via Mediterranean shipping routes, plunging the continent into terror of death.

The 5060 generation and the MZ generation have different perceptions of ‘rats.’ The 5060 generation, born in the era of $100 national income (except those living in apartments), grew up in environments where rats lived. People living in detached houses had several rat traps in each home. In the 1970s, regular rat-catching campaigns were held, and students who brought rat tails to school received awards.

As someone from a remote village, I also have vivid memories of rats. When I lay down to sleep at night, rats would run across the ceiling. Nocturnal rats mainly used the space between the roof and ceiling as their stage. Sometimes, the rats would be so noisy it seemed like they were racing on the ceiling.

The Brothers Grimm's fairy tale "The Pied Piper"

Humanity has fought rats throughout history. But the winner has always been the rat. The emergence of a ‘Rat Czar’ in New York, the world’s capital, encapsulates everything. The Grimm brothers’ fairy tale ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ also stems from this historical background. When a rat infestation broke out in Hamelin, Germany, the mayor offered a reward. A man playing the pipe exterminated the rats by leading them into the river to drown.

When the man went to collect the reward, the mayor changed his mind. Not wanting to pay the reward, the mayor conspired with his associates and drove the piper away. Enraged, the piper took revenge by playing his pipe at midnight and making the town’s children disappear overnight.

The MZ generation, born in the $30,000 era, has faint memories of rat traps. Their aversion to rats differs in intensity from that of the 5060 generation. A clear example is that the MZ generation raises hamsters as pets.

Hamsters originally come from medical research mice. Among medical research mice, genetically modified mice created for cancer research are called ‘OncoMouse.’ OncoMouse is an experimental mouse developed by Harvard University researchers in the U.S. and patented in 1988. It is also called the Harvard mouse. Although there were various experimental mice before OncoMouse, it was the first patented medical research mouse.

Oncomouse

Donna Haraway (1944?), an ecologist and zoologist, is famous for calling OncoMouse her sister. OncoMouse lives a painful life carrying tumors inside a glass box, dying in place of humans.

According to 2021 statistics from the Korean Statistical Office on causes of death, breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women in their 40s and 50s in Korea. The more meat consumed, the higher the incidence of breast cancer. If detected early, the survival rate of breast cancer patients is over 90%. Early diagnosis is crucial.

OncoMouse is mainly bred and raised for developing breast cancer treatments. Once you look into OncoMouse’s eyes, you won’t easily forget them. It is not an exaggeration to say that women in this world extend their lives through the deaths of mice. Some say OncoMouse’s fate reminds them of Jesus’s suffering. Knowing OncoMouse’s life makes it difficult to hate rats carelessly.