I hope I'm doing this right. Everyone else has such different answers than my own, but Hey! It's been fun!

1.
I am choosing Mickey Mouse as my aspect of American Culture because he is fun, and there is no one else quite like him in other cultures.

From the idealist point of view one can see him as an icon for fun; the pursuit of happiness. I see him a symbol of the free-spiritedness of Americans.

I'm not quite sure where this fits in, but I think if we looked at Mickey from the view point of other societies, they could wonder why Americans project such fond emotion toward a rodent.

Within the materialist view point we see Mickey Mouse as a huge industry. Guessing on a conservative level I would venture to say that this little mouse alone must support at least a million families. Everyone from the workers in the Disney Lands, to the industrial workers who manufacture everything from T-shirts to baby bottles, that depict our furry little friend, all benefit financially. That is only on the surface level of the industry that the Mickey industry single-handedly maneuvers. On a deeper level we can speculate how each American must benefit from Mickey Mouse.

2.

The approach that I think offers the best explanation for this aspect of our culture is materialistic. Even though a vast majority of Americans are fond of this furry creature and they do not look at him as a marketing tool, ultimately he is just that. He started out as a cartoon, he scampered his way to stardom, has scurried his way into billions of homes, and endeared himself to tiny tikes as well as their grandmothers. He was not a necessity, but he has certainly become one. I'm not an expert in such matters but I will attempt to make an educated guess that without the benefits of this industry, our economy would be in a worse recession than it already is. Without the jobs for the workers, who engineer the Mickey Mouse trade, the trickle effect would ultimately be devastating to anyone within our society.

Pamela
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