- Hardcover: 270 pages
- Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (Jun 1 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 156097530X
- ISBN-13: 978-1560975304
- Product Dimensions: 24 x 15.4 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 653 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #749,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In 1971, a group of underground cartoonists known as the Air Pirates put out a comic book parody of Disney cartoons in which Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Bucky Bug and others get high, have sex and swear a blue streak. Extremely protective of its characters' reputations, Disney sued-and turned what would have been a blip on the countercultural radar screen into a First Amendment cause celebre. The result was a classic post-Vietnam kulturkampf pitting artistic license against corporate copyright, and San Francisco's bohemian debauchery against Disneyland's disciplined wholesomeness. Levin's charming and thoughtful account, complete with reproductions of some of the offending cartoons, meanders through the history of the comic book industry, the rise of Disney to domination in the cultural marketplace and the intricacies of copyright and First Amendment law around which the litigation revolved. His anecedotal, shaggy-dog style is perfect for sketching indelible portraits of the quirky, romantic, incorrigibly stoned denizens of San Francisco's underground comics scene, whose mission it was to smash every false idol of square America and whose sensibility lives on in alternative weeklies across the land. If they did, as Disney claimed, besmirch the innocence of a national icon, the Air Pirates are themselves emblems of a lost idealism, of a time when people believed that sex, drugs and revolutionary rhetoric could liberate society from the rule of corporate entertainment monoliths. B&w photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Important Episode in American Popular Cultural History,
By
This review is from: Pirates & the Mouse: Disney's War Against the Underground (Hardcover)
According to Bob Levin, copyright law has become a way by which big corporations screw the public trust. Back in 1971, a group of artists calling themselves the Air Pirates put out an unauthorized Mickey Mouse comic book that was heavily pornographic in nature. The ensuing battle lasted for about a decade until Disney finally won. This book rates 3 stars out of 5 due to the fact that it is mostly bogged down in all sorts of highly legalistic language and is hard to read by someone who, like this writer, does not have a law school education.
5.0 out of 5 stars
For all who are fed up with corporate media,
By
This review is from: Pirates & the Mouse: Disney's War Against the Underground (Hardcover)
An hilarious blow-by-blow account of Disney's war on independent culture. A look back at the late 60s and early 70s that's all too disturbingly relevant today.
5.0 out of 5 stars
For anyone concerned with such issues as artistic freedom,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Pirates & the Mouse: Disney's War Against the Underground (Hardcover)
Ably researched and written by Bob Levin (an experienced essayist for "The Comics Journal"), The Pirates And The Mouse: Disney's War Against The Counterculture is the intrinsically fascinating and little-known story of a group of rogue cartoonists led by Dan O'Neill (the youngest syndicated cartoonist in American newspaper history), who waged a countercultural war of pictures against the Disney Corporation by portraying Disney characters engaging in un-Disney like behavior. In response, Disney executives brought forth a massive lawsuit against these unapproved cartoonists for copyright infringement. The Pirates And The Mouse traces a complex and tangled personal, legal, and cultural saga ranging from O'Neill's bitterness against the censorship that cost him a job, to contemporary corporate politics, issues of intellectual property rights and social commentary, and more. The Pirates And The Mouse is a "must-read" for anyone concerned with such issues as artistic freedom, copyright law, as well as readers seeking to learn more about the oft-unspoken and somewhat darker side of the corporate Disney.
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