Bring Back Mouse Media!
A Brief Nostalgic Look Back at Mice in Books and Shows
If you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll surely want some more:
Earlier this year I tweeted this. I’ve been saying bring back little mice media ever since then. I have been craving to see more talking mice living their little mice lives. Not only for the children shows, but for adults as well - and we’re not talking mainstream mickey mouse and his multiple spin offs.
The First mouse media I feel I’ve encountered was 3 blind mice, the Mother Goose Nursery rhyme that has interpreted in different media and stories across time — like within shrek. Then came, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Angelina Ballerina, Chrysanthemum, Wemberly Worried — Some of the best children’s books. Getting older I always saw the book, The Tale of Despereaux. Then the Stuart Little film came out. Mouse hunt was also a popular film, but that was for adults. Tom and Jerry, Cinderella, Pinky and the Brain, Maisy! The list goes on and on.
In 2025 I found an anime that exemplified my feelings on bringing back mouse media. The Adventures of Gamba, an anime that was so cute. It was about a mouse who goes to an island to help other mice who were being killed and tormented by a white weasel — I never finished it but It is always in the back of my mind.
What prompted me to finally write this post, was a video on youtube about a game with a mouse as the main character, Mina the Hollower. It is 2d platformer and it was created in 2024. I haven’t seen a cute mouse game like this, ever.
Not to mention I played (briefly) with my partner, Mouse PI for Hire.
As nostalgic as it feels to look back at all the media of mice and see it slightly resurging. I wonder why the talking animal cartoons and books are being pushed to the wayside? I grew up on things like Oswald, It’s a Big Big world, between the lions, dragon tales, maggie and the ferocious beast, that actually taught you life lessons and academic knowledge about the world. People want to see the animals talk, but it’s usually delegated to children’s shows and now from like 6 and under.
Watching Gamba felt like it took its young adult audience serious with the themes presented in the show. I’m looking for more Young Adult/Adult fiction involving mice and their problems and how they navigate the world because honestly, Gamba changed my perspective on how I want my mice media to be. It’s interesting to be within the shoes of a talking animal while it’s giving actual life advice on how to handle grief or competition, family, environmental threats, etc etc. Unlike the kids media where it is more simple and black and white. In media the i’ve been exposed to, Mice tend to be the side characters or even just briefly mentioned and I know there are more complex stories to be told!
Anthropomorphism can be taken so much farther than kids media. It creates a sense of Connection & Empathy that regular shows cannot breach because it projects human traits onto the non-human entities and that helps people builds emotional bonds with pets, nature, or even technology. Which is why I believe anime is so popular; tho they don’t usually have anthropomorphic characters, but the Idea that this is a cartoon and “removed” away from reality (“Because it is just a cartoon or fake”) so when themes of real life come up, it’s easier to understand and relate and actually engage.
The only real media I see of mice is real life issues like the Hantavirus (which should be take so much more serious) and now farmers in australia having issues with a surplus of rodents on their land, as I was doing research on mouse media.
I was just hoping that the mice media will grow up with me. I might have to be the one to make the media. Make the thing you wanna see especially when you don’t see them.
