Steamboat Willie gave Mickey Mouse his voice and helped make synchronized sound a new norm

arts, ideas & societyanalysisThe Public Domain Review1928 · New York, USA

Steamboat Willie gave Mickey Mouse his voice and helped make synchronized sound a new norm

the gist

Steamboat Willie, released in 1928, was not the first cartoon with synchronized sound, but it was the first to show that sound could be the main attraction for a mass audience. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks had little money and had just seen two earlier Mickey Mouse shorts fail to find a distributor, so they staked everything on sound. Disney built the soundtrack himself from household objects bought at a dime store, using spittoons as gongs and saucepans as drums, and voiced several characters. Critics praised the synchronization, and the film helped establish sound as a core part of animation.

how it works

Synchronized sound means the soundtrack is recorded and timed to match specific on-screen actions, so a splash, a whistle or a bark lands exactly with the picture. Disney's team created many effects by performing them live in front of the screen and syncing them to the frames. Because the sounds were tied tightly to the animation, the cartoon's characters seemed to be producing the noises themselves.

so what

The short made sound a selling point for animation rather than a gimmick, and it set Disney on the path to a studio built on synchronized music and effects. Its copyright history also matters: the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act was widely called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act because Disney lobbied for it, and the film entered the US public domain on January 1, 2024.

the bigger pattern

Sound transforming a new visual medium has a long history: the arrival of talkies in the late 1920s forced silent film stars and studios to reinvent their work almost overnight. Cartoons used sound as a way to set themselves apart from competitors. The same pattern repeated when copyright extensions kept works out of the public domain for decades, a debate that continues today.

fun fact

Disney recorded the film's sound effects by hand, banging on household objects, which is why its soundtrack sounds so unlike the orchestral scores of its era.

Image: The Public Domain Review

source: The Public Domain Review ↗

historyWikipediaclassic1336–1565 · Karnataka, India

Hampi was once one of the world's largest cities, until its Vijayanagara capital was destroyed in 1565

the gist

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.

how it works

The city was built around a fortified core with temples, markets and water structures along the river, supplied by an extensive network of roads and waterworks. When the empire fell, the city was not rebuilt, so its stone monuments were left standing.

so what

Hampi shows how quickly a great city can vanish after a military defeat, and how a ruined capital can remain sacred. Its ruins give historians a view of medieval South Asia that few other sites can match.

fun fact

The name Hampi comes from Pampa, an old name for the Tungabhadra River.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · text CC BY-SA 4.0

Image: Wikimedia Commons

source: Wikipedia ↗

2 min

politicsshortCNA2:01

False allegations about Singapore’s hand in Indonesia’s markets and a made-up meeting

from CNA

CNA Verify has found close to 400 posts pushing falsehoods tying Singapore to Indonesia’s stock market rout and to a secret meeting that never took place. Together, they drew nearly 12 million views, and some were circulated by accounts that appeared to be working in concert, across multiple social media platforms.

Here’s how the disinformation campaign targeting Singapore was uncovered.

on YouTube: CNA ↗