Public Domain

I've been interested in the public domain for a long time. When I was an unemployed, carless twenty-something, I liked knowing which works of classic Literature I could find for free online. To this day, there's something very satisfying about downloading P.G. Wodehouse's A Damsel in Distress or Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin versus Herlock Sholmes from Standard Ebooks and loading them onto my eReader.

Some people always get excited about Public Domain Day, but this year's has been one of the biggest because of soon-to-be horror icon Mickey Mouse's new legal status. It's funny to think that Disney, a company who embodies art and commerce in almost equal measure, has lost even a little bit of control over one of the world's most recognizable characters. The same thing happened when Winnie-the-Pooh entered the public domain a few years back.  It was Walt Disney, and not A.A. Milne, that made the idea of Pooh as a slasher villain so appealing. A lot of characters enter the public domain yearly, but it's extra-satisfying when a Disney character does.

I'm more curious than excited about what new projects these characters, and others, will appear in, but I can certainly understand the appeal of the public domain. Who isn't waiting for the day they can legally make their own spin on The Lord of the Rings? I, myself, like to mine folklore and mythology for names and inspiration whenever I flex my creative muscles. And, as more and more characters join Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood, I'm sure we'll see some fascinating stories about the likes of Mickey Mouse in the coming years. 

Some might even fit the character.

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