Fievel Mousekewitz. The tiny mouse with a big lesson… and an either bigger hat.
Many millennials may recall the first time they boarded the boat and travelled to New York, alongside the Mousekewitz family. They may remember singing about the misconception that there are no cats in America or crying when Fievel is lost to the sea. But what they may not recall is that they were witnessing a hidden history lesson, wrapped up in the form of an adorable rodent dressed in period clothing. So, let’s look at what that troubled Russian mice family can tell us about Jewish history, the Pogroms and late 1800’s immigration.
Commercial Success
When An American Tail was released, November 1986, it was an immediate success. In a period mostly dominated by Disney and toy-branded movies, such as Transformers and My Little Pony, An American Tail smashed it out of the park with an impressive $47m in U.S box office sales. Comparatively Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective, another animated rodent adventure based on the famous Sherlock Holmes character, accrued roughly $38m in sales. Hasbro’s toy related films, although based on popular brands at the time, did not manage to break the $10m mark and were generally considered flops.
Disney was still seen to be struggling to regain its animation crown at this time. The Little Mermaid, generally thought to be the start of the company’s Renaissance era, would not drop until three years later. An American Tail, it seemed, had struck at the perfect time.
While some said the film was too heavy for younger kids, with themes of family separation, death and danger, most critics praised the film for its emotional depth, animation quality and mature storytelling, perhaps meeting a gap in the market for older children that Disney was failing to reach. The film, a genius collaboration between Steven Spielberg, a Jewish filmmaker passionate about projects regarding his heritage and Don Bluth, former Disney animator, was the first in a successful line of sequels and spin-offs.
The History Lesson
So, yes, it was a success! But Rebecca, I hear you cry, where is the hidden history lesson? At the beginning of the story we meet the Russian-Jewish Mousekewitz family, in their cosy home celebrating Hanukkah. Papa is handing out simple but meaningful gifts and everyone is happy (a little too happy for a film perhaps). Suddenly cries of alarm are heard and the mice are screaming their furry butts off about Pogroms.
But what were Pogroms? Pogrom, a Russian word with the basic meaning of “to demolish violently”, were extremely violent, state-tolerated/ignored attacks against Jewish communities and families beginning after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. Jews, being falsely accused of the crime were targeted by many and scenes that we see play out in the film, with villages torched and rampaged through were a common reality for many living in the Pale Settlement, an area in Western Russia where Jewish communities were legally allowed to reside.
In the film the Pogroms, which would have comprised mainly of local peasants and thugs pepped up by religious and governmental propaganda, are accompanied by cats, which are stereotypically the main villain of the mice’s story and the cause for the (false) hope and belief of the Jewish mice that there are zero cats in America. It isn’t expressly stated that they are the feline version of the Pogroms. Which may have led to you asking “what do the cats represent in An American Tail?”. Well – now you know!
A Boat Full of Dreams (and Stereotypes)
With their homes destroyed and their rodent hearts full of hope, the family, along with many others, set sail for the safety of the shores of America. On the boat we are introduced to an Irish mouse who lost his one true love to the belly of a cat. Similar stories are heard from an Italian passenger and one of less obvious nationality that speaks in a Spanish language and accent. This is the first time we are introduced to other cultures that also faced struggles or persecution in the 1800s and fled into the arms of Lady Liberty, with hopes and dreams of a better life with no persecution (cats).
While the characters are not deeply offensive with their stereotypical features (especially for the 1980s), it does lean into the form of American media, focused on the characterisation of immigrants, that was circulating at the time. It also let us know, as the viewing children, where these mice originated from in a clear way. As an adult you can see that the boat scene, in the form of an incredibly catchy song, was subliminally educating us that these nationalities of mice (and people) were also likely to be immigrants to America in the period the film was set in.
It’s a history lesson… but, like, hidden.
A Name Left at the Dock?
Let’s skim over the discussion of Fievel’s traumatic departure from the boat. As a child, we watched as he simply wanted to explore, see those fish and got tragically washed away. As an adult, and a parent, I watched a child mouse frustratingly and recklessly disobey his parents until he gets predictably washed away by the waves. But… that aside, the family have all reached America, albeit separately and using different arrival methods. Perhaps echoing that some families were separated by the decision to leave their homes or that some immigrants arrived by boat and some in less official ways, like floating to shore in a tiny bottle you got washed into during a storm.
Upon reaching America, the mice are ushered into their own version of Ellis Island. The humans on the floor above can be seen passing through various health and legal checks. At the main desk we can hear an immigrant giving his original family name and the clerk, whilst stamping the man’s papers, replies “Welcome to America, Mr Smith.”. Back with the mice, we witness this happening again with Tonya asking her parents why her name has been changed to ‘Tilly’. Fievel is later changed to ‘Filly’.
There are a few other pieces of media that show the same concept of the country of entry forcing a new identity on immigrants, including popular films such as The Godfather II. In many cases it is shown as an attempt to erase cultural differences and ensure the immigrants behave in the way the country and its inhabitants expects. However, historians and immigration scholars have since clarified that this myth is most likely not true and that immigrants changed their names themselves to try and leave their past behind or blend into the new country more successfully and gain employment, hopefully without discrimination. Whilst the change may not have been force upon them by officials, it is still heart wrenching to witness the families leaving their heritage behind as a desperate attempt to ‘fit in’.
While this section has been brief, it is a large part of cultural history that is often under-discussed. Therefore, more resources on this topic will be linked below for those wishing to learn more!
The Cats in America
So, they’ve made their journey, and their land of hopes and dreams is finally a reality. But what is the reality? America was sold to many immigrants as the golden land of opportunity. The land of dreams, where anyone can be anything if you just work for it.
But for many, the land was full of poverty, exploitation, prejudice and overcrowding. While the film was already considered dark and gritty for an animation, if Bluth and Spielberg had made the film historically realistic it could have looked even more so. In more populated areas, especially closer to the docks, low-paying and dangerous jobs would be given to the mice, even to the children of the family, Tonya and Fievel. The Mousekewitz family, as well as the Italian and Irish mice off the boat would have faced deep social discriminations, maybe even violence, and the family would have been forced to live in poverty in an overcrowded tenement building, with very low sanitary standards.
In short, there were cats in America after all.
An Educational Mouse
There are many teachers, parents and others out there that use An American Tail as an educational tool. To introduce the concept of immigration to America in this era in general, but also as an historical aid for lessons on the history of the Jewish peoples. For just a small example, the previously mentioned name changes at Ellis Island, whether voluntary or not, and the loss of what this symbolised is still felt keenly by Jewish descendants today. An American Tail honours and recognises this often overlooked trauma in a child-friendly way that can open further discussions and learning topics. Sarah Buchlaw, for TC Jewfolk, wrote that the movie “does not sugar-coat the Jewish immigration story. It’s very honest about what it looks like to be a new Jewish immigrant in the 1800s.”, showing that while the movie wraps it all in a cute child-sized capsule, the history lesson inside is as real as a four-hour documentary aimed at adults or any lesson taught in school.
But of course, we weren’t at school! We were just kids sitting in our 1990’s homes singing along to Somewhere Out There. Weren’t we?
Want more Fievel? Try this..
An American Tail Frequently Answered Questions
Find answers to the internet’s most frequently asked questions regarding the An American Tail franchise.
Further Reading & Resources
- New York Public Library. Name Changes at Ellis Island. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/07/02/name-changes-ellis-island
- TC Jewfolk. Buchlaw, Sarah. An American Tail is Not a Children’s Story – It’s the Immigrant’s Story. https://tcjewfolk.com/2023/06/09/an-american-tail-is-not-a-childrens-story-its-the-immigrants-story/
- Hey Alma. Weil, Abigail. Revisiting ‘An American Tail,’ a Deeply Jewish Immigration Story. https://www.heyalma.com/revisiting-an-american-tail-a-deeply-jewish-immigration-story
- Box Office for An American Tail (1986). https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0090633/
- Pogrom information https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/pogroms
- Storm Centre for Jewish Studies https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/who-are-jews-jewish-history-origins-antisemitism/
- Immigration information https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/rise-of-industrial-america-1876-1900/immigration-to-united-states-1851-1900/
Feature image of Fievel sourced from PNGKey.com, for non-commercial editorial use only.
Something amiss in the article or a link that you think the article would benefit from? Get in touch!
