This was initially in the tags of the post about Mickey being under disney's thumb but I'm making it its own post because it turns out I have more to say about how Oswald fits into the whole thing
Initially Oswald has a very idealised mental image of the company. It's not his fault, for decades all he's seen spilling down into Wasteland is scraps of disney's fame, forgotten articles showcasing their success, the status and fame Mickey gets from being their mascot. So when he finally regains a heart and makes it out of Wasteland there's this shine in his eyes and a pep in his step, because disney's light seemed so bright from the shadows of wasteland and he finally has a chance to have that spotlight on him for once. He craves the spotlight. He was drawn for it
And Mickey knows how awful the company has become, he's well aware the higher ups don't care about anything except making more money, but he sees Oswald's excitement about returning to work and he can't crush that. He just can't. He has to keep that light in his eyes. He does this with every new toon that enters disney's ranks, and he fails more often than not, eventually they catch onto the reality of working for disney one way or another, but he tries anyway, every single time, and he has to try even harder now, because that's his brother and Mickey will never forgive himself if he shatters his brother's dreams. He finds himself battling with the executives more often than usual, desperate to get Oswald back on the screen, and he alters and adjusts and refines his pitches when he gets shot down, because there's still some stubbornness left in him, and he's going to outlast everyone here anyway, the higher ups are in control but they change and retire and leave and hire other people, and Mickey is here forever, he has to be careful but that doesn't mean he's going to stop looking for the weak link in the chain that will let him get his way. And if he has to make personal sacrifices to make that happen, if he has a few sleepless nights, if he has to stop battling for a different project he was hoping to get greenlit, so be it
And Oswald still visits Wasteland, most of his friends are there, and Mickey tags along too because he likes Wasteland, and also it's the best way to get away from disney for a while. He offhandedly makes a comment on day three about how nice it is to not have cameras in his house and how he loves how private it is, and fails to notice the way Oswald freezes. He doesn't think anything of it when Oswald pries for more details; of course he has cameras in his house at home, disney want to know if anything funny happens that would make a good cartoon. No, it doesn't matter that he's off the clock. He has to uphold disney's standards, anything else would be inappropriate for him. The only space of his own that doesn't have cameras is his dressing room. Oswald doesn't need to worry, though! His home won't have any cameras! Mickey's only does because he's the mascot, and they need to make sure he's doing his job
It's the biggest crack in Oswald's worldview, and once it starts, it doesn't stop. Mickey hurts himself putting on a show in Wasteland and is surprised when he's pulled off the stage to get his injury treated. Two weeks later they're back at disney and a float accidentally runs over his tail, and he's on stage ten minutes later, smiling and dancing and swinging his injured tail like nothing is wrong. He faints during rehearsal for a show because he didn't have enough time to eat, and the staff move with startling efficiency, like this has happened before. He invites Oswald over, and all of a sudden it's easy to see how he acts like he's still on stage, unconsciously angling himself to provide the best view for the hidden cameras, still talking like he's in a cartoon, sliding on a mask the way he never does when he's in Wasteland. Mickey doesn't even seem to realise he's doing it
Because like... I feel like Mickey knows on some level the way he's treated is wrong. He knows it's unfair, he gets frustrated about it, he wishes disney would get off his back so he could have room to breathe. But at the same time this has been happening for decades, and he's grown used to it, so he no longer recognises quite how bad it is. The cameras in his house are annoying, he doesn't like that he only has true privacy in his dressing room, he's well aware the real reason for the cameras is to keep his behaviour in line with what the company expects from him even when he's off set. But that's just the price he has to pay as the mascot. Yes, it would be better if his schedule wasn't so tight and he could always find time to sit down and eat so he doesn't faint, but he's the mascot, of course his schedule is busy. He would like to take time off when he's injured during a show, of course he would, but that would ruin the magic, and as the mascot, he can't be responsible for ruining the magic, how would that reflect on the company? Especially when the human employees are treated similarly. It wouldn't be right to get special treatment, especially when his body is more durable than theirs. Anything bad that happens to him that doesn't happen to other toons is just because he's the mascot, and it sucks sometimes, but that's just what a mascot has to do. The depths of disney's horrific treatment just doesn't register for him anymore. His friends have a better idea of just how bad it is, but they're helpless to do anything, and they've been boiling in the same pot as him, so even they struggle to see it all in a clear light
Except Oswald was a major star, too. He knows what it's like to be one. He knows the drill. And he hasn't been boiling in the same pot as everyone else. So when Mickey works overtime one too many nights in a row, he notices. When Mickey's schedule is bursting at the seams and leaving him no time for himself, he notices. When he stumbles out of board meetings trying to hide his exhaustion from arguing with executives that talk down to him, he notices
The more Mickey tries to maintain the magic for Oswald, the more the illusion shatters for him instead, because he knows what he's looking for. He knows what he should be seeing, and he isn't seeing it. And the more the illusion shatters, the worse he feels, the angrier he feels, because disney is hurting his little brother, and there's nothing he can do about it. He can't fight this off. He can't protect Mickey from this. He knows exactly how messed up disney's treatment of Mickey is, but he doesn't have enough power to do anything about it
He thinks about how he sat on the couch with Ortensia and bawled into her shoulder after the Blot was defeated and she came back to him. He thinks about what it would be like to have cameras in his house in that moment, and have strangers watch him in such an exposed and vulnerable state to make sure he's behaving the way they think he should. He feels sick
Oswald's position in the company is weird. Not many people know his name, they don't seem interested in giving him a show, but he's allowed to do meet and greets at one of the parks, he gets merch sometimes, they act like he should be important even though he isn't. The lack of screen time is initially infuriating, but the more he sees disney mistreat Mickey, the less he finds himself caring. So Oswald steps in when Mickey collapses during rehearsal, Oswald brings Mickey to Wasteland when his schedule leaves him sleepless, Oswald pulls Mickey away from that last-minute meeting the executives try to drag him into, because what are disney going to do to him? Cancel a show he doesn't have? Give him a show and then take it away again, like he cares about that more than he cares about his brother? They can't send him back to Universal, not after all the public fuss they made about getting his rights back, that wouldn't look good, and he won't fade from existence if he's forgotten again, he'll just go back to Wasteland. He doesn't have much power in the company, but the company doesn't have much power over him, either
Oswald isn't the star anymore, and he doesn't have the status Mickey's name does, but he still remembers how to play the game. It isn't enough, he's painfully aware it isn't enough, but it's all he can do. Little gestures to make Mickey's life easier while he tries to figure out a solution
And if Mickey ever reaches a breaking point, and if he ever needs somewhere safe to have that breaking point... Wasteland's doors are always open. If Oswald can do nothing else, he can give Mickey somewhere safe to run to if he needs it. Somewhere Disney can't touch, where Oswald's word is law, where the cameras only point at the stage and the show stops if someone gets hurt
Mickey won't ever walk away from disney. He can't. He was drawn for the spotlight the same way Oswald was, and to ask a toon to walk away from that is to ask them to deny their purpose
That isn't going to stop Oswald from carving an escape route for him should he ever need it
