Actually, I think it just reminds us how sanitized and politically correct our literature today has become; and conversely, how straightforward it was then. Look at the traditional Looney Tunes. They had "comic violence" and black-and-white ideas. How many times does an anvil fall on someone? And how many people over 30 know what an anvil is exactly because of comic violence.
Mickey came to his senses and the moral of the story (not much different than the sentiment of "It's a Wonderful Life," which came from the same time period, also about a person considering suicide but finding that his life has meaning and that it would be crazy to have done it) was in tact. It just was not sanitized like so many "children's" programs are today... which to me has its own problems.
Sometimes I think we have lost something in the way that we approach "children's" programs in making them so squeeky-clean and avoiding real life issues. I sometimes think of The Little Rascals and The Three Stooges. The Rascals ("Our Gang" comedies) featured little kids in comic adventures dealing with their world -- scars and all sometimes. Not suicide that I can remember, but certainly poverty and depression -- and even fire crackers! It was the '30s, and they had different races playing with each other honestly. And of course, the Stooges were always being politically incorrect in the way that they beat upon each other (more anvils).
I guess my point is that we have come a long way, and that is good in may ways; but sometimes it is instructive to see how other generations grew kids with strength and fortitude without such sanitized children's programming and literature.
It's been said that those who know the underground stuff behind a lot of Disney certainly view the company differently than we do as a fan base. But suicide is pushing it a bit. Not funny, Mickey.
