Last night someone was streaming Steamboat Willie on Twitch, with captions in the sidebar winkingly gloating “This is completely legal! I am profiting off of Steamboat Willie without Disney’s permission!”

I was amused. And then as I watched, it started to feel kind of beautiful. We’re now free to do what we want with Steamboat Willie, yes. But in another sense, it's free too now. No longer a product, this little cartoon that changed the world is now just a part of our history and our culture, the water we swim in, as it has been and as it should’ve been for so long.