(no subject)

[tanaise]

I had a very good walk in to work. I was humming this song, which has a line, "Like Michael Jackson in Disneyland/don't want to share with nobody else/Lock the gate Goofy, take my hand" and so when I called Andrea, I asked her why Goofy is a human and Pluto isn't. She couldn't talk, cause she had to go meet with her boss, but she said she would ask.

So I hung up, and kept walking, and enjoying the weather and light, and all that, and ended up walking for a bit approximately along with a cute boy in jeans and an ironed white shirt, which was a very nice look. (Oh, which would mean from the wrinkles on the butt that he'd been on the metro, even though by the time I'd seen him he was walking through the park and down Newbury.)

And as I'm walking along again, I get a call, and not only is it Andrea, but I'm on speakerphone in her boss's office, to discuss with them if Goofy could be a Mog, like Barf in Spaceballs. (Answer: No.) But this also brought up other issues like, if Donald and Daffy go to the park, do they feed the ducks? And are there other bunnies than just Bugs? (Answer: Also no. He is the pinnacle of rabbit evolution, and all others were destroyed. But that doesn't explain Thumper.) And how come there are no cat characters (anthropomorphic or pet) in those cartoons?

EDIT (from the comments):

I think perhaps my main issue is--and I presented it badly up above and then complicated it with bad details--there are animals which are animals, and animals which are almost human. And that's true in all the movies and such: there will be talking mice and real birds in the same movie, with no cares. But it seems to be an all or nothing deal, in general--they're all talking or none of them are.

So the question is, when and where are the exceptions from that? In my recollection the only time (or possibly just the most obvious time) is with Goofy and Pluto. (Perhaps the cats in Pinochio) Are there others? Am I just forgetting them?

And! Do the two ever interact? I'm vaguely remembering Tom/Jerry cartoons with fake mice, but they were fake anthropomorphic mice, not animal type. Do the Anthro. Mice ever interact with the animal mice, or wonder why they're Anthro and the others aren't?

Comments

[hominysnark.livejournal.com]

And how come there are no cat characters (anthropomorphic or pet) in those cartoons?

What about Tom, of Tom and Jerry?

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

see, there either are anthropomorphic cats or there aren't. Likewise with most of the other animals--the only animals where there seem to be *both* are Goofy and Pluto.

[wolfshaman.livejournal.com]

What about Sylvester the cat? He was always chasing Tweety.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

But he's not Disney. The only disney cats we could think of were the Aristocats and All Dogs go to Heaven.

[wolfshaman.livejournal.com]

Their was the evil cat in Cinderella that chased the mice. Maybe Disney hated cats?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Gepetto has a pet cat. From Pinocchio, I mean, but the spelling is looking very wrong.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

hmm. Good point but (other than the byos who are turned into Donkeys) and Jimmny Cricket, there aren't really any anthropomorphic animals in the movie, so it's not really the same lines.

And hey! How come the mice in Cinderella are, but the birds aren't?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

There are, too. The beings who tempt the boys to the island where they become donkeys are a cat and...um...a fox? I don't know. But they're animals for sure.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

You clearly watched it more, and more recently than me.

I think perhaps my main issue is--and I presented it badly up above and then complicated it with bad details--there are animals which are animals, and animals which are almost human. And that's true in all the movies and such: there will be talking mice and real birds in the same movie, with no cares. But it seems to be an all or nothing deal, in general--they're all talking or none of them are.

So the question is, when and where are the exceptions from that? In my recollection the only time (or possibly just the most obvious time is with Goofy and Pluto. (Perhaps the cats in Pinochio, since I clearly am not as good with that movie as you are.) Are there others? Am I just forgetting them (since clearly my memory of these things is lacking)?

And! Do the two ever interact? I'm vaguely remembering Tom/Jerry cartoons with fake mice, but they were fake anthropomorphic mice, not animal type. Do the Anthro. Mice ever interact with the animal mice, or wonder why they're Anthro and the others aren't?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think that size is sometimes (though not always) a distinguishing factor: often the talking animals are much, much larger than their mute cousins.

And then there's kind of an intermediate group, like the birds in Cinderella: they don't talk, but they behave much more purposefully than real-life birds.

But mostly I think it's a distressing thing in children's books when someone who can talk runs into someone who seems like him/herself and can't talk, and probably Disney doesn't want to cope.

[crowyhead.livejournal.com]

The whole Goofy/Pluto thing sort of strikes me as vaguely creepy. The only thing I can figure is that it's like Narnia, and there are regular dogs and Talking Dogs.

[antonstrout.livejournal.com]

This totally brings me back to Stand by Me:

Gordie: Mickey is a mouse, Donald is a duck, Pluto is a dog. What's Goofy...?
Teddy: He's a dog, he's definitely a dog...
Chris: He can't be a dog, he wears a hat and drives a car...
Vern: Yeah, that is weird. What the hell is Goofy?

[hawleygriffen.livejournal.com]

It's been a looong time since I watched it, but I'm sure there were cats in "Lady And The Tramp", just can't recall what kind. I assume anthropomorphic.

And I have a memory of some sort of movie or cartoon with Tom & Jerry, where mousey Jerry was in a big city, and fell down into an alleyway at one point, only to be confronted with the shadows of 'real' cats, but I could be remembering all wrong. However, that's not Disney, so kind of a mute point.