For Father's Day, I would like to share how two Disney characters, Goofy and Geppetto, have many things in common. Well, let me count the ways...
1) They are both fathers (bungling, at that).
They are both good fathers, if somewhat bungling. Goofy in particular has been doing this for quite a while! Geppetto, meanwhile, does several multiple takes before discovering the truth about Pinocchio (first when he really is alive, then while he is busy catching fish inside Monstro, and finally before he realizes that Pinocchio, is not only alive, but also a real boy).
2) Their respective sons save them from demise.
Max saves Goofy's life on several occasions (such as from a mountain lion and, many years later, from going over a waterfall). Pinocchio, meanwhile, bravely and unselfishly helps Geppetto ashore and save them both from Monstro's wrath.
3) They both like to fish.
One of Goofy's very first solo cartoons,
Goofy and Wilbur, has him out on a fishing excursion with a grasshopper named Wilbur. One of his how-to shorts was also on fishing, appropriately entitled
How To Fish, and finally, Goofy tries to take Max on a fishing trip to Lake Destiny, Idaho (even though it doesn't turn out that way). As for Geppetto, starving in the belly of a whale, he caught fish that the latter swallowed to stave off the effects of starvation a little while longer. As Pinocchio is also swept up in the school of tuna thus caught by the whale, Pinocchio is also reunited with his father in this way.
4) They were both drawn the same animator.
Disney Legend Art Babbitt was the original animator for Goofy, starting in 1936's
Moving Day, and he was the primary animator for Geppetto in
Pinocchio. Babbitt helped shape Goofy in particular from an incidental character into a true Disney star; his bumbling nature was now due in part to "[thinking] long and hard before doing anything - and then he did it wrong." Babbitt also thought that
Pinocchio was among Disney's best in its original golden age.
5) They were both swallowed by whales.
In Goofy's case, it was accidental. In
The Whalers, he, Mickey and Donald are on a whaling expedition in icy Arctic waters, but Goofy winds up inside the belly of the whale in question. And when he lights a match to shed some light on his predicament, the smoke causes the whale to cough, which in turn causes Goofy to lose his balance. All of this was likely a deliberate preparation for the iconic whale scene in
Pinocchio, which also involves light a fire to provoke a reaction from the whale to escape.
6) In the same game(s), they meet - and in the same place!
In the original
Kingdom Hearts, and its first sequel
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Goofy and Geppetto meet - oddly enough, again, in a whale!
And finally, 7) I, the creator of this blog, cosplayed as both of them!
At the last D23 and 2015's MouseCon (a local Disney convention), I cosplayed as Goofy. For the 2016 MouseCon, I cosplayed as Geppetto and will be cosplaying as Geppetto again for this year's D23. I can hardly wait!
As you can see, Goofy and Geppetto have a lot in common: they're both fathers, they both like to fish, and, oddly enough, they were both swallowed by whales! Happy Father's Day, and I look forward to D23!
P.S., you should check out this blog on Art Babbitt, animator on these two characters, it's great:
https://babbittblog.com/.
