Because in the fantasy world created by Walt Disney, the main characters – like Mickey, Donald and Goofy – are animals that behave like human beings. Therefore, these protagonists can talk, wear clothes, drive cars and even have pets (just remember that Pluto is Mickey’s dog, a mouse). In comic books, this similarity between men and animals has generated some unusual situations. “Mickey, for example, has appeared hunting ducks even though he is a friend of Donald. And Horácio, who is a horse with human habits, participated in a plot riding a horse. In cartoons, this type of character represents a caricature of the human being, a compromise between man and animal”, says journalist Roberto Elísio dos Santos, professor at Centro Universitário Municipal de São Caetano do Sul (SP). But the Disney stars didn’t open the gallery of talking animals.
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The first gossips of the animal world appeared in several fables from the 6th century BC. In the form of comics, they appeared in 1895, with the stories of the Little Bear, a character created by the American James Swinnerton. The clumsy Goofy debuted in a 1932 cartoon, Mickey’s Revue, keeping company with Mickey and Donald. At that time, he was still called Dippy Dawg. The current baptism only took place in 1934, when he started to answer by the name of Goofy, in English. Even with the immediate approval of the public, the fun character only reached stardom with his first feature film in theaters, Goofy and Wilbur, in 1939. Pluto, on the other hand, was just a nameless dog in The Chain Gang, his debut cartoon, 1930. Despite the discreet beginning, fame came in the same year, when the puppy was adopted by Minnie and soon after became Mickey’s inseparable companion.