Disney and the Planets

You can think of Neil deGrasse Tyson as the Carl Sagan of the 21st century—as long as you envision a Sagan who’s muscular, African American and as cool as his predecessor was geeky. While Sagan used to appear on the Tonight Show to chat professorially with Johnny Carson, Tyson trades quips with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. And you can hardly imagine Sagan’s being named Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive by PEOPLE magazine (Tyson got the nod in 2000) or declaring, as Tyson once did, that in high school “I was a nerd who could kick your butt.” (Time 100, 2007)

So when Neil DeGrasse Tyson talks about astronomy, we should listen. (And when purists complain that he is “popularizing” science – which means he is making it interesting and understandable – we have to point out that in the face of massive scientific ignorance, a little popularity is a great thing.)

In his new book The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet Tyson writes about the massive public backlash to his claims that Pluto is not a planet, but is instead something else.

The popularity of Pluto, discovered in 1930, and the reaction to its planetary demotion, is based, says Tyson, on the decision of Disney to name Mickey Mouse’s dog after the former planet. According to Tyson, the rest of the world could care less about this controversy. Just one more example of how Disney has woven itself so tightly into the American fabric.

Astronomy aside, this opens the door to questions of equal seriousness. There are two dogs in Mickey Mouse’s universe. Pluto is Mickey’s faithful pet dog. Goofy is Mickey’s dog friend.

How is it possible that the same species can play such different roles? Or are the roles so different? Is Disney telling us that a dog is a mouse’s best friend and that a mouse’s friend can also be a dog? Should the planet have been named Goofy instead of Pluto (which may better describe its celestial behavior)? Would Tyson have been so quick to downgrade a planet named Goofy?

What does it all mean? I’m not sure. Maybe in the end, this is a job for an astrophysicist.