Seeing I 2 I: The Transformative Conflict Resolution of A Goofy Movie (1995)
Note: In 2017, as part of a graduate-level Conflict Mediation class, I was asked to analyze a long-standing conflict between two parties. The rules of the assignment stated that the conflict could be fictional, coming from film or TV. So of course I chose my all-time favorite film, A Goofy Movie.
This is the paper I turned in, in its entirety. It has not been edited except to add pictures and additional paragraph breaks for Medium.
The struggle to achieve understanding between fathers and their teenage sons is a well-documented phenomenon reaching back generations. It’s a conflict rooted in psychological and societal ramifications, propagated by unreasonable concepts of masculinity and exacerbated by an obsession with virility and a general view of compromise as weakness. The son challenging his father is portrayed as a “rite of passage” in most media. It’s romanticized as a metaphor for the physical and ideological threat that the old guard sense from the newer generations they raised.
But it’s not always a physical confrontation, and in many depictions, the conflict is portrayed somewhat more accurately as a continuous misunderstanding between two parties who generally love one another otherwise. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, the “family film” genre was teeming with examples of these stories, and the trope of “smart-alecky kid learns to get along with uncool dad/step-dad” practically evolved into its own sub-genre. (Part of this may have stemmed from an attempt to evoke the more saccharine works of Steven Spielberg, whose films frequently revolved around a theme of “daddy issues.”) Of all the films from that era which addressed that trope, none approached it in a manner more empathetic and more indicative of transformative conflict resolution than 1995’s output from Disneytoon Studios — A Goofy Movie.
The primary issue presented in A Goofy Movie is familiar and simple enough on the surface — a father wants to take his son on a trip which the son has no interest in — but the movie is clever enough to explain both parties’ misunderstandings of one another as well as their respective weaknesses. This is done both overtly in dialogue but also in smaller, more subtle moments which explore the father and son dynamic and allude to longstanding issues and emotions which have been building long before the conflict depicted in the film began.
The backstory, for context: Goofy P. Goof (and yes, we are referring to Mickey Mouse’s friend) is a single father raising his teenage son Max, who is full of all the insecurities a teenage boy can have, coupled with the fact that his father’s famously clumsy reputation makes him an easy target for teasing. Max pulls a class prank on the last day of school before summer vacation, hoping to become more popular with his peer group and to impress Roxanne, his crush.
It works, but it also lands him in some trouble with the school principal, who grossly exaggerates the extent of Max’s transgressions when he reports it to the beleaguered and confused Goofy. Fearing for his son’s future, Goofy plans to re-connect with Max by taking him on a road trip to Lake Destiny, Idaho, where Goofy would go fishing with his own father when he was a boy. Max, embarrassed by spending time with his father, isn’t interested in this trip at all, preferring to stay home so he can go on a date with Roxanne. This is where the conflict begins.
The state of weakness each Goof is in first becomes clear in the scene where Max returns home riding on the high of social acceptance which came from his successful prank, only to find his father in the driveway, packing the car for the unexpected road trip. Max immediately steadfastly refuses to go on the trip, so Goofy attempts to passive-aggressively guilt him into coming along by faking sad and moaning “Guess I’ll just have to go all alone, then. Sit all alone on the boat and talk to myself.” When this doesn’t work, Goofy demands Max get in the car, and Max responds by slamming the passenger-side car door shut. The two open and close the car door rapidly, adding a level of physicality to their heightened tensions, until finally Goofy forces Max into the car and physically restrains him with the seatbelt.
Although Goofy’s primary motivation stems from concern for his son’s well-being, it doesn’t take long to discover that his own self-absorption and obsession with recreating his own childhood relationship he had with his father are keeping him from effectively addressing Max’s issues. In planning, Goofy insists on hitting all the same attractions, seeing all the same sights, and doing all the same things he did when he was Max’s age. He even bestows his old fishing rod on Max, who does not see this as the great honor that Goofy believes it is.
When Max tries to explain that he can’t go on the trip because he has a party to go to, Goofy shuts him down quickly, explaining “There’ll be plenty of time for parties when you’re older. Why, when I was your age, I’d never even been invited to a party!” A lot of the conflict stems from Goofy’s weakness in the form of fear for his son as well as his self-absorption which manifests itself in Goofy’s belief that Max needs to take the same path he did growing up: that any diversion from that route will send Max down the wrong path and eventually into prison.
Max, of course, fears becoming his father, which is a common concern of many young men. The first scene of the film is a dream sequence depicting this literally happening as part of Max’s nightmare. At the point in the film where Max is forced into the car, his weakness comes out of his mass insecurities and how closed-minded he is to seeing his father as a human being (or rather, as a dog-person-being). The film also occasionally indicates that the legacy of the Goof name is a source of teasing for Max. In the film’s opening number, Max sings “They’ve been laughing since I can’t remember/ But they’re not gonna laugh anymore/ No more ‘Maxie the Geek’/ no more ‘Goof of the Week’/like before.” In the same song, he searches for “positive proof/that I’m not ‘just a Goof’”.
Max’s weakness also comes from an inner confusion as he seeks to establish his own identity, which obviously clashes with Goofy’s desire to have Max follow in the footsteps of his own youth. This is the root cause of the conflicting weaknesses. There are two negative dynamics at play here, and they continue to feed into each other to create a vicious circle wherein the harder Goofy tries to impose on Max, the angrier Max’s resistance becomes.
A recurring motif of this film revolves around shifting which character has control of Goofy’s fabled map, the one he and his father used on their road trips. At first, Goofy insists on making all the same stops that he and his father did, which eventually pushes Max to the limit of his temper. When Max has had enough of being embarrassed by his father and being dragged to attractions he has no interest in, he explodes in anger at Goofy.
A few scenes later, the two are trapped in a car by a woodland creature who may or may not be Bigfoot, and for the first time they are given an opportunity to apologize to each other. They try to get the words out, but each of them talks over the other several times until it becomes so frustrating that they each succumb to their weaknesses and give up. Our first sign of transformation occurs in this scene, though, and it’s Max who offers the first step forward.
As Goofy serves some alphabet soup from a thermos, he reminisces about what he calls “Hi Dad soup”, a game that Max would play as a child where he would spell out small words with his alphabet noodles. The examples Goofy gives are “Hi Dad”, “Bye Bye” and “I Love You”, and with this last example, both of the Goofs fall silent and become uncomfortable, as the audience realizes those words haven’t been said around the Goof household for some time. Recognizing how upset Goofy is, Max makes a small attempt at reconciliation. As Goofy rolls over and begins to sleep, Max taps him on the shoulder and hands him the remaining soup in his cup. The letters spell out “Hi Dad”.
A few scenes later, we get a major sign of transformation occurs as Goofy concedes some of his power to Max. Making a grand announcement in the diner of a truck stop, Goofy relinquishes navigational control of the journey and hands the map over to Max, informing Max that he can pick out all the stops along the way to the lake. “I’m not even going to look at the map from now on!” he exclaims, which works to Max’s benefit for reasons we’ll cover later.
This is an example of literal empowerment, as Goofy is bestowing Max with a new sense of power and ability which he previously did not possess, along with a new resource in the form of the map. But Goofy also sprinkles in a handful of recognition, beginning his monologue by playfully telling Max “it’s time you took some responsibility around here” and closing by saying “you’ve earned this” to Max as he officially hands the map over.
We’re then treated to a fun montage of Max’s choices set to some extremely upbeat music, which include waterskiing, an amusement park, and a monster truck rally. (This is also an excellent time for the film to interject some of the physical comedy the Goofy character is known for.) During this montage, we see that Goofy doesn’t exactly enjoy these events. The amusement park makes him sick and the monster trucks hurt his ears, but like a good father, he is trying to enjoy it for Max’s sake. Max also recognizes this, and decides to surprise his father with a stop he’ll enjoy: a side trip to the world’s largest ball of yarn. In a transformative moment, both parties are trying to do things which make the other happy.
However, this is a movie, and the conflict can’t resolve itself so naturally and easily — there must be a backslide, something must happen to revert these two to their weakened state so that the conflict can fully resolve itself in a more entertaining and dramatic fashion. In this case, the issues are exacerbated by some major lies that Max tells in moments of weakness and embarrassment. First, unwilling to tell Roxanne the real reason he can’t go to the party with her, Max makes up a story about how his dad is good friends with the rock star Powerline — a fictional musician who can best be described as a cartoon hybrid of Prince and Michael Jackson but from the future.
He goes on to say that he and Goofy are going to Los Angeles to be on stage with Powerline for the big concert that’s going to be broadcast on TV. Obviously, Max has no way to follow through on this lie, but he gets an opportunity between the “Hi Dad” soup and navigator assignment scenes, where he’s left alone with Goofy’s map and decides to change the route from Lake Destiny to Los Angeles. (Max does not have great foresight throughout this film.)
Eventually, Goofy is clued in on Max’s betrayal but doesn’t want to believe it, placing him in a state of confusion and frustration. Here, his weakness comes from his suspiciousness. The conflict comes to a head in the film’s “junction” scene, where Goofy and Max are driving down the highway and approach a crucial divide in the highway — going left takes them to California, going right takes them to Lake Destiny, Idaho. Goofy challenges Max, asking him which direction to turn, repeating the phrase “Left or Right” hoping to get confirmation of Max’s intentions. Max stalls for the scene, unsure of what to say, then finally chooses “left” at the last second.
Feeling betrayed and angry, Goofy pulls the car over to the side of the road and gets out of the car, shutting down all communication. Max attempts to explain the situation, but Goofy is not interested in hearing what he has to say. The two of them are quickly forced to communicate, however, because Goofy’s fit of anger made him forget to engage the car’s emergency brake, and it begins to roll down the hill and over a cliff, with the Goofs chasing after it. As the Goofs careen into the river filling the canyon below, Max yells that Goofy should have let him stay at home, and Goofy counters “Why? So you could end up in prison”?
He goes on to explain the call he received from Max’s principal, and how angry he is that Max lied to him. Max tells him that the call from the principal was not what it sounded like, and that he had to lie to Goofy. “You were ruining my life!” Max argues. Goofy says he was just trying to take his boy fishing, and Max delivers the classic teenage refrain of “I’m not your little boy anymore! I’m grown up! I have my own life now.” Goofy’s response is key for the transformation part of this conflict. He responds back with a desperate “I know that! I just wanted to be a part of it!”
From this point on, the conversation takes a very different tone. There’s a long pause where the two Goofs look at opposite sides of the car — which is now floating down a river with Max and Goofy on the roof — and collect their thoughts. Finally, the two get to sing a song where they recognize each other’s strengths and how much they appreciate each other. It should be noted that the two are now singing together in a true duet fashion, whereas their earlier songs featured them singing lyrics over each other, each not acknowledging the other’s part. Max, now aware that his father acknowledges him as person who is growing up, becomes more comfortable explaining the situation to Goofy. He explains the situation with Roxanne, comes clean about the lie, and tells Goofy about the Powerline concert. Goofy’s immediate response is surprising — he declares that there’s only one thing to do: Get Max to the Powerline show. (One gets the hint that because of Goofy’s optimistic nature, this is what he would have done back at the beginning of the trip had Max been honest with him then.)
The film pulls a bit of cartoon magic here and ignores how exactly the Goofs get out of the river and get to Los Angeles, but in the next scene, they’re sneaking backstage at the Powerline show trying to get Max onstage. Meanwhile, Powerline himself is onstage singing a song called “I2I”, whose endearingly cheesy lyrics just happen to be about conflict resolution and sum up the main themes of the movie: “If we listen to each other’s hearts/We’ll find we’re never too far apart/And maybe Love is the reason why/For the first time ever, we’re seeing things eye to eye.”
As an aside, Max does eventually tell Roxanne that he was lying about the concert in the beginning, and this leads to a happy and satisfying conclusion, but the conflict was never about the two of them — it was always about Goofy and Max. That’s why the last moments of the film feature Max actively removing the barriers he’s set up in his social life to keep Goofy out, by introducing his dad to Roxanne.
At the beginning of Max and Goofy’s journey together, the two of them were equally self-absorbed and reluctant to step into the other’s frame of mind. There’s an unhealthy cycle where Goofy, feeling that he has lost control over his place in his son’s life, is pushing Max into situations Max doesn’t want to be in. Max retaliates by keeping more information from Goofy and being even less willing to try to appreciate the activities his father likes, because they are being thrust upon him.
It isn’t until the two of them recognize the effort that each of them is willing to put forward that any transformational progress can be made. Goofy must accept that Max is growing up and gaining his own sense of empowerment, and Max must learn to recognize his father’s good intentions. In doing so, and by following through on these developments with a series of physical actions, the two of them shift into a more positive cycle of behaviors. Goofy’s recognition of Max’s independence is rewarded by Max’s shift away from self-absorption and willingness to let Goofy into his life. For the first time ever, the two of them are seeing things eye to eye.
