Tropescilloscope: Animal Motifs

The use of an animal/animals to underline a theme or make a statement about a character. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Anachronic Order Grey and Gray Morality Irony Costume Porn Trailers Always Spoil Historical Hero Upgrade folderlabel The Big Guy Light Is Not Good Evil Plan Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Reality Ensues Dirty Cop Good Is Not Nice Nice Guy Deadpan Snarker Card-Carrying Villain Book-Ends Slashed Throat Blackmail Not So Stoic Frame-Up Same Language Dub Bi the Way Shut Up, Hannibal! Epic Fail Bad "Bad Acting" Vomit Discretion Shot Badass Bookworm Adaptation Distillation German Films Rule of Symbolism Car Fu Soft Glass I Need a Freaking Drink Hypocritical Humor Well-Intentioned Extremist Laughing Mad Dies Wide Open Beware the Nice Ones Aluminum Christmas Trees Non-Indicative Name Facial Horror Cowboy Cop Dogged Nice Guy Paper-Thin Disguise Tempting Fate Military and Warfare Films No OSHA Compliance Villain Song Fingore Bullying a Dragon Chekhov's Skill Ghost Fiction You Killed My Father Your Head A-Splode Sassy Black Woman World of Ham Gainax Ending Heroes Want Redheads Off-into-the-Distance Ending The Film of the Book And Starring Dirty Old Man Cluster F-Bomb Bond Villain Stupidity Comically Missing the Point Sexy Discretion Shot You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Sinister Minister For the Evulz I'm a Humanitarian Danny Peary Cult Movies List Title Drop Mr. Exposition Ms. Fanservice For Want of a Nail Slasher Movie Random Events Plot Older Than They Look All Men Are Perverts The Casanova Eagleland Took a Level in Jerkass Villain Protagonist Four-Temperament Ensemble Redshirt Army Serious Business Shirtless Scene Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Chiaroscuro Happily Married O.O.C. Is Serious Business Not Even Bothering with the Accent Rape as Drama Hope Spot The Place Distracted by the Sexy Adult Fear Laser-Guided Karma Parental Substitute Hooker with a Heart of Gold Horror Comedy Once More, with Clarity! Sanity Slippage Fantasy Films Whole Plot Reference Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Unresolved Sexual Tension Superhero Jump Scare Sports Stories Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Suspiciously Specific Denial Intrepid Reporter The Ace There Is No Kill Like Overkill Disney Death Retcon Sacrificial Lion Informed Ability Defiant to the End Improvised Weapon Large Ham Running Gag Dark and Troubled Past Made of Iron The Dreaded Celebrity Paradox Sadistic Choice Affectionate Parody Homage Mind Screw Self-Deprecation Time Skip Early-Bird Cameo Psycho for Hire I Did What I Had to Do Dutch Angle Deus ex Machina Bavarian Fire Drill Outrun the Fireball Vacation Films Red Oni, Blue Oni Mexican Standoff Fantastic Racism Karma Houdini Not Quite Dead Abusive Parents Major Injury Underreaction Alas, Poor Villain Heel Realization The Mafia Scary Black Man Authority Equals Asskicking Jitter Cam Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Zombie Stories The Lost Lenore Double-Meaning Title Black Comedy Big Eater Does Not Like Shoes Loophole Abuse Unusual Euphemism Only One Name Tap on the Head What Happened to the Mouse? Never My Fault No Ending Real Life Writes the Plot Crazy-Prepared Madness Mantra Dark Reprise Would Hit a Girl Ass Shove Roaring Rampage of Revenge Twist Ending Corrupt Corporate Executive Riddle for the Ages Race Against the Clock Hong Kong Films Shell-Shocked Veteran Heel–Face Turn Black Dude Dies First Bottomless Magazines All There in the Script Man on Fire Drives Like Crazy Product Placement Greater-Scope Villain Black Best Friend Romantic False Lead Unwitting Instigator of Doom Recycled IN SPACE! Double Entendre Aside Glance Demoted to Extra Took a Level in Badass Obstructive Bureaucrat Overly Long Gag The '90s Fanservice Here We Go Again! Curse Cut Short Curb-Stomp Battle Dumb Blonde Mighty Whitey Captain Ersatz Stealth Hi/Bye Offscreen Teleportation Sole Survivor Woman Scorned Cassandra Truth Parental Abandonment Room Full of Crazy Pre-Mortem One-Liner "Well Done, Son!" Guy Our Vampires Are Different Call-Back Red Eyes, Take Warning 20 Minutes into the Future Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Dissonant Serenity Straight Gay Pragmatic Villainy Immune to Bullets Accidental Misnaming Only in It for the Money Pyrrhic Victory I Have Your Wife Never Trust a Trailer Those Wacky Nazis Big Brother Instinct Novelization He Knows Too Much Enemy Mine Peek-a-Boo Corpse Camp Gay Motor Mouth From Bad to Worse Naïve Newcomer Cain and Abel Suspiciously Similar Substitute The Chessmaster Friend to All Children The Lancer Gorn Toplessness from the Back Even Evil Has Loved Ones As Long as It Sounds Foreign Damsel in Distress What the Hell, Hero? Your Cheating Heart After the End Chekhov's Gun Not So Different Kids Are Cruel Children Are Innocent The Faceless Malevolent Masked Men Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Depraved Bisexual Implacable Man Mama Bear Belligerent Sexual Tension Famous Last Words Pay Evil unto Evil Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Mundane Made Awesome It's All About Me Groin Attack Wham Line He Who Fights Monsters The Oner Crapsack World Names to Run Away from Really Fast Gone Horribly Right Neck Lift Bare Your Midriff Important Haircut Anguished Declaration of Love The Mole Evil vs. Evil Adaptational Heroism Lock and Load Montage Even Evil Has Standards Music Stories Breaking the Fourth Wall NO INDOOR VOICE B-Movie Contrived Coincidence N-Word Privileges Bloodless Carnage Love Triangle Canadian Movies Precision F-Strike Death Seeker Epic Movie The '50s Sci-Fi Horror Break the Haughty As You Know Dark Is Not Evil Our Zombies Are Different You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Death by Sex Everyone Has Standards Wicked Cultured Together in Death Body Horror Spiritual Successor Rasputinian Death Meaningful Name My Greatest Failure Police Brutality Never Found the Body Stylistic Suck Extreme Doormat Token Minority French Films One Steve Limit Worthy Opponent Kubrick Stare Stuff Blowing Up Corpsing And the Adventure Continues Heterosexual Life-Partners Sir Swears-a-Lot My God, What Have I Done? Meet Cute Betty and Veronica Fainting Destination Defenestration Author Appeal Boom, Headshot! A.I. Is a Crapshoot Imagine Spot Anti-Villain Black Comedy Rape Batman Gambit Oh, Crap! Creative Closing Credits Catch-Phrase The Alcoholic Auto Erotica Evil Sounds Deep Adaptation Expansion Drill Sergeant Nasty Revenge Adults Are Useless Gold Digger Manchild Mercy Kill Only Known by Their Nickname Sequel Hook All Just a Dream Horror Films Big Damn Heroes Fake Shemp Apocalypse How Politically Incorrect Villain Disappeared Dad Dark Action Girl Badass Longcoat Serial Killer Red Herring The Hero Dies Actor Allusion Monumental Damage Fate Worse than Death Would Hurt a Child The '80s Dramatic Gun Cock Insane Troll Logic Undying Loyalty Russian Films Storming the Castle Bar Brawl Bait-and-Switch True Companions Male Gaze Unspoken Plan Guarantee The Un-Reveal Evil Is Hammy Big Fancy House Disguised in Drag Police are Useless Male Frontal Nudity Babies Ever After An Arm and a Leg Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! In Name Only La Résistance Cruel and Unusual Death Index of Film Westerns You Have Failed Me Creepy Child Adaptation Name Change Brutal Honesty Pimped-Out Dress Rated M for Manly "Awesome McCool" Name Expy The Ditz An Axe to Grind Amoral Attorney Composite Character Eye Scream Determinator The Stinger Really Gets Around Closed Circle Evil Is Petty No-Sell Break the Cutie Properly Paranoid Men Are the Expendable Gender Bald of Evil Refuge in Audacity Five-Man Band Anti-Hero Hollywood Law Vomit Indiscretion Shot Death of a Child Fun with Acronyms I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Blatant Lies Artistic License – Biology Fish out of Water Tranquil Fury Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Brother–Sister Incest Word of God Playing Gertrude Missing Mom Fatal Family Photo Scenery Gorn Expository Hairstyle Change Cat Fight Fat Bastard The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite It Can Think Not So Above It All Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Adapted Out An Aesop Documentary Historical Villain Upgrade Bolivian Army Ending Rewatch Bonus Mad Scientist Dressing as the Enemy The Chick Broken Pedestal Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Big "NO!" Bland-Name Product Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Works Set in World War II Pragmatic Adaptation War Is Hell Does This Remind You of Anything? Maybe Ever After Victoria's Secret Compartment Insistent Terminology The Dog Bites Back The Remake The Voiceless Eyepatch of Power All for Nothing One-Man Army Cool Shades Antagonist Title Ship Tease My Beloved Smother Bittersweet Ending Chekhov's Gunman Butt-Monkey Have a Gay Old Time Papa Wolf Unreliable Narrator Casting Gag The Hero Crazy Jealous Guy Conspicuous CG Naked People Are Funny Drowning My Sorrows Despair Event Horizon Skewed Priorities Heroic BSoD Evil Brit Domestic Abuse Chewing the Scenery Improbable Aiming Skills Due to the Dead Call-Forward Parental Incest Fan Disservice And I Must Scream Lighter and Softer Reality Is Unrealistic Small Name, Big Ego Did Not Get the Girl Shown Their Work Manic Pixie Dream Girl Unusually Uninteresting Sight Dwindling Party Anyone Can Die Attempted Rape Henpecked Husband The Load The Smurfette Principle Broken Aesop Chase Scene The '60s The Smart Guy Re-Cut Establishing Character Moment Truth in Television Half the Man He Used to Be Mr. Fanservice Fatal Flaw Australian Movies Show Within a Show Plot Hole The Power of Love Instant Death Bullet "Shaggy Dog" Story I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Vampire Fiction Too Dumb to Live Nice Hat Bloodier and Gorier Public Domain Feature Films Shout-Out Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Historical In-Joke Parental Neglect Action Girl Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Death by Adaptation Bowdlerise Face–Heel Turn Up to Eleven Back from the Dead Ungrateful Bastard Film Noir Index Foil Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Red Shirt Disney Villain Death Ambiguously Gay Rich Bitch Mythology Gag Bilingual Bonus Foregone Conclusion Deconstruction Artistic License – Military Silent Movie Match Cut Not What It Looks Like Alliterative Name In Medias Res Creator Cameo Last-Name Basis Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Captain Obvious Grievous Bottley Harm She Cleans Up Nicely Video Credits Villainous Breakdown Hair-Trigger Temper Freudian Excuse Dual Wielding Artistic License – Physics Brick Joke Gratuitous English Be Careful What You Wish For Real Life Face Death with Dignity Dramatic Irony Evil-Detecting Dog Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Mooks A God Am I Scenery Porn Badass in a Nice Suit Author Avatar Tagline Martial Arts Movie Actually Pretty Funny Beta Couple Based on a True Story Bad Boss Historical-Domain Character Woman in White Setting Update Totally Radical Obfuscating Stupidity Heroic Sacrifice As Himself Killed Mid-Sentence Interrupted Suicide Morality Pet Slasher Smile Final Girl Meaningful Echo Hate Sink Driven to Suicide Wounded Gazelle Gambit Action Prologue Film Series Framing Device Lampshade Hanging Ominous Latin Chanting Death Glare Ironic Echo Taking the Bullet Psychopathic Manchild Mistaken for Gay Rule of Funny Mood Whiplash The Bad Guy Wins Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Air-Vent Passageway Deliberately Monochrome No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Overprotective Dad Very Loosely Based on a True Story Exact Words Insult Backfire Badass Boast Diabolus ex Machina Calling the Old Man Out Beard of Evil Bound and Gagged Mugging the Monster May–December Romance Silence Is Golden Genre Throwback Exactly What It Says on the Tin Sealed Evil in a Can Logo Joke Bury Your Gays The '70s Slap-Slap-Kiss The Bully Cold-Blooded Torture The Musical Market-Based Title How We Got Here Scare Chord Science Fiction Films Only a Flesh Wound A Father to His Men Jerkass Has a Point Offscreen Moment of Awesome Manly Tears No Antagonist Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Better to Die than Be Killed Becoming the Mask Bloody Hilarious Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Award-Bait Song Wretched Hive One-Word Title Fiery Redhead Anachronism Stew Agony of the Feet Ax-Crazy Annoying Younger Sibling Dirty Coward Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Spared by the Adaptation Fire-Forged Friends Adaptational Attractiveness Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Artistic License – Law Karmic Death The Stoner Reckless Gun Usage Married to the Job In the Back Broken Bird Eureka Moment Every Car Is a Pinto Handicapped Badass Take a Third Option Hypocrite Jerkass Daylight Horror Rousing Speech Yandere Left the Background Music On Training Montage Neck Snap Needs Wiki Magic Love Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Accidental Murder All There in the Manual Alpha Bitch MacGuffin Kick the Son of a Bitch Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Say My Name Hero of Another Story Throwing Your Sword Always Works Narrator Jerk Jock Black and Gray Morality Awesome, but Impractical Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Race Lift Star-Crossed Lovers Villain Opening Scene Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Badass Grandpa Shipper on Deck Evil Counterpart Continuity Nod Hell Is That Noise Japanese Films Didn't Think This Through Big Bad Duumvirate Disproportionate Retribution What You Are in the Dark Rule of Three The Atoner Poor Communication Kills Big Applesauce Knight Templar Department of Redundancy Department Love at First Sight Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Reasonable Authority Figure timeperiod The Vamp Coming-of-Age Story Make It Look Like an Accident Abhorrent Admirer Kill 'em All Guns Akimbo Manipulative Bastard Flipping the Bird Hero Antagonist Adaptation Dye-Job Dying Moment of Awesome Dull Surprise Artistic License – Geography Getting Crap Past the Radar Hoist by His Own Petard Death by Irony A Minor Kidroduction Decoy Protagonist Red Right Hand Ambiguous Disorder Berserk Button Get Out! Translation Convention This Is Gonna Suck Funny Background Event The Great Depression Improbable Weapon User Defrosting Ice Queen Spanner in the Works Action Genre No Celebrities Were Harmed From Nobody to Nightmare Those Two Guys Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Spell My Name with an "S" Funny Foreigner Super Strength Leitmotif Advertised Extra "The Reason You Suck" Speech Punny Name Wham Shot Determinator aka: The Determinator Guile Hero "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Shower Scene Badass Normal Pretty Little Headshots Darkest Hour Easily Forgiven Not Using the "Z" Word Earn Your Happy Ending Rule of Cool No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Ambiguous Ending She's Got Legs Artistic License – History Cool Old Lady It Will Never Catch On Stalker with a Crush Canon Foreigner Leaning on the Fourth Wall Amusing Injuries Noodle Incident Romantic Comedy Intergenerational Friendship Retirony Television Movie Index More Dakka Mystery and Detective Films Early Installment Weirdness Artistic License – Gun Safety Kill It with Fire Freeze-Frame Bonus Smoking Is Cool Visual Pun Brainless Beauty Cool Car Honor Before Reason As the Good Book Says... Gender Flip Blood from the Mouth Off with His Head! Covers Always Lie Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Gilligan Cut Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Catapult Nightmare Psychological Thriller Hollywood Darkness Hidden Depths Moment Killer Loads and Loads of Characters Evil Laugh Stealth Pun Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Eldritch Abomination The Sociopath Fourth Date Marriage Made of Explodium Dropped a Bridge on Him Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Pet the Dog Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Femme Fatale Extremely Short Timespan Character Development Central Theme Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Daddy's Girl Green-Eyed Monster Those Two Bad Guys Beauty Is Never Tarnished Armor-Piercing Question No Name Given Idiot Ball Faking the Dead Ascended Extra Almost Kiss The X of Y Stock Footage The Starscream It's Personal Line-of-Sight Name The Dragon Combat Pragmatist Blood Knight Knife Nut Posthumous Character Soundtrack Dissonance Genre Savvy Darker and Edgier Flashback Failed a Spot Check Leave the Camera Running Spiteful Spit Country Matters Demonic Possession Nothing Is Scarier Animal Motifs The Alleged Car Asshole Victim Arranged Marriage The Cavalry Age Lift Let's Get Dangerous! '80s Hair Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Cat Scare Stepford Smiler Adaptational Badass Cool Old Guy Dramedy Kick the Dog Animated Credits Opening The End... Or Is It? Protagonist Title Empathic Environment The Quiet One The Brute Bond One-Liner Faux Affably Evil Action Survivor The Reveal Taking You with Me Affably Evil Thriller Credits Gag Sequel Escalation The Ghost Reality Has No Subtitles Deliberate Values Dissonance Pretty in Mink Vitriolic Best Buds Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Biopic Wrong Genre Savvy Only Sane Man Obviously Evil Arc Words Villain Ball British Films Plucky Comic Relief BFG Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Big-Bad Ensemble All Girls Want Bad Boys Redemption Equals Death Bunny-Ears Lawyer A Date with Rosie Palms Eiffel Tower Effect Genre Shift Adaptational Villainy Put on a Bus Crucified Hero Shot The Stoic Humans Are Bastards Drugs Are Bad Foreshadowing Suddenly SHOUTING! Jerk with a Heart of Gold Fanservice Extra Big Bad Bring My Brown Pants Italian Films Animal Title Index Villain with Good Publicity Meaningful Background Event Camera Abuse Film Noir Humiliation Conga Deal with the Devil Shoot the Shaggy Dog Punch-Clock Villain Ripped from the Headlines Christmas Movies Index Take That! Retired Badass Cool Guns Cloudcuckoolander Developing Doomed Characters Arch-Enemy Smug Snake Adorkable The Cameo Downer Ending Gory Discretion Shot