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