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