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