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