Anthropomorphic Shift: Difference between revisions

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[[File:~~arthur_9864~~.png|link=Arthur (animation)|frame|Left: 1976<br />Right: 1998]]

[[File:arthur 9864.png|link=Arthur (animation)|frame|Left: 1976<br />Right: 1998]]

{{quote|''"I think when you get to the point where [[Cars|a car]] is holding and firing a pistol with his [[Feather Fingers|tire/hand]], you have to ask yourself: ''Why'' are they even cars anymore?!?"''|''...of SCIENCE!''}}

Book one of the ''Fluffy Woodland Critters'' series introduced a society of [[Civilized Animal~~|Civilized Animals~~]], all living much like real animals ~~do -- squirrels~~ eat acorns, bears are bigger than rabbits, and no one has the faintest clue what money is. The idea of [[Carnivore Confusion|predation]] may be [[Hand Wave|hand waved]], but other than that, all those [[Talking Animal~~|Talking Animals~~]] are somewhat believable as, well, ''animals''.

Book one of the ''Fluffy Woodland Critters'' series introduced a society of [[Civilized Animal]]s, all living much like real animals do—squirrels eat acorns, bears are bigger than rabbits, and no one has the faintest clue what money is. The idea of [[Carnivore Confusion|predation]] may be [[Hand Wave|hand waved]], but other than that, all those [[Talking Animal]]s are somewhat believable as, well, ''animals''.

A few years later, you're wandering through the bookstore, and spot book 20 in the series. Except... Now everyone's wearing clothing, cranky old Mr. Rabbit runs a general-store, Mr Wolf [[Carnivore Confusion|lives right next-door to him]] and Miss Mouse and Mrs. Cougar both wear the same dress size. What happened?

The series went through [[Anthropomorphic Shift]], that's what.

The series went through '''Anthropomorphic Shift''', that's what.

[[Anthropomorphic Shift]] is what happens when animal and anthropomorphic characters in a work [[Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism|become progressively more human-like in appearance and behavior]] in later installments - faces get flatter, sizes even out, the rabbit burrow gains a TV and curtains, the female turtle [[Non-Mammal Mammaries|gets breasts]]... until a few books/seasons/direct to DVD sequels down the line, [[Furry Confusion|you might as well be looking at a human society]], where people ''just'' happen to have [[Unusual Ears|furry ears]].

'''Anthropomorphic Shift''' is what happens when animal and anthropomorphic characters in a work [[Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism|become progressively more human-like in appearance and behavior]] in later installments - faces get flatter, sizes even out, the rabbit burrow gains a TV and curtains, the female turtle [[Non-Mammal Mammaries|gets breasts]]... until a few books/seasons/direct to DVD sequels down the line, [[Furry Confusion|you might as well be looking at a human society]], where people ''just'' happen to have [[Unusual Ears|furry ears]].

Why? [[Most Writers Are Human|Because it's easier]] for us. Easier to write or draw, easier to deliver [[An Aesop]], easier for the younger audience to understand and sympathize with the characters when they don't even have to think about Mr. Wolf being nearly color-blind and just how Ms. Deer [[Feather Fingers|baked those cookies]] with those hooves.

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=== ~~'''~~Examples~~:'''~~ ===

=== Examples ===

== [[Anime and Manga]] ==

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* A minor example from the Swedish children's comic ''[[Bamse]]'': As time went on character designs became more and more anthropomorphic (although they had always been very much so) as an example, quite a few of the early characters are stark naked (except for well, fur) while later characters tends to wear full human clothing.

* An intentional example of this phenomenon is the Franco-Belgian comic ''Chick Bill'', an animal cowboy in [[The Wild West]]. The artist, Gilbert Gascard aka "Tibet", wanted to draw his characters human, but [[Executive Meddling]] prevented him, so he started drawing them as furries and then ''gradually turned them human''.

* The Belgian comic ''Chlorophylle'' began with two adventuring mice, who spent several adventures before wandering into a ''[[Mouse World|miniature rodent society]]'' where they became [[Amateur Sleuth]] [[Intrepid Reporter~~|Intrepid Reporters~~]].

* The Belgian comic ''Chlorophylle'' began with two adventuring mice, who spent several adventures before wandering into a ''[[Mouse World|miniature rodent society]]'' where they became [[Amateur Sleuth]] [[Intrepid Reporter]]s.

** The comic later got a TV show from it (and a pretty good one too), but it instead goes straight into [[Furry Confusion]]... As it combines mostly anthropomorphic puppets with live animals. And there's no particular difference in intelligence either.

* In the UK's ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic book series, aptly titled ''[[Sonic the Comic]]'', Sonic's allies Porker Lewis and Jonny Lightfoot start off as cute little animal critters like those busted out of Badniks in the games. They talk, but they're small, animal proportioned, without clothes and tend to go on all fours. Their shift, however, is anything but gradual: in issue #21 of the series, they are totally bipedal, human-proportioned and fully clothed (in biker jackets and jeans, to be precise). Within a few more issues, Porker's hooves became ordinary human hands.

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* ''[[Ice Age]]'' - The first movie involved animals who could [[Animal Talk|talk to each-other but were otherwise not human-like at all]], and they rescued a baby human. Flash-forward a few years and the same animal characters now star in a short where one of them takes a group of animal youngsters ''camping''. The hell?

* The Rock-Biter had this in ''[[The Neverending Story (film)|The Neverending Story]]''. In the first movie, he is a giant creature sitting in the mountains. In the third he is living with his family in a [[Sitcom]]-like household which even (somewhat undermining the series' message) has a TV.

* In the first ''[[The Lion King]]'' film, one of the few times when one of the lions used a paw like a hand was Scar in the gag scene when he used a skull as a puppet. Otherwise, paws were paws, and used the way most cats use their paws. In ''TLK2'', the paws suddenly became inexplicably dexterous hands which the cats used in a humanlike ~~way--to~~ pick things up and make ~~gestures--complete~~ with opposable thumbs.

* In the first ''[[The Lion King]]'' film, one of the few times when one of the lions used a paw like a hand was Scar in the gag scene when he used a skull as a puppet. Otherwise, paws were paws, and used the way most cats use their paws. In ''TLK2'', the paws suddenly became inexplicably dexterous hands which the cats used in a humanlike way—to pick things up and make gestures—complete with opposable thumbs.

** Simba used his paws when it came to bugs, and in a human-like way, in the first movie.

* Todd the [[Toy Story|Pizza Planet truck]] from ''[[Cars]]''.

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* As stated elsewhere, ''[[Dinotopia]]'' author/illustrator James Guerney never met an animal-related trope he liked. He strongly dislikes it when animal characters act too human and has [http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/02/animal-characters-4-animal-morphism.html written in his blog] about how he himself has has struggled to avoid this. It's worth noting that a few of the spinoff novels and the films have featured animal characters that are indeed anthropomorphic or nearly so. [[Canon Discontinuity]]? You betcha.

* While mild compared to many examples, in the ''[[Duncton Wood]]'' books, the shift in mole behavior between the first book and its extension to a trilogy, and especially between the first and second trilogies, is quite noticeable.

* ''[[Angelina Ballerina]]'' actually portrayed all of the mice as [[Civilized Animal~~|Civilized Animals~~]] in both the books and the first cartoon series, but they are fully anthropomorphized in the CGI cartoon series.

* ''[[Angelina Ballerina]]'' actually portrayed all of the mice as [[Civilized Animal]]s in both the books and the first cartoon series, but they are fully anthropomorphized in the CGI cartoon series.

* The mice in the film adaptation of ''[[The Tale Of Desperaux]]'' are more anthropomorphized than the ones in the book.

* In the ''[[Arashi no Yoru ni]]'' books the characters look like regular animals. The manga and anime made them more anthro but they're still very natural. The 2012 cartoon based off the books gave them more human-like expressions. [http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/5679/1334424288293.jpg For comparisons sake].

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* Inverted in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''. While he still tended to walk upright, unless about to pounce Calvin, Hobbes became increasingly more cat-like as the strip progressed (Watterson himself even noted of it), and would often be seen doing typical cat things such as sleeping in front of the window, and scratching himself with his foot when left to his own devices.

* Bill the Cat from ''[[Bloom County]]'' became considerably taller and somewhat more human-proportioned over time.

* At least partly justified with Otto in ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' ~~-- in~~ between his being a regular dog who kind of looked like his master (Sergeant Snorkel), and his being a [[Barefoot Cartoon Animal]] dressed almost exactly like his master, there's one strip about an escalating "pets arms race" between Snorkel and another sergeant that culminates in Snorkel dressing Otto up as a human.

* At least partly justified with Otto in ''[[Beetle Bailey]]''—in between his being a regular dog who kind of looked like his master (Sergeant Snorkel), and his being a [[Barefoot Cartoon Animal]] dressed almost exactly like his master, there's one strip about an escalating "pets arms race" between Snorkel and another sergeant that culminates in Snorkel dressing Otto up as a human.

== [[Video Games]] ==

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** [[Pete]] was originally a bear and since ''[[Steamboat Willie]]'', is supposed to be a cat, thus why he has a [[Animal Stereotypes|rivalry with Mickey Mouse]]. However, you can only really tell in the first few shorts he's in, including ''[[Steamboat Willie]]''. In more contemporary cartoons like [[Goof Troop]], his design is such that many assumed him to be a dog or [[Dogface]]. [[House of Mouse]] actually had to take the time to remind us that Pete is, in fact, a feline through some [[Furry Reminder]] jokes.

** Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar of the [[Classic Disney Shorts|old Disney cartoon shorts]] and comics started out as actual four-legged non-anthropomorphic barnyard animals and alternated between anthro and non-anthro roles before becoming full-fledged [[Funny Animal]] characters alongside Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the others.

** [[Chip and Dale]] started out as [[Talking Animal~~|Talking Animals~~]] in their debut, but became [[Partially-Civilized Animal|Partially Civilized Animals]] later on in the [[Classic Disney Shorts]]. They then became straight-up [[Civilized Animal~~|Civilized Animals~~]] in ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' and stayed that way ever since.

** [[Chip and Dale]] started out as [[Talking Animal]]s in their debut, but became [[Partially-Civilized Animal|Partially Civilized Animals]] later on in the [[Classic Disney Shorts]]. They then became straight-up [[Civilized Animal]]s in ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' and stayed that way ever since.

** Inverted with Zeke [[The Big Bad Wolf]] at the end of ''[[Three Little Pigs]]''.

* Although subtle, by the third season of ''[[The Animals of Farthing Wood]]'', the animals were more human in movement than at the beginning (especially the weasels).

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** Played straight more so in ''[[Taz-Mania]]''. While Taz was originally anthropomorphic in the original shorts, he was something of a wild predator. In the TV show, he has a fully anthro family, and, while still [[The Unintelligible]], he seems to have much more prominent uses of coherent English.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVos-3b4p6w&feature=player_detailpage#t=173s This sequence] from the [[MGM]] short "Sheep Wrecked" demonstrates this trope in short bursts. The lamb starts out as a normal animal (not unlike the sheep that came before or since), but when the plunger the wolf fires catches it and starts dragging it away, it turns into a [[Funny Animal]] and wraps its arms around the fence. We cut to a shot of the wolf as he pulls off some of the lamb's wool, and when we cut back to the lamb, it has been anthropomorphized even further into a [[Petting Zoo People|Petting Zoo Person]]. "Now there's a right purdy [[A Worldwide Punomenon|leg of lamb]]."

* Shaun and his flock in ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]: A Close Shave'' are [[Largely Normal Animal~~|Largely Normal Animals~~]]. In ''[[Shaun the Sheep]]'', they're [[Speech-Impaired Animal|Speech Impaired Animals]] (or possibly [[Civilised Animal~~|Civilised Animals~~]] given that the only human in the series is also [[The Unintelligible]]). And in ''[[Timmy Time]]'', Timmy and his mother are fully blown [[Funny Animal~~|Funny Animals~~]] in a [[Funny Animal]] world where sheep, cats and owls go to nursery.

* Shaun and his flock in ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]: A Close Shave'' are [[Largely Normal Animal]]s. In ''[[Shaun the Sheep]]'', they're [[Speech-Impaired Animal|Speech Impaired Animals]] (or possibly [[Civilised Animal]]s given that the only human in the series is also [[The Unintelligible]]). And in ''[[Timmy Time]]'', Timmy and his mother are fully blown [[Funny Animal]]s in a [[Funny Animal]] world where sheep, cats and owls go to nursery.

* A large premise of ''[[Tale Spin]]'', which places a few characters from ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'' into a human like civilization. In the film the animals were natural wild animals with their anthro traits more limited or utilized for humor value. Granted, it varies. For example, Baloo and Louie are nearly identical to their ''Jungle Book'' forms outside being clothed. On the other hand, in ''Jungle Book'' Shere Khan was a four legged animal who only made subtle use of his "hands" similar to the ''Lion King'' examples; in ''Tale Spin'', he stands on his hind legs and is wears a business suit. All three characters have one thing in common, though: they want to get rich (or in Khan's case, rich''er'').