Bambification: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Bambi.jpg|link=Bambi
▲There's something about deer.
Perhaps it's because they are the most common large animal one is likely to run into if one goes out in the wild. Perhaps the buck's antlers reminds us of a king's crown. Perhaps it's just because they were (and still are in many places) a staple of humanity's diet in the Northern Hemisphere and therefore became a key figure in folklore ([[Carnivore Confusion]] is nothing new). In any case, in older fiction, deer are often employed as a symbol of nature in general and forests in specific. All well and good.
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In much of ''today's'' fiction, however, something got [[Flanderization|seriously lost in the translation]]. Somehow, deer became symbols of innocence and all that is pretty and sweet in nature. Therefore, if you want to show [[Kick the Dog|the death of something innocent]] to [[Green Aesop|make some sort of point or other]], you kill a deer. The examples of this trope speak for themselves (see below) and it has gotten to the point where it can barely be taken seriously; this trope is a rich vein of [[Narm]].
The [[Trope Namer]] (unrelated to the term used by some critics of vegetarianism to describe [[Strawman Political|how they see]] [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|the vegetarians' philosophy]]) is a [[Fictionary|term]] used offhand to criticize this trope in Douglas Coupland's novel ''Generation X''. What's especially bizarre is the fact that ''[[
As far as how this trope has affected [[Real Life]]... let's... not even go there. (If you must, take it to this here [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?/Headscratchers|Headscratchers page]]. We don't want this to turn into [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like|Complaining About Hoofed Mammals You Don't Like]].) It is worth noting that deer cause more human deaths than any other large land animal, due to their cute propensity for mimicking speed bumps on highways (so please drive carefully especially around dusk and at night.) Also, if deer happen to give you problems in your backyard, there are [https://web.archive.org/web/20130621062134/http://www.newfs.org/publications-and-resources/barring-bambi.html easy ways] to thwart them. Try planting sages and onions. The latter will keep squirrels from digging at your tulips too. Alternatively, put in [[The Thing That Goes Doink]]. [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle|The more you know!]]▼
See also [[Children Are Innocent]], [[Humans Are
▲As far as how this trope has affected [[Real Life]]... let's... not even go there. (If you must, take it to this here [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?/Headscratchers|Headscratchers page]]. We don't want this to turn into [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like|Complaining About Hoofed Mammals You Don't Like]].) It is worth noting that deer cause more human deaths than any other large land animal, due to their cute propensity for mimicking speed bumps on highways (so please drive carefully especially around dusk and at night.) Also, if deer happen to give you problems in your backyard, there are [http://newfs.org/publications-and-resources/barring-bambi.html easy ways] to thwart them. Try planting sages and onions. The latter will keep squirrels from digging at your tulips too. Alternatively, put in [[The Thing That Goes Doink]]. [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle|The more you know!]]
Not to be confused with [[Mind Control|Bimbofication]].
▲See also [[Children Are Innocent]], [[Humans Are Bastards]], [[Infant Immortality]] and [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]].
{{examples}}
== Played Straight ==
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* The supervillain who [[Taking You
* [[Depending
{{quote|
=== [[Film]] ===
* ''[[Starman (
* ''[[Powder]]''
* ''[[Simon Birch]]'', where the deer in question is actually Simon's dead mother. Or something. [[Narm|Whatever.]]
* Naturally, the 1989 Christmas film ''Prancer'' is '''all''' over this.
* William Blake in Jim Jarmusch's film ''[[
* ''My Dog Skip'' - Willie (Frankie Muniz) touches a dying innocent deer in shock before being forced to look away when the hunters finish off with the killing blow.
* Used in the movie ''[[Commando (
=== [[Literature]] ===
* In more fantastic stories, unicorns are used instead of deer. Case in point, ''[[Harry Potter (
** There is an excellent Jane Yolen short story, "De Natura Unicorni", that plays this variation absolutely straight until the climax - and it works.
** ''Harry Potter'' also has this with actual
* Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's novel ''[[The Yearling]]'': Jody's killing of his pet deer signifies the end of innocence.
=== [[Live-Action TV]] ===
* In ''[[Spin City]]'', Mike refuses to kill a fawn to score political points with a political contributor who's big on hunting. Mike's attempt at "missing" ends up killing the mother, though. Just to drive the point home, the hunter shows a sort of sadistic glee at the fact that the fawn will no longer have a mother, ''while they're eating meat made from her''.
** It does, however, lead to a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] when they take the wounded fawn into a hospital. Carter fills out a form for it.
{{quote|
'''Mike:''' Yeah? Well, I may have killed him - but ''you ate his mother''! }}
** Of course, this turns into [[Did Not Do the Research]] for actual hunters watching, as either they were poaching or live in a previously-unknown area where it's legal to hunt in early spring. Even game ranches won't send people out to shoot deer in spring and summer, which is the only time the fawns are with their mothers.
* Shows up in ''[[
* Similarly, in ''[[
* Linderman saves a deer in one of the ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' [[All There in the Manual|online comics]]. Maybe a direct reference to ''Starman''.
** Likewise, in a later comic, Arthur Petrelli takes his two sons out hunting. You win no prizes for guessing Peter's reaction to his daddy's order to shoot at a buck.
* ''[[
* In ''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]'', Carl stops and walks to a buck because it is literally ''the most beautiful thing'' he has seen since the [[Zombie Apocalypse]] began. {{spoiler|A hunter shoots the deer and the bullet hits him by accident}}.
* In ''[[The Sopranos]]'', a minor character has a quiet moment with a deer. Then {{spoiler|it runs away and Tony brutally garrotes him.}}
=== [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPG]]s ===
* The second expansion of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' features Bambina, Mother of Bambina, Flora, and Thudder. Occasionally an NPC will shoot the mother and cheer, at which point Bambina takes several levels in badass and slaughters the NPC mercilessly. Players can watch this unfold repeatedly.
=== [[Music]] ===
* In [[Franz Schubert]]'s [[
* In [[Rilo Kiley|Rilo Kiley's]] "Accidntel Deth" (sic) from the album ''Execution of All Things'' contains the verse "the story your father told you long ago/He was hunting with his own father/for deer, he pointed and spotted her/and then tripped over some roots or some dead trees/The gun went off, It was a mistake/And my father was only eight/And as he watched the dying deer he was changed/Cause he felt sorry for what he'd done/And he put down his gun."
=== [[Video Games]] ===
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' in which Bambi himself is a summon. When you first summon him, he appears amidst a cloud of flowers and butterflies, then proceeds to prance around the battle field dropping gratuitous amounts of MP bubbles. So, in the end, it ends up [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] as cute little Bambi gives you enough fuel to spam the hell out of your magic fire, ice, and lighting attacks.
* The [[
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* ''[[The Iron Giant]]'', though it's actually done rather well there to show the Giant's first inkling of others' mortality.
* ''[[Beauty and
** Some of the animators on that movie even said they were trying to imply that Gaston was the one who killed Bambi's mother. She appears in the opening shot in the movie as well.
** Hilariously, because deer shed their antlers yearly, even an incredibly lousy hunter could decorate with antlers just by walking around the forest and picking them up. His boast becomes much less impressive that way. Check out the giant arches made of deer and elk antlers at the corners of the town square in Jackson, Wyoming.
*** And Judge Doom from ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' was meant, in earlier drafts, to also be revealed as Bambi's mother's killer. They decided this pushed him too far over the [[Moral Event Horizon]], especially given what he'd done so far in the film (that poor little sneaker...); it also created [[Fridge Logic]], since the movie worked on the idea of [[Animated Actors]].
* In ''[[
* ''[[Superman:
== Notable Parodies ==
=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* While not exactly a parody, there is that scene in ''[[Marmalade Boy]]'' where Miki gets mobbed by tame deer...
* In one episode of ''[[
** This can actually happen quite frequently in Nara, making it a case of [[Truth in Television]].
=== [[Film]] ===
* ''[[Harold
** It's also averted when they note that the deer isn't "like those asshole deer in New Jersey."
* Despite seemingly playing it completely straight, ''[[The Ring]] 2'' features a herd of demonically-possessed deer. Yes, it's [[Narm|just as silly as it sounds]].
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* Parodied to hell and back in ''[[Tommy Boy]]''.
=== [[Literature]] ===
* In ''[[The
=== [[Music]] ===
* The music video for "No One Knows" by [[Queens of the Stone Age]] has the band hunted, jacklighted, and stuffed by deer hunters. As in ''actual deer who are out hunting''.
* Somewhat alluded to in the video for Fall Out Boy's "Sugar We're Going Down" (if Faun counts as an extension of Deer).
=== [[Newspaper Comics]] ===
* Done in a ([[Family-Unfriendly Violence|surprisingly graphic]]) ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' strip.
** And at least one ''[[The Far Side]]'' strip.
=== [[Stand-Up Comedy]] ===
* The "gentle, angelic woodland critter" cliche gets taken down ''hard'' in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL9xCWphV8s this
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* Seeing as its heroine is a [[Petting Zoo People|Wolf-Woman]], ''[[
* In ''[[Bobwhite]]'', Lewis starts to tell about the hunting trip that was his worst Christmas ever, and [http://www.bobwhitecomics.com/?webcomic_post=20091217 Ivy] [[Lampshade Hanging|accurately predicts]] that Lewis shot an animal and felt terrible about it afterwards. (When Lewis shoots a deer, his dad even says it's "Just like Bambi's mom!") As it turns out, Lewis has a near-supernatural ability to shoot animals [[Accidental Aiming Skills|without even trying]].
=== [[Web Original]] ===
* "[[Bambi Meets Godzilla]]".
** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VujzyznQ4eE Son of Bambi meets Godzilla]". That is all.
* There's [http://deer-s-revenge.software.informer.com/ Deer's Revenge], also a parody of the ''[[
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* ''[[Life With Louie]]'' has Andy's war story, in which branch of soldiers has been attacked and battered by a herd of deers.
{{quote|
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', there are reindeer who start off cute, then (understandably) turn vicious when Homer and company try to hunt them.
** And in another episode, deer growl and show their sharp teeth to Lisa, but when a park ranger arrives they act cute.
* ''[[Drawn Together]]'' turns Captain Hero loose on nature with semi-automatic weapons. Inevitably, Bambi shows up on the doorstep with his dead mother's body in his... er... [[Feather Fingers|arms]] and tearfully begs Captain Hero to stop. This display moves the housemates to drop their guard, whereupon Bambi lets loose a herd of vengeful deer on them. When the deer attack is routed, Bambi cries out {{spoiler|"Come back! I killed my own MOTHER for this!"}}
* [[Tex Avery]] subverted the "fawns are innocent and helpless" trope in some of his early ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'', such as having them swig moonshine or talk in a gruff voice when begging for food. And all this years before Disney's ''[[
** On one of Avery's MGM cartoons, "Field and Scream", the protagonist goes hunting for deer. At the end there's a long line of hunters with their trophies strap to their hoods... except for Our Hero, who is strapped to the hood of a deer's car.
* There is a fawn amongst the "Woodland Christmas Critters" in an episode of ''[[South Park]]''. The critters are trying to give birth to the anti-Christ.
== Older, less [[Narm
=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
* ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'': The forest god initially takes the form of a large male deer{{spoiler|... before its head was shot off and it turns into a mass that starts swallowing the entire forest to get its head back}}.
* Ryu risks his life to save a deer in a later episode of ''[[
=== [[Film]] ===
* A majestic elk summons the Sprite in the "Firebird Suite" segment of ''[[Fantasia|Fantasia/2000]]''.
=== [[Live Action TV]] ===
* ''[[Robin of Sherwood]]'' features a recurring [[The Obi-Wan|shaman character]] who claims to be the forst god Herne; he wears the head of a deer as a cowl.
* Although not as old as some others, the Deer Zord of ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]'' is a good example (by extension, the same applies for its source material, ''Gaoranger.'') He has something of a "peaceful healer" thing going for him. However, on the other hand, he has been shown to take out an Org completely on his own, implying he's one of the more Badass of the Wildzords, and also shown at times to be something of an asshole, refusing to help the rangers until Princess Shayla sang to him.
=== [[Literature]] ===
* The White Stag from the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' books.
** Which was probably derived from the British legends of the White Stag or White Hart. Follow it through the forest and (if you can keep up) it will lead you to your heart's desire (or occasionally a vision of Christ).
* Aside from the example mentioned briefly above, ''[[Harry Potter (
* In the ''[[
** Similarly, in ''[[Rise of the Horde]]'', Thrall's father's first kill is a [[Call a Rabbit
** Similarly, any story in which deer = food. ''[[The Jungle Book (
* At the end of ''[[The Lion, the Witch
* It's worth noting that Herne, the god of the hunt, has deer's horns, as according to ''[[The Dark Is Rising]].''
=== Mythology ===
* Defenitely averted with the [[Classical Mythology|Perytons]], an [[
* [[Ars Goetia|The demon Furfur]] is a weird example. In spite of being a demon, he has the form of an [[Light Is Not Good|angelic white stag]], and creates love, but is still a liar and, well a ''demon''.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Mammal Tropes]]
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