Carnivore Confusion: Difference between revisions

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* By far the most common approach, especially in older fiction, is the [[Predators Are Mean]] subtrope. All your heroes are herbivores. All the villains are carnivores à la the Big Bad Wolf from the Three Little Pigs.<ref> In [[Real Life]], pigs and wolves are both omnivores, eating both plants and other animals. Wolves will prey upon pigs, but only to the extent that they would prey on other organisms, e.g. it would be rewarding and they could pull it off without getting themselves killed.</ref> This subtrope is so strong culturally that people assume [[Real Life]] predators are mean, evil, and nasty, and all the herbivores are cute, cuddly, and friendly. Anyone with any knowledge of real animal behavior knows that's not the case at all.

* Sometimes your heroes are predatory animals. Now carnivores are okay, so scavengers often become the [[Villain by Default|Villains By Default]]. The usual ethos is that only evil weirdos eat carrion, and only cowards do not hunt. They will be depicted as ugly and intimidating. Example: ''[[The Lion King]]''.<ref> Non-exclusive scavenging and predation is rarely used in fiction. In [[Real Life]], lions scavenge off hyena kill more often than vice versa.</ref>

* A increasingly popular option in recent fiction has been to render the carnivore's prey in a realistic, [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|non-cute manner]]. The prey does not talk -- the prey is not humanised in any way. [[No Cartoon Fish|Fish]], in particular, are nearly always a viable mealtime option, unless they're major characters.

* Similar to the option immediately above, some works such as ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' and the ''[[Spellsinger]]'' novels make it clear that only some of the animals have human-like intelligence. In some fiction, there are explicit differences between the anthropomorphic and normal members of the same species -- bipedality, speech, clothing, etc. It's okay for a talking lion to eat a non-talking deer, but eating a talking deer would be tantamount to cannibalism.

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* ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'' has played a bit with this problem (despite being guilty of this trope itself in early episodes): after all animals make peace under the new "lion king", they are suddenly facing a situation where no-one is allowed to eat anyone else, thus reducing their entire carnivore population to live solely on insect (and even THAT gives them moral qualms; lucky that a man who's been trying to invent "artificial meat" eventually comes along...)

* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' brings up this trope sometimes, albeit rarely. In the series, all animals -and even several plants- are Pokémon, and all Pokémon are intelligent. The cast has indeed been seen eating meat and the early games directly address this at points - Farfetch'd and Lapras are said to be near-extinct due to overhunting, and ''[[Pokémon Gold and Silver]]'' has you rescuing Slowpoke from Team Rocket...who are harvesting their tails for sale as delicacies. (They grow back, but...). In the first season of the anime, curiously, there ''were'' a few [[No Cartoon Fish|non-Pokémon fish]], but they've been pretty much [[Retcon|retconned]] out of existence. (Much of this was before there was a Pokémon equivalent of almost everything you can think of.) Most of the characters seem to prefer to never talk about such things and enjoy the meal, including the Pokémon.

** Actually, there are real animals in the [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Animals_in_the_Pokemon_world Pokémon world], they were just not brought up very often. In the games Raichu is described as being able to knock out an elephant and Bellsprout eats insects according to their Pokédex entries.

** But they also have Pokémon food...and berries can be fed to any Pokémon...

** In one episode, James has a Magikarp, which is basically a very big koi. They narrowly escaped a sunken ship, and are starving on a makeshift raft in the middle of the ocean. Everyone wants a taste of the juicy Magikarp, except Misty who has a soft spot for Water-types. The only reason Magikarp survived was because its scales were too hard to bite through. Nobody seemed to care that Magikarp was ''alive''.<ref> That might be because of ikizukuri, a variety of sashimi in which the fish is still alive when the dish is served. The way the characters imagine the Magikarp sashimi is exactly the way ikizukuri is served.</ref>

** In an episode featuring Farfetch'd, the Pokédex states that the bird is best served with the leek it carries as a weapon.

* The gamesag and cards specifically cite references of Pokémon eating each other; Ekans have clearly been stated to eat other Pokémon eggs. According to Pokémon Silver, Furret eat Rattata, and according to one of the TCG cards Omastar is a predator that cracked open Shellder shells and sucked out their insides. Sneasel specifically targets the eggs of Pidgey, who in turn love to eat Magikarp, Wurmple developed poison to fight off Swellow, who still manage to eat many Wurmple anyway. Thankfully, Pokémon you've caught won't try to eat each other.

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* On ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' the Bluths' Frozen Banana stand has as its mascot Mr. Banana Grabber, a giant talking banana that steals and eats regular-sized, non-talking bananas. The implications are not lost on Michael.

{{quote|'''Michael:''' Why would a banana grab another banana? I mean, those are the kind of questions I don't want to answer.}}

* In a rather silly [[Did Not Do the Research]] case, [[Animal Planet]]'s ''Weird, True and Freaky'' featured [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuhXKvxz4-U a story on chimpanzee "cannibalism."] Anyone familiar with chimps knows that the males tend to kidnap and eat the infants of rival troops. Shocking, yes, but that's ''not'' what the story is about. It's about chimpanzees, apes, hunting for monkey meat. And the narrator says it's cannibalism. That's just about as cannibalistic as a polar bear eating a seal! It also reaches [[Unfortunate Implications]], as many people in Africa regularly eat bushmeat (see the real life examples below)

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* Played straight in ''[[Oddworld|Abe's Odyssey]]'' (and its sequels). The glukkons want to use their cheap labor as a cheaper filler for their new taste sensation.

* In the ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' series, the majority of the [[Talking Animal|Talking Animals]] are either [[Heel Race Turn|reformed]] [[Mooks|Lurkers]] or [[Weasel Mascot|ottsels]] like [[Snarky Non-Human Sidekick|Daxter]]. However, there is one [[Polly Wants a Microphone|bird]] named [[Embarrassing First Name|Pecker]]. There's a scene in the racing spin-off ''[[Vehicular Combat|Jak X]]'' where he sees [[Combat Commentator|Blitz]] eating poultry and objects, saying that that could be his uncle. So apparently macaw [[Expy|expies]] are food in that universe.

* A short instance in ''[[Terranigma]]'' finds your character, Ark, trapped in an icy cave with a talking goat. . . and the goat's dead husband. The next morning the goat asks if you are hungry and would like some breakfast, before walking over to her husband (complete with dramatic music cue).

** The goat claims they must do what they need to survive, and the world would be without another goat otherwise. Ark becomes distraught and decides against the offer, disgusted. The goat informs him that he, "must be stronger". Shortly thereafter. . . the goat opens up a new area by ramming into it, and the character can climb to safety, the goat informs him she will make it out later. {{spoiler|She doesn't. If you go back to the same area later, you will find not one, but two dead goats. She cannibalized her husband for nothing}}

* Periodically shows up in ''[[Touhou]]''. Mystia Lorelei the sparrow youkai is frequently subjected to poultry jokes, starting from her debut in ''Imperishable Night'', where both Yuyuko and Remilia apparently feed on her in their respective storylines. In side material, Mystia is sometimes seen shilling grilled lamprey as an alternative to poultry.

** Utsuho Reiuji's favorite food is boiled eggs, even though she's also a bird (a Hell raven)...but [[Truth in Television|corvids do eat bird eggs, including those of their own kind]], so [[Fridge Brilliance|this is hardly unexpected]].

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* In ''[http://fesandernst.com P.S.I.]'', the only non-sapient land animals are insects. This has [http://fesandernst.com/Guest_DebtOn01.htm obvious] implications on the food supply in the comic's universe.

* ''[http://suburbanjungle.com The Suburban Jungle]'' follows the 'fact of life' approach. Except in specific situations, such as the workplace, or a specifically 'No Predation Allowed' bar, it's basically A-OK to eat each other. Although you might expect a girl to get cross if it turns out you accidentally [http://suburbanjungleclassic.com/?p=49 ate her date].

* The [[Web Comic]] ''Shivae'' has this as an important, if not main issue: most characters are non-anthropomorphic animals, the protagonists are predators, and all carnivores seen so far are sapient (and mostly sympathetic). Herbivores seem to be split between sapient and non-sapient within each species, and sapient herbivores show little respect or concern for non-sapients, even those part of their own herd, and allow predators to hunt the latter. It is considered taboo to kill another sapient animal, but since they can all communicate with each other, it's easily avoided. Then the [[Petting Zoo People|very anthropomorphic]] colonists show up, and for some reason can't communicate with the non-anthropomorphic cast members, who they consider to be all dumb beasts...oh, and did I mention their society [[Bambi|is advanced enough to have guns]]?

* ''[[The Cyantian Chronicles]]'': (Same artist/author as Shivae) Due to genetic engineering done by a long dead alien race, ALL sapient anthropomorphic Cyantians are omnivores. Only non-sapient prey species are consumed and an anthro wolf eating an anthro rabbit is still cannibalism. It is notable that a rabbit that eats mostly meat will have digestive troubles and hormonal imbalances. The same applies for carnivores that eat too much veggies.

** One character, Rama, the series [[Complete Monster]], inverts it, threatening to '''eat''' a sentient rabbit if she doesn't meet his expectations.

** this is essentially the same set up for the Antreyki in ''Triquetra Cats''.

* A variation occurs in in [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20031203.html this] ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' strip, which takes place after a very near tragedy occurred between two species who didn't recognize each others' sentience. But, hey, "Food that talks is not food". Schlock looks for [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20031130.html loop]-[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20040307.html holes]. Sometimes, he doesn't even bother with the pretense.

** If it's an enemy it's not ''food''.

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** On a previous arc, the mercs dealt with a species that was illegally selling ''their own'' (non-sapient) ''young'' as delicacies. In their defense, they ''are'' quite delicious.

** In general, though, Schlock has no problem with eating his enemies alive (and why should he, if he doesn't have a problem shooting them), and him doing so frequently played for laughs. He does get a bit weirded out when he's forced to eat his ''allies'' from the neck down to keep going during Schlocktoberfest 2001, but he still goes through with it.

*** He also had only 5 cryokits for 29 people, so he had to trim them down a bit.

* ''[[Suicide for Hire]]'' features a [[Lampshade Hanging]] when Arcturus and Hunter, a mouse and a fox respectively, discuss milk: "You know of any wild animals that continue drinking milk not only after infancy, but from a source not even of its own species?" A caption in the border between panels reads: "To anal-retentive assholes like myself: You know what I mean. STFU."

* In ''[[Faux Pas]]'' all animals are non-anthropomorphic, but as they have grown up in a studio animal training center, they have learned to see each other as friends instead of prey; besides, there's plenty of chow for the foxes and cats (the origin of which they refuse to think about). However, some confusion ensues when the wild vixen Cindy joins the gang, and when her cousin Dusk appeared to have eaten one of the (named) rabbits ({{spoiler|relax it was an unnamed mouse}}).

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* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' Trog tries very hard to stop Aylee (an alien from like you know alien) from eating humans. The cast at one point have an intervention for her in which she eats John a man who went through cannibals anonymous. A strip later Torg enrolls her in the program. She eventually stops eating humans just in time for riff and Torg to get trapped in the 1999 annual cannibal convention. Torg realizes trying to change Aylee's nature is pointless and unleashes Aylee on the cannibals this fails but they all survive due to a damn heroes moment. ironically a few arcs later Aylee transforms into a dragon that eats potatoes nullifying the whole process. As far as we know she hasn't eaten humans since.

* [http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=1738 This] ''[[Brawl in the Family]]'' strip puts an anthropomorphic fish into [[Animal Crossing]]. He is not impressed.

* [[Panthera]] gives us [http://www.pantheracomic.com/?p=1620 this gem] about a freshly killed deer.

* ''[[Daddy Long Legs (webcomic)|Daddy Long Legs]]'' takes the last approach, with predation being unpleasant but still a part of life. Things can still get really awkward from time to time, though- mostly in that Harvestman's favorite food are aphids, same insect as Crane's nanny.

* Frequently brought up in [[Subnormality]] as, despite being higher in the food chain than people, the Sphynx frequently holds discussions with people and integrates into modern society as best she can. Especially notable in that she later becomes good friends with the Pink Haired Girl (and even goes as far as {{spoiler|saving her life}} in a more recent comic), yet continues to eat humans regularly.

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** Coming at it from another direction, there are characters who pointedly avoid transforming into livestock...

* The ''[[Futurama]]'' episode, "The Problem With Popplers" has addresses this several times. First, there's a bunch of hippies trying to enforce vegetarianism. Leela points out eating meat is a part of nature, and the hippies point to a lion they taught to eat tofu. It's sickly and looks like it'll fall over dead at any second. Also the main characters casually bring up a few animals they eat in the future that are not usually thought of as food here in the present, such as parrots.

** The real [[Pun|meat]] of the episode however focuses on popplers, which resemble popcorn chicken, and are apparently delicious. Everybody happily devours the things until one hatches, and they realize that popplers are the eggs of the Omicron Persei 8 people.

*** "When my species grows up, we eat our moms!"

* Interpersonal relationships in some children's series sometimes get a little...odd...if adults think about them too long. For instance ''[[Franklin]]'', where the cute turtle and goose and rabbit are bestest buddies with the equally cute bear and fox, or ''Little Bear'', in which the titular hero hangs out with a duck and a chicken...and a cat, and an owl. (Also a human girl, but that's a [[Furry Confusion|whole 'nother story]]...)

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* One episode of ''[[Tom and Jerry Tales]]'' had Tom enthusiastically meeting a group of lions during an African safari. Unfortunately for him, the lions thought their "cousin" would make a good meal.

* The inhabitants of the Candy Kingdom in the Land of Ooo in ''[[Adventure Time]]'' are sentient candy. Every building and even the streets are made out of candy too.

* In ''[[Thundercats 2011]],'' Third Earth's [[World of Funny Animals]] depicts Thundera's [[Catfolk|Cats]] not as obligate carnivores, but omnivores like humans. They eat meat, presumably non-sentient species, but the [[Fishmen]] sailors from "Ramlak Rising" have no qualms about eating other sentients...like the ''Cats.'' Indeed, the ship's cook has designs on stuffing the Thunderkittens, and when the Fishman Captain Tunar says he would have let the Cats eat his own first mate had he known they were such competent fighters, he's not entirely joking. In a subsequent episode, the Cats leave ''nonanthropomorphic'' fish-skeletons as food scraps, while an enemy [[Lizard Folk]] muses on the idea of eating the Cats roasted.

* A stunningly brutal aversion in a one-off gag on ''[[Tuff Puppy]]''. When looking into Kitty's past, they see her sixteenth birthday where her mother hired a very sentient (yet normal sized) mouse magician, Kitty ate him without even a second thought, understandably [[Squick|squicking]] out the partygoers.

* ''[[Veggie Tales]]'' has a world populated by talking vegetables and fruits, in which there are pies and popcorn balls as food, and apparently "apple choppers". It was [[Word of God|confirmed in the commentary]] for ''Duke and the Great Pie War'' (and demonstrated in ''Jonah'') that there are non-sentient fruits and vegetables in their world as well.

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== Real Life ==

* [[Truth in Television]]. Most animals don't give a damn how we classify them, and will gladly eat other animals that are under similar classifications. Raptors eat smaller birds, fish will eat fish, and yes, most bird will peck whatever left over food you leave lying around, even chicken. Mammals eat other mammals all the time. Most humans eat pork and beef, which are both mammals similar to humans.

* Human meat was once known as [[I'm a Humanitarian|long pig]].

* Chicken farmers have to check the hen houses every day because if a egg sits too long and doesn't hatch, the hen will eat it, and like the taste so much she will eat every egg she lays from then on in.

* The "carnivores are mean" subtrope is so damn pervasive, wildlife centers and nature magazines are often deluged with calls and letters from hysterical bird lovers (really?) asking what can be done about [http://www.cvm.umn.edu/raptor/education/faqs/hawkspreying/home.html the mean hawk eating all the poor little house sparrows]. Seriously. For the record, backyard hawks and cats (don't forget that [[Cats Are Mean]] too) mostly go after Eurasian House Sparrows anyway. House Sparrows, for those not in the know, are an invasive species in the Americas who have wreaked havoc on native species. Fortunately they're so used to living around human houses for safety that they're almost too easy for predators to hunt.

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[[Category:Animal Anthropomorphism Tropes]]

[[Category:Carnivore Confusion]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]