Cats Are Mean: Difference between revisions

 

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* A Subaru ad in the U.S. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5nyEd8BTZA shows a cat cutting a dog off in a parking lot.]

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6CcxJQq1x8 Why do cats stare when you're pouring milk?] [[Tim Curry]] has the answer, for good measure.

 

 

* Kamineko, that cat who keeps attacking Sakaki in ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]''. In the cat's defense, Sakaki seems to have an aura that makes [[Animals Hate Her|cats hate her]], with one exception; Mayaa is the antithesis of this trope: a wild-born Iriomote cat who not only is the first cat to permit Sakaki to pet it, but, at first meeting, actively seeks her affection, proving utterly devoted to Sakaki. To drive home this point, Mayaa later drives off Kamineko and a small horde of cats in her defense.

** The fact that Kamineko gathered up the cats just to attack Sakaki and Chiyo-Chan seems to point to the conclusion that it was just a jerk.

 

 

* The definitive example might well be Art Spiegelman's comic ''[[Maus]]'', a narrative of the author's father's struggle to survive the Holocaust wherein the Nazis are drawn as cats and Jews as mice.

** But that's [[Justified Trope]] in the ''other'' cat stereotype is that they hunt mice, and it makes a good analogy for the Holocaust.

 

 

* For Disney animated movies, see the Western Animation folder below.

* In the ''[[An American Tail]]'' movies, all the cats (except Fievel's friend Tiger) are bad guys, looking to exploit and/or eat the heroic, downtrodden mice. The second movie included a good-natured dog, voiced by [[Jimmy Stewart]].

 

 

* ''[[Cats and Dogs]]'' rode this trope into the ground, with evil cats using a mouse army to take over the world, while the dogs are secret agents bent on saving it; this has apparently been the state of affairs for the entirety of human history, bordering on [[Always Chaotic Evil]].

** Subverted in the sequel, fortunately. It turns out that good cats do exsist in the ''[[Cats and Dogs]]'' universe. Though the villain is still a cat...

 

 

* The Icelandic ''Jólakötturinn'', or Yule Cat, is described as a horrible creature that eats children with no new clothes for Christmas.

 

 

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] personally liked cats (case in point: ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil''), but because of the mythological tropes that he consciously used, the only times they appear in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' are as minions of evil forces - most notably, as Queen Berúthiel's feline spies. Sauron himself was even originally conceived as a "Prince of Cats", and the Eye of Sauron is described as "cat-like" a few times.

* Played straight with Greebo, Nanny Ogg's cat in the same setting as [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld/The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents|The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents]]''. He is a nasty, foul-tempered force of nature (though Nanny thinks he's an adorable little kitten). This is a cat who once ate a vampire while it was in bat form.

* In ''[[Who Cut the Cheese?]]'' by Stilton Jarlsberg, a cat tears up all the rats in CheesyUniverse.

 

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' plays with this trope in spades: the Dilgar were a basically race of Nazi-like humanoid felines responsible for massive genocide and experimentation on sentient beings. However, they ended up extinct when their sun went nova, as they had been forced back to their homeworld.

* ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'': when Nora gushes about her many cats, another character asks her:

* A demonic-looking lion shows up in ''[[The Teletubbies]]'', along with [[Everything's Worse with Bears|a similarly demonic-looking bear.]]

 

* ''[[Pet Shop Boys]]'' "I Want A Dog", which first appeared as a b-side on their single "Rent" and was later remixed by Frankie Knuckles for their album "Introspective", extols the virtues of dogs as loyal, affectionate defenders whilst containing the lyrics, "Don't want a cat/Scratching its claws all over my habitat/Giving no love and getting fat."

** Interestingly, other PSB songs ("Suburbia" and "I'm Not Scared") use dogs to depict more sinister forces.

 

 

* Catbert from ''[[Dilbert]]'' is probably the living embodiment of this trope. After so many of his fans, independently, named the character, Scott Adams wanted a reason to keep the character, and came up with Catbert being hired as the Director of Human Resources. His rationale was that a cat was ''perfect'' for HR...and would bat you about before downsizing you. Of course, Dogbert isn't much better.

** In fact, ''Dog''bert is often shown to have the personality traits of a typical cartoon ''cat''.

 

 

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' - [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/A_Cat_of_Ill_Omen A Cat of Ill Omen].

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' - [http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/magic_single_card.asp?cn=Mirri%20the%20Cursed Mirri the Cursed. Vampire cat]. A twisted timeline saw her ending up with the curse that [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5106 Crovax] had in the 'correct' timeline.

 

 

* Even apart from cats' reputation in folklore, this is [[Older Than Radio]]; in Maurice Maeterlink's 1908 play ''L'Oiseau Bleu'' (later filmed as ''[[The Blue Bird]]''), the children are aided by a dog and a cat. Guess which one betrays them?

* The opera ''The English Cat'' by Hans Werner Henze: the cats are running the Royal Society For the Protection of Rats (!), but behind the charitable facade, they are all for money and fame -- and they don't mind getting red in the claws.

 

 

* ''[[Chrono Cross]]'' might be one of the most exaggerated examples; Lynx, the main villain, is a six foot tall anthropomorphic panther.

* One of [[Earthworm Jim (video game)|Earthworm Jim]]'s enemies is the aptly named Evil the Cat, who the creators describe as evil in its purest form. He rules the planet Heck, which, as you can probably guess, is Evil's vision of what Hell is.

* ''[[Dark Souls]]'' has the [http://www.videogamesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/dark-souls-trophies-guide-screenshot-cheshire-cat.jpg Great Felines] - huge, [[Glasgow Grin]]-sporting monstrosities that make disturbing, yowling noises (basically, they sound like very, ''very'' angry housecats) and are capable of devouring the player character in ''one gulp''.

 

* [[Simons Cat]] is seriously mean, even using a baseball bat to wake his owner.

** Oddly enough, though, he also manages to be completely adorable while doing so.

* Black Kitty from ''[[Goodbye Kitty]]''.

 

* ''[http://www.pvponline.com PvP]'' has the aptly named "Scratch Fury, Destroyer of Worlds" (they let the teenaged intern name him). Scratch is a house cat owned by Skull the Troll, who was zapped by [http://www.pvponline.com/2004/02/12/thu-feb-12/ an intelligence machine]. Once he gained human intelligence, he became increasingly power-mad and megalomaniacal, plotting world domination and general enslavement of humanity ([http://www.pvponline.com/2004/05/29/sat-may-29/ and usually being foiled by his cat instincts]). The author, as a response to people telling him how much like their cats Scratch was, broke the trend when his cat instincts actually caused a plan to work - his cat desire to kill birds and small animals and his human intelligence resulted in Scratch going on a minor animal killing spree culminating in the brutal murder of a [http://www.pvponline.com/2006/10/05/oct-5-2006/ junkyard dog]. The author's response was how many of ''your'' cats have beaten a junkyard dog to death with a nail board?

* An unusually crude example can be found in ''[http://www.errantstory.com Errant Story]'' - the main character, Meji, is a sorceress who has a flying, talking cat by the name of Ellis as her familiar. The 'talking' bit is the clincher, though, since his use of language could make sailors blush - he's constantly making crude suggestions, sexual references, and inappropriate jokes. For obvious reasons, Meji regularly applies a fireball or thunderbolt to him, but since he's [[Made of Iron]], it doesn't really deter him to any significant degree...

 

 

* One of [[Desu Des Brigade|JesuOtaku's]] cats (the calico) isn't very friendly, as seen in the review for ''[[Fruits Basket]]''.

* In the ''[[LG15: the resistance]]'' video "Feline Feariousness", Reed rants about how cats are evil, manipulative, and steal souls, and finishes by urging viewers to "Get rid of your cat, before your cat gets rid of you!"

* In the [[Orion's Arm]] setting, the Queen of Pain is exactly what you'd expect to get if you took a terrified, furious, half-dead cat, uplifted it five times in a row, and gave it the body of an Eldritch Abomination.

 

* Rumor has it that [[Walt Disney]] hated cats (and praised mice and dogs, the two mortal enemies of cats). Among the ways cats are portrayed in [[Disney]] animation:

** In [[Classic Disney Shorts]], the regular antagonist of Mickey Mouse (and Co.) is Peg-leg Pete, a rather large, imposing bully-of-a-cat. The anthropomorphic dog, Goofy, is amiable, simple-minded, and good-natured, and Pluto is just..[[Furry Confusion|a dog]]

 

 

* It doesn't help that cats retain most of their ancestors' predatory and hunting instincts, while dogs are more scavengers, like their forebears, the coyote and jackal. If well-fed, a cat doesn't especially need to kill, but will do so out of sport, which isn't good news for the local bird, mouse, and possum populations. The mother cat trains her children to hunt fairly young, often by offering them her still-bloody kills, so they get the taste for fresh meat when they're barely off the nipple.

** Cats [[For the Evulz|killing "for fun"]] may be partially [[Humans Are Bastards|our fault]], as hunting vermin is why we domesticated cats in the first place. The cats that killed the most got to breed.

 

 

* Mayaa from ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]''

* ''[[Chi's Sweet Home]]'' is all about this. A curious little kitten shares her take on day to day events.

 

 

* Subverted in the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage]]'' comics by Mirage. Klunk (Michaelangelo's cat) is very kind and friendly.

** However, in [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW]], a mutant cat, Old Hob, is a their first major enemy. {{spoiler|He mutated after trying to ''eat'' Raphael.}}

 

 

* Danny and Sawyer from ''[[Cats Don't Dance]]''

* Rajah the nice tiger from ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' (no relation to the similarly-named tiger from the first act of [[Miscellaneous Disney Shorts|''Goliath II'']]).

 

 

* It is suggested that Orion in ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' actually cared about or had some loyalty towards his owner.

* The sequel to ''[[Cats and Dogs]]'' shows that there are heroic cats. They're just more subtle about their work. Though the villain double-subverts this, she at least possess a [[Freudian Excuse]] for her attitude.

 

 

* In a Japanese folk-tale, a young boy's favorite thing to draw is the domestic cat, and one night, he happens upon an abandoned temple. Bored, he covers the walls with pictures of cats and goes to sleep. Sometime in the night, a demon spots him (the demon being the reason the temple was abandoned--it had eaten everyone there) and gives chase. The boy hides, hears a horrible commotion, and, come morning, peeks out of his hiding place: all that remains of the demon are a few bones, and every single one of his cat-pictures has a smear of red around its mouth.

 

 

* [[Diana Wynne Jones]]'s ''Castle in the Sky'' (sequel to ''[[Howl's Moving Castle (novel)|Howl's Moving Castle]]'') features a black cat who generally makes herself a nuisance to the main character, putting her and her kitten's needs before anything else. Later in the book, {{spoiler|she is revealed to be Sophie, the protagonist of the first book, and the kitten is her and Howl's son, Morgan}}.

* Partially subverted in Patricia Highfield's short story "[http://books.google.com/books?id=I1O8LKN74VYC&pg=PA37&lpg=PA37&dq=%22ming%27s+biggest+prey%22&source=bl&ots=2V8z8pfGaU&sig=ayR3yLCfirVQlHWvkXEcl7358Mk&hl=en&ei=wvlGTJujKYP-8Abtrtn-BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CC0Q6AEwBA Ming's Biggest Prey]"--Teddie is abusive to Elaine, and tries to drown Ming, but Ming clearly resents anyone and everyone who takes Elaine's attention away from him.

 

 

* Salem, from ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]'', who was a warlock turned into a cat for trying to take over the world. He's given up on the world domination, but is still the snarker and comes up with several get-rich-quick schemes.

* ''My Cat From Hell'' is a more of a show about Jackson Galaxy showing cat's owners how to treat a cat so the cats are not "mean" to others. Often, he shows how cats interact with their environment and how to "communicate" with the cat.

 

 

* Subverted by ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''; Hobbes the stuffed (?) tiger is more or less Calvin's moral center.

** When he isn't pouncing on Calvin. One of the comic books is entitled ''Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat''.

 

 

* Mostly subverted in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical ''[[Cats]]''. The young cats just want to play and have fun. The older cats devote themselves to looking after the younger cats. It's suggested that Grizabella led a less than exemplary life, but she regrets how her misspent youth has alienated her. Eventually, she is forgiven by the other cats.

 

 

* Inverted with the ''[[Purr Tenders]]'', who are all bright and friendly and [[I Just Want to Be Special|just want to be special]]. By contrast, the nasty bulldog Ed-grr hated them all just because they were cats and wanted to see them miserable.

 

 

* Subverted in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''. While two of the Ronso do appear as [[Those Two Guys]] to follow and menace the party, and end up being bosses, the race in general is made of [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|proud warrior race guys]] who are noble, honorable, and heroic, and one of them is a member of your party. Every other one encountered as an NPC is polite, mild-mannered, and friendly.

* Played and subverted with Blaze The Cat of the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series. Despite her [[Grumpy Bear|cold and somewhat temperamental nature]], she is a well intentioned protagonist and [[Defrosting Ice Queen|tones down a little]] following [[Character Development]]. Subverted heavily with Big the Cat who, [[The Ditz|despite having the brain approximately the size of a peanut]], is a rather friendly and gentle soul.

 

 

* Exception to the "good cats don't eat humanized mice": in ''[[Girl Genius]]'', the cat construct Krosp becomes Agatha's friend and guardian. He's a good guy, if at times a bit too pragmatic to be heroic. When they're stuck in the wild, he finally manages to catch a mouse to eat. As he and Agatha discuss things for a whole page, that mouse is in Krosp's hand looking scared to death and quite humanized. When Agatha says there's enough food to last for a while and she won't eat a mouse yet, the mouse looks relieved. The next panel, the mouse's head is missing; Krosp has eaten it.

** He does give the following line, though:

 

 

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qit3ALTelOo Mean Kitty] plays with this; Sparta is quite aggressive but Mr. Safety says right out that he's not fighting, he's just showing love.

* There was a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5ux_Ob5raQ video] reviewed by [[Ray William Johnson]] that subverts this trope hard. Two lion(esse)s snuggle with a man who seem unsure whether he should be aroused or weirded out by it.

 

 

* Subverted with Mepps from ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]''; he is one of Fat Cat's henchmen, but he isn't actually mean.

** Averted with the several hundred kittens in "Catteries Not Included", who become kitten-napping victims, at least one just wants to get back to his humans.

 

 

* Also subverted by a recent ad [[Sarah McLachlan]] did for the Humane Society. One of the shelter cats in the ad looks like it has tears in its eyes. Cats are so well known for being cold and aloof that [[Not So Stoic|seeing one near weeping]] is heartbreaking.

** That "weeping" is usually the product of an eye infection. Whether that makes it better or worse is up to the reader.