Crazy Cat Lady: Difference between revisions

Line 12:

{{quote|''"So instead of having children, I'm going to get more cats!"''|'''Kathleen''', ''[[Loading Ready Run]]''}}

[[wikipedia:Animal hoarding|Animal hoarding]] is a real-life psychiatric problem and [[Serious Business]]. Although animal hoarders come in all shapes, sizes, races, nationalities, pet preferences, ages, and in both sexes (at about a 50-50 ratio), Crazy Cat Ladies in fiction are predominantly older white women.

This person is invariably [[Not Good with People]], except that instead of being a [[Friend to All Living Things]], she usually only has an affinity with one specific type of animal, which will flock to her like moths to a flame. She [[Old Maid|lives alone]] (probably because she [[Christmas Cake|couldn't get married]]) except for the large number of cats or whatever animals living with her. She is often feared by the community and seen as an eccentric recluse. Sometimes, she will turn to be a [[Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold]], leading to [[An Aesop]] about judging a book by its cover.

Line 18:

This trope definitely seems skewed towards female characters, and can be read as an extension of the traditional negative characterisation of spinsters, especially when it's implied that the cats are a stand-in for human children that she never had before it was [[My Biological Clock Is Ticking|too late]]. Men, apart from an occasional trend toward [[Homeless Pigeon Person|living on a rooftop surrounded by pigeons]], tend towards either [[Hermit Guru|more complete isolation]] or a [[Nature Hero|more diversified set of friends]]. Male or female, however, animal hoarders tend to do a poor job of caring for their pets. Sanitation is often [[Trash of the Titans|a nightmare]]: many of the animals die from malnourishment, and the owner themselves might die from related illnesses.

Three guesses who [[Pet Heir|inherits the house when they go]]. See [[Kindhearted Cat Lover]] for examples when liking cats is not a symptom of being socially inept. See [[All Witches Have Cats]], where the many cats are a sign of a magic caster.

Line 55:

* A character in ''[[Mirror Mask]]'' is an old lady who lives alone with a lot of small cat-like sphinxes. (In a line cut from the final film, she explains that she's a widow; her husband just disappeared one day, and apparently the sphinxes were so upset they didn't touch their food for days...)

* ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067991/ Willard]'' and his rats.

* Madame from ''[[The Aristocats]]'' becomes one after waking up in the middle of the night and discovering that her cats have been kidnapped by her evil butler while she is still sleeping and leaving them all for dead in the French countryside.

* Although technically disqualified because he hoards so many ''different'' species, Raoul from ''[[UHF]]'''s "Raoul's Wild Kingdom" segments deserves honorary [[Crazy Cat Lady]] status for having ''dozens'' of [[Cool Pet|exotic and wild animals]] living tucked into drawers, hidden in cupboards, and running/flying/crawling free in his apartment.

** He qualifies based on the number of poodles he sacrifices out the window in teaching them to fly. They make a pile about 8 feet high easily filling the trope, at least until they all die.

Line 64:

* The old lady that Alex kills in ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' lives in a home surrounded by fifty or more cats. (After he is imprisoned, the government sells all of his stuff. Why? To pay for the upkeep of the cats.)

* "Breaking out in chronic cats" is mentioned as a sign of senility in the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld/Hogfather|Hogfather]]'', when Susan discovers [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] has taken in a vast number of cats as pets. Doubles as [[Kindhearted Cat Lover]], as Death is both friendly but socially confused when dealing with humans.

** And Lady Sybil Vimes has her dragons.

* One of the thirteen Black Ajah Aes Sedai the female protagonists are sent out to hunt early in the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series was a noted cat-lover; cats flock to Aes Sedai in general but this particular character seeks out strays and injured cats to Heal and feed up

Line 77:

* [[Stephen Colbert]]'s book ''I Am America! (And So Can You!)'' includes a short article written by a [[Crazy Cat Lady]], in the book on tape she is played by [[Strangers with Candy|Amy Sedaris!]]

* Jonathan of ''[[Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell]]'' encounters an extreme [[Crazy Cat Lady]] who provides him with the means to {{spoiler|bottle madness}}. She's forgotten how to speak all languages except for Cat, and eats the food they bring her. Eventually, she's granted a boon and {{spoiler|turned into a cat and allowed to live among her kind.}}

* Gösta in ''[[Let the Right One In]]'', the book and the movie. In his case the cat hoarding most likely ended up {{spoiler|[[Evil-Detecting Dog|saving his life.]] }}

* Bagabond in the ''[[Wild Cards]]'' series has a telepathic link with all the animals in Manhattan but most especially cats.

* [[Crazy Cat Lady|Crazy Cat Ladies]] appear now and then as tertiary characters, both in the [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] books and in [[Agatha Christie]]'s writing.

Line 95:

* In one episode of the ''[[The Flash]]'' live-action TV series, The Trickster, when given a chance to find out, goes on a rant about how he doesn't ''care'' who's behind the [[Flash]]'s mask, because he's just some guy, who will end up alone living alone with a lot of cats.

* An episode of ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]'' features Robert dating -- briefly -- "the frog lady of Massapequa".

* The first episode of ''[[A Touch of Frost]]'' features a [[Crazy Cat Lady]] who {{spoiler|burns all her cats to death. On purpose.}}

* This is doubtlessly the future of Angela in the US version of ''[[The Office]]''.

* There's a crazy cat lady in the neighbourhood in ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'' Randy also dates a cat hobbyist, who realizes she's slipping into the mold, after Randy points out she treats him like a cat.

Line 131:

* In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', one of the character templates for the Nosferatu (a [[Splat]] of vampires horribly disfigured by the Embrace who live secluded lives or utilize illusion powers to maintain the [[Masquerade]]) is a crazy small animal person. The character's gender is up to you, as is the type of small animals he hoards. He seldom leaves his lair, preferring to use animal mind-control to have one of his pets act as a proxy when dealing with the coterie.

** There's a Creepy Cat Lady in the ''Horror Recognition Guide'' for ''[[Hunter: The Vigil]]''. She's just that /little/ bit creepier than normal, thanks to what she can do with her cats...

* ''[[In Nomine]]'' sourcebook Liber Servitorum includes an old woman who seems to be a crazy cat lady. She is, in fact, a servant of an angel who inhabits her cats.

== Theater ==

Line 197:

* Read [http://www.laweekly.com/2008-07-31/news/rathouse-of-the-palisades/ this story] about the so-called "Palisades Rathouse". This also verges into [[Nightmare Fuel]] territory.

* Very, very slightly averted by Big Edie and Little Edie Beals-Bouvier of the "Gray Gardens" documentary, [[The Musical|musical]], and [[The Movie|movie]]. They were very fond of cats, but they also liked their "housemate", a raccoon.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp0Q3UJHrkU&feature=related This woman] in Russia has 130 cats that are all strays. She takes them in because she feels bad for all the cats. Sure some people say she's crazy, but others actually say she has a ''really'' big heart, given that she lives in Siberia and many house cats really wouldn't be able to survive most winters.

* As a putdown to a woman who supposedly says something negative about men: "You know, you can get kittens at the animal shelter for free. As many as you like." Somehow men who say this never quite realize that acting like a bitter misogynistic jerk to women is part of how they end up in the [[Does Not Like Men]] category.

* Robert Brunette of Boulder Creek, California kept 38 malnourished dogs, crates full of feces and urine, and even decapitated dog heads and skulls. When he was arrested near a local high school and interviewed by police, he said that the skulls were of [[Cloudcuckoolander|dogs he wanted to remember]]. Unfortunately, [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/01/BAQS122SE5.DTL&feed=rss.news I Am Not Making This Up].

* Unlike most domesticated animals, cats are very self-sustaining, as they can hunt for their own food and don't really need much human attention save for the occasional neutering or trip to the vet. Since they pretty much care for themselves, they're relatively low-maintenance and thus a very popular choice for hoarders.

* Animal hoarders can be shockingly unaware of the reality of their situation. They honestly don't see the problem that's obvious to everyone, and can even see those trying to help as enemies out to kill their friends. Sadly, because so many of the animals hoarded are in terrible shape, sometimes the majority of animals rescued do have to be put to sleep on humanitarian grounds. Less serious but still surprising is the attitude of the police, who were generally kind and understanding with male hoarders but absolutely blisteringly cruel to female ones, even though the damage to the animals was the same. One wonders how much of the trope derives from the [[Real Life]] [[Double Standard]].

* The inspiration for ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'', Alexander Selkirk, tamed the island's cats so that they would protect his grain from vermin. Supposedly, one of his biggest fears was dying on the island and having his corpse devoured by the cats.

* Another case of insane cat ladyness in the news, a cop apparently [http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2010/06/24/20100624south-dakota-cats-seized-from-car.html#reply20456515 stopped a car with 15 cats running around inside it]. As in, the cats were loose inside the car as it was being driven and it nearly crashed due to the driver not being able to see past the cats in the backseat.

* 80's pop star Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons [http://www.inquisitr.com/7185/dale-bozzio/ made headlines in 2008] when dozens of cats, cat corpses, bones and feces were found in her Massachusetts home. She claims to have put the cats in the care of a friend, but her behavior and the conditions in which the animals were living points to classic hoarding.

* [[wikipedia:Harry Randall Truman|Harry R. Truman]] ([[Name's the Same|no relation to]] [[Harry Truman|the president]]), the old man who refused to evacuate from Mount St. Helens and was killed along with his 16 cats by the 1980 eruption.

* The French [[wikipedia:Cardinal Richelieu|Cardinal Richelieu]] was fond of cats and possessed fourteen of them when he died.

Line 218:

[[Category:Crazy Cat Lady]]

[[Category:Nineteen, Twenty-One]]

[[Category:This Index Meows]]