Dog Food Diet/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Character is so poor as to actually munch on dog food.

  • Straight: Jeffrey is so poor he can only afford dog food.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Jeffery never could afford anything better than dog food.
    • Alternatively, Jeffrey can't afford dishes, either, and eats out of a dog food bowl. And he can't even afford the canned stuff... He subsists entirely on water and kibble. And maybe some Beggin' Strips or Snausages, but only if it's a special occasion.
  • Justified:
    • Someone provides Jeffrey with only dog food to eat.
    • Jeffrey is a werewolf, so eating dog food is common.
    • Jeffrey is a dog.
    • The story takes place After the End, and dog food were among of the few foods that's safe to eat.
  • Inverted:
    • A food budget so improbable even Jeffrey's dog is on a diet of steaks.
    • Jeffrey actually likes the taste of dog food, but he can't afford it because it's more expensive than other food.
    • Rich people are shown eating dog food thanks to clever marketing and and gullibility.
  • Subverted:
    • Jeffrey was a dog not too long ago.
    • Alternatively, Jefferey is seen eying a can of dog food out of desperation. However, in the next shot, he's shown to be eating a suspicious looking plate of meat, with the camera panning to show Fido's collar lying on the floor, and the can of dog food lying in the garbage.
    • Jeffrey can afford human food but eats dog food as part of his job. He has to test the dog food before it can go to market.
  • Double Subverted:
    • But dog food sucks anyway.
    • ...But then the camera pans back, and Fido jumps up onto the table: it turns out the plate of meat was a free steak Jefferey had won, and he wants to share it with his dog, instead of making him eat crappy dog food
    • Alternatively, Jeffrey expresses his disgust at the idea when someone jokingly mentions it, and insists that he could never be so poor that he'd eat dog food... And then it's revealed that he eats cat food.
  • Parodied: Jeffrey is a Funny Animal, and so is the rest of a cast, but eating dog food is still considered pathetic by everyone.
  • Deconstructed: A diet of sub-par products surely cannot be healthy for Jeffrey.
  • Reconstructed: He adapts to it over time, though.
  • Zig-Zagged: Jeffrey gets richer, but still keeps eating dog food, because he is a dog turned into human (and that is why he was poor in the first place). Even after discovering that human food is much more tasty, he still opens a can of dog food once in a while - force of habit.
  • Averted: Despite the fact that Jeffrey is poor, he can still afford normal food.
  • Enforced: "We have poor character, but he is still not tragic enough." "How about getting him on a diet of dog food then?"
  • Lampshaded: "I am lowered to eating dog food. Great. What's next, living in a kennel and chasing mailmen?"
  • Invoked: "And what are we gonna eat now that we sank so low, Jeff?" "There's always dog food - not pleasant, but still digestible."
  • Defied: "Dog food? Alright, that's it. I'm going to go rob a grocery store."
  • Discussed: "Dog food? Dude, that's pathetic." "I know it is. Shut up."
  • Conversed: "In TV shows, you can always tell who is really poor, and who just looks poor." "And how exactly?" "Truly poor characters subsist on dog food."
  • Played For Drama: Jeffrey's entire life sucks so very, very badly you can't help but feel sorry for the poor fellow.

And here I hoped life was getting better. Back to Dog Food Diet then.

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