Dying Like Animals: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added
copyedit
m update links
Line 30:
** On the other hand, aside from really, ''really'' hating Spider-Man, he's a model journalist, and relatively decent towards mutants. He just hates him some Spider-Man is all.
** This largely depends on the writer. Sometimes Jameson will hate only Spider-Man, sometimes he will dislike masked vigilantes in general.
** As of the end of ''[[Secret Invasion]]'', the [[Marvel Universe]] general population shifted from being Reindeer to Lemmings (or possibly Jackals), given that they are unabashedly hailing [[Norman Osborn|Norman "The Green Goblin" Osborn]] as the savior of the day, way cooler than [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]], and that Norman and whatever goon army he wishes to assemble are a valid replacement for SHIELD (which is being disbanded) and the Initiative (which, along with all other registered metahumans, are being placed under the control of Osborn). Of course, he's using the fact that villains have reformed in the past and that there have been multiple Green Goblins in the past as a cover.
* For a good example of Bats, take a look at any city in any superhero comic. No matter how many bad things happen, the citizens never ever move out, revolt, or take any steps to make the city safer. (We're looking at you, ''[[Batman Beyond]].'')
** Would that make them... [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Bat-Men?]]
Line 45:
* The human police and guards in ''[[The Matrix]]'' can be considered Lemmings, and who can blame them? After all, the human [[La Résistance|Resistance]] kills them with impunity and dress like leather-loving terrorists.
* Captain Korso, in ''[[Titan A.E.]]'', is a mouse-turned-mole, though he eventually realizes what a prick he's being and tries to redeem himself with a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].
* [[Zombie Apocalypse]] movies pretty much always have one Rat, such as Barbara from ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]''.
* Probably the most grating example of a Rat is L.J. from ''[[Resident Evil: Extinction|Resident Evil Extinction]]'', who despite having lived through a ''[[Zombie Apocalypse]]'' decides to hide his injury from the other survivors, even as he gets increasingly sicker and sicker.
* The regular citizens in ''[[The Incredibles]]'' are Reindeer who are [[Too Dumb to Live]]... but not to sue. (Although if you don't think that's [[Truth in Television]], you obviously don't get out enough...or you take your internet Glurge with a grain of salt.) They gleefully start filing negligence lawsuits against the [[Superhero|Supers]] for minor injuries sustained in the course of ''having their lives saved!'' Talk about biting the hand that saves your life.
* Most of the cast of ''[[28 Days Later|Twenty Eight Days Later]]'', being by definition survivor types, manage to avoid these (well, mostly). Selena begins (before taking a step up to [[Badass|badassitude in her own right]]) as a Wolf of sorts. The first male survivor we meet, Mark, would have been a Rat if the [[Hate Plague|infection hadn't been checked by Selena butchering him with a machete]] and Jim was at first a bit of an Ostrich. Most of those offed in the titular 28 days of strife seem to have been unlucky Bats or all too aware and simply too late.
* In ''[[V for Vendetta]],'' the fascist government of future Britain relies heavily on the essential Sheep/Ostrich nature of humanity in order to keep the population under tight martial control. Slightly subverted as V's actions succeed in inspiring some Boar behavior.
** Donovan's mother is a chimera, combining Sheep, Bat, Mole, Snake ''and'' Jackal.
* ''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]'' has half a city's worth of Boars.
Line 68:
** [[Alternative Character Interpretation|If you think the one who kills and tortures billions and actually triggers the end of the world]] [[God Is Evil|is the real bad guy,]] Christian 'Tribulation Saints' become pretty clear examples of Jackals and Moles.
* Mundane people on the [[Discworld]] are usually either Sheep (especially in the City Watch and Witches books, where the public always relies on the overworked and underappreciated main characters to save the day, and never have any serious doubt that they can't handle it) or Bats (especially in the Death books, where people just ignore what their brains can't handle, like [[The Grim Reaper]] walking around in public). The Sheep metaphor is especially prevalent in the books starring Tiffany Aching, who is both a shepherd's daughter and a witch in training. On the other hand, CMOT Dibbler is a Weasel all the way (not completely; he too {{spoiler|wears the Lilac}}).
** In ''[[Discworld/Guards Guards|Guards Guards]]'' pretty much every single one of the above animal-types makes an appearance.
** The Sheep nature of [[Discworld]] citizens was [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in ''[[GURPS]] Discworld Also'', where if ordinary citizens are asked why they haven't investigated large animal corpses floating down the river, they respond ''"What do we look like? Daft 'eroes? No offense, o'course!"''
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and semi-subverted in ''[[Discworld/Small Gods|Small Gods]]'': The Great and Powerful Om has a rather skewed view of humanity because his first contact with humanity was a shepherd rather than the goatherd in the next valley. As the book says, "Sheep are stupid, and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent, and need to be led."
Line 76:
** However, the supernatural community in the Dresden Files considers alerting mortal authorities to supernatural threats to be roughly equivalent to a nuclear strike; they're quite aware that frightened people tend to turn into boars and, well, these days [[Torches and Pitchforks]] are replaced by Molotov cocktails and high-caliber rifles at a minimum. If the military gets involved, you can expect tanks and missiles, and ''actual'' nuclear weapons become an option.
* The [[Stephen King]] novella ''[[The Mist]]'' contains examples of several of these types. In fact, it could almost be argued that every character in the book embodies one of these.
* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: Cassandra was the daughter of Priam and Hecuba, the last king and queen of Troy. She was so beautiful Apollo fell in love with her and gifted her with prophetic sight. However, she spurned him, and being the Greek god he was, he cursed her so no one would believe anything she said. [[Cassandra Truth|So she foretold the whole deal, the problem with Helen and Paris, the siege and fall of Troy, but no one listened.]] Oops.
* Although ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' are the [[Trope Namer]] for many of the animals in [[Fighting for Survival]], [[The Last Battle|the final book]] presents the creatures falling into the habits of [[Dying Like Animals]]. Most of the creatures act like Sheep who are easily herded into the plans of [[The Empire|the Calormenes]]. The Ape Shift is a classic [[The Quisling|Snake]]: he tricks the gullible donkey Puzzle into [[Gullible Lemmings|helping him trick the Narnian masses]], and the Dwarves deserve a special mention, since they play the role of both Reindeer and Bats at various points in the story.
* ''[[World War Z]]'' practically has a catalogue of these:
** Bats: Widespread denial allows the zombie plague to grow to epidemic proportions.
Line 85:
** Rats: The other major cause of the plague: people ''constantly'' deny that they have the plague, and fleeing refugees will often carry around a zombified family member in a box until it breaks out and kills them all.
** Wolves: The LaMOEs (Last Man On Earth). Given the wide variety of Wolves, they actually develop nicknames for the two basic categories: Robinson Crusoe's (RC's) are people who managed to survive in their own little forts, but still behaved (more or less) like moral human beings, and actually welcomed contact with the US army when they liberated the area from zombies. The actual hardcore "LaMOEs" were the real Wolves, hardcore survivors who were so used to being kings of their own little fiefdoms that they weren't about to give them up.
** Weasels: The manufacturer of Phalanx, still justifying his actions from his hidden base in Antarctica after he practically caused the apocalypse.
** Jackals: [[The Quisling|The quislings]].
** Poodles: The celebrities on Long Island that flaunt all of the supplies that they have and are promptly invaded by a horde of desperate people.
Line 92:
* In ''Hosts'', [[Repairman Jack]] accuses the surviving subway passengers of being Sheep to their faces, disgusted that {{spoiler|he was the only one armed and able to fight back against the spree-killing psycho}}. Jack fears that they'll turn into Reindeer if the truth about his "profession" comes out.
* The comedy book ''Apocalypse How'' gives you pointers on how to be the best Vulture you can be in the post-apocalyptic world.
* In Robert Asprin's ''Myth Directions,'' after his apprentice Skeeve almost causes a war between Ta-Hoe and Veygus, the demon Pervert Aazh's first thought is making bets on which side will win. For propaganda's sake, both city/states' bookies were betting three to one that their own army would win, and Aahz, a typical fox, figured with bets on both sides, he couldn't help but make a profit.
** Said bookies are therefore [[Too Dumb to Live|too stupid to stay in business]].
 
Line 99:
* The townsfolk of Sunnydale in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' would seem to be a combination of both Ostriches and Bats: it's implied throughout the series that they're aware of the supernatural oddities (and extremely high mortality rate) of their town, but prefer to live in blissful ignorance of the truth of the situation. This attitude has come to be known as [[Weirdness Censor|Sunnydale Syndrome]].
** Likewise, Principal Snyder is a Jackal.
** Mayor Richard Wilkins III's [[Backstory]] has him as a Snake who ascended into [[Big Bad]] [[Bad Boss]] territory, and from there hopes to ascend into even bigger Snake territory.
* A particularly bad example is ''[[Doctor Who]],'' where humans took about a year or so to stop being Bats despite the Earth being visibly invaded by aliens ''several times'' in that time. The first contact with a space pig was declared a hoax (which, in a roundabout way, it was), and the battle between Daleks and Cybermen were assumed to be hallucinations by a ''[[Torchwood]]'' character. Over time the Bats gained sight: for example a man who openly believes in aliens (being a hostile alien himself that's visited Earth decades earlier) was elected as Prime Minister and people backed this belief on radio.
** The episode "Turn Left" had fun with removing the blinders. {{spoiler|Because of an alien that feeds off of changes in the timeline and picking the wrong food source, the Doctor dies in "The Runaway Bride." Without the Doctor to end certain threats before they escalated (or at least providing a plausible denial,) things become much more obvious. It is easier to be a Bat when you thought you saw a giant replica of the Titanic falling from the sky (but ignored it because the notion seemed ''ridiculous'') than when it actually ''explodes'' (forcing evacuation of the southern portion of Great Britain in the process.)}}
Line 106:
* In ''[[Torchwood]]: Children of Earth'', The government were ''mice'', making sure they'd be ''poodles'' as well. They tried to turn the public into ''bats''. Fortunately, not everyone was a ''sheep''.
* In the ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode "The Hot Zone," a scientist infected by a virus tries to get away, despite quarantine.
* ''[[Lost]]'': At the beginning of the series, Rousseau is very much a Lone Wolf, though she can eventually be convinced to ally with the survivors (but not join their community). The survivors themselves often degenerate into Boar-ishness. Sawyer is a quintessential Vulture -- until he becomes nicer and there are no more corpses to rob.
** That is, the major characters are Boars. The background characters are Lambs who look to Jack or Locke. Sawyer actually replied to Locke's query about what the rest of their group were saying, "Baaaaa. That's the nice thing about Sheep. They're predictable."
* In ''[[Babylon 5]],'' {{spoiler|the entire Markab race}} dies for being a bunch of Ostriches: "Since the plague only kills sinful hedonists, we good and upstanding citizens are perfectly safe." Well, not quite so.
Line 126:
 
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Dead Rising]]'' is an obvious example, as it takes place in a zombie-infested shopping mall. The few humans still alive run the gamut of animal types from the turtle survivalists in the gun shop, to the lamb in the Entrance Plaza being pinned down by snipers ("I was waiting for someone strong like you to come sort things out. Lead the way!"), to Doctor Barnaby the mule.
* The citizens of Alfard in ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'' are Snakes to a man, as [[The Empire]] has trained them in extreme civil pride. They couldn't give a damn about Geldoblame's conquest ambitions, since they themselves are all so well off.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past|The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past]]'' includes a few Lemmings in Kakariko Village, when Agahnim takes over Hyrule Castle and blames Zelda's kidnapping on Link. Whenever Link comes within sight of these characters they'll run into their house, lock the door, and call in the soldiers to attack Link. Obviously you can't attack these people even to shut them up. In order to get ''into'' their houses and indulge your [[Kleptomaniac Hero]] nature, you have to sneak around them.
Line 137:
** Granted, considering they're {{spoiler|unknowingly infected with Hinamizawa Syndrome, which makes people paranoid and hallucinating and stuck in a time loop,}} the victims in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'' are at least somewhat justified.
* The town of Toha in ''[[Fire Emblem]] 9'' is full of reindeer-lemming chimeras. They turn in the remnants of their country's resistance to the invading nation of Daein to the Daein army because they were working with [[Half-Human Hybrid|laguz]], or, as the citizens call them, [[Fantastic Racism|subhumans]].
* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' the Scarlet Crusade in its various incarnations are all wolves... if you're not one of them, you are the scourge. Or if you're not a zombie right now, you will be soon; better to kill you now to prevent it.
** [[Two Words: Obvious Trope|obvious Boar]]: ''[[Leeroy Jenkins|Leeeroyyyy Jenkiiiiinsss!!!!]]''
** Gilneans on the other hand, are turtles. Their wall DO stop the scourge and forsaken forces from attacking while also denying access to refugees. However, unfortunately for them, it is incapable of stopping Arugal's Worgen curse. After a while, [[Body Horror]] ensues from within the walls. The wall eventually crumbles as of ''Cataclysm'', allowing some Forsaken to attack them.
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'': The Citadel Council are a charming mixture of Bats, Ostriches, Reindeer and even Lemmings at one point. Udina never actually works for the villains, but is otherwise a classic Snake, while {{spoiler|Saren}} turns out to be a Mouse.
* Arl Howe in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' is a Fox using the Blight for his own advancement (acquiring the Terynir of Highever and the Arling of Denerim in addition to his own Arling of Amaranthine over the course of the game). King Cailan is a Boar, believing the Grey Wardens' legend makes him invincible.
** [[Depraved Bisexual|Depraved Bisexuals]] [[Career Killer|Zevran]] and [[Pirate Girl|Isabella]] have shades of the Butterfly: since theirs is a [[Crapsack World]], they might as well enjoy the good times while they last.
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]]'', most of Vvardenfell's inhabitants are some combination of Sheep and Reindeer, while certain members of the Temple and House Redoran turn into Lemmings at one point in the main quest. On the other hand, they're also the only ones actively trying to fight the Sixth House, while the other Houses (particularly the Telvanni) are largely Ostriches. The corprus stalkers are Rats, while the Tribunal -- who helped create the problem in the first place -- are the resident Mules.
* In ''[[Mega Man Star Force]] 2'', Electopia's whole population is basically turned into Mice. At the climax of the story, the [[Very Definitely Final Dungeon|lost continent of Mu appears]] and the [[Big Bad]] makes a submit-or-die speech; from that point on, almost every NPC you talk to is scrambling to prove him/herself worthy of membership in the "Neo Mu Empire". There's a plot reason for this, but it's still annoying -- who wants to save a bunch of quislings?
** They were acting as such because the [[Big Bad|Big Bad's]] Mooks brainwashed the victims they caught.
* The Gallente Federation in the world of ''[[EveEVE Online]]'' use bird names to refer to their political blocs (not unlike the elephant and the donkey in America, which rose out of political cartoons). Hawks favor military superiority and can be slightly xenophobic, doves prefer peace and diversity (but don't shy from cultural imperialism), vultures are opportunists and exploiters, ostriches bury their head in the sand, etc.
* In ''[[Half-Life 2]]'', the good Dr. Wallace Breen is apparently a Chimera consisting of a Mole or maybe a Snake, and a Mouse. The ranks of Civil Protection seem to be constituted by Jackals, too.
** Father Grigori would be a textbook Wolf, if he wasn't on your side. The Combine in general are perfect Jackals.
** In the first game, the Black Mesa scientists are likely mules. In the Portal side-story, Aperture Science is Mule Central.
* The various ''[[Fallout]]'' games have endless examples of almost every single archetype, with a negative karma player character actually falling into some of them.
** Bats ignoring the horrors of the world and pretending everything is just fine? Check, though typically only the most delusional of characters, such as a lady in ''[[Fallout 3]]'' thats convinced she lives in suburban pre-war America. Made even funnier in that her husband knows she's [[Cloudcuckoolander|completely bonkers]] and advises you to ignore it.
** Lambs unable to solve their own problems without player character intervention, pretty much nine out of ten settlements, and a similar percentage of quests.
** Mice and chickens hiding or fleeing from any and all threats, plenty. Though in their defense, most are poorly equipped and have no real training in combat, making their cowardice a lot more reasonable then the suicide rushes attempted by many others. A player confronted with a problem beyond their level and choosing to flee also counts.
** The various drug addicts throughout the wastes are a combination of butterfly and ostrich.
** Vault dwellers are classic turtles, living in their massive self sufficient underground bunkers, usually sealed off from the outside world.
** Plenty of settlements are reindeer by being initially quite hostile to the player trying to help them. Vault City in particular stands out, due to all the hoops you have to jump through to gain their trust. Though most settlements do get over it after enough quests.
** Enclave sellouts are either sheep, jackal, mole or snake, as well as the occasional lemming. The player can also become a jackal in some of the games, such as siding with the Master for a none canonical ending involving storming the player's home vault.
** Any scientific experiment which resulted in some fairly nasty critters in a dungeon is a mule, with most of the vaults descending into this (though they were just a massive social experiment designed to toy with their inhabitants, so this is to be expected). The player's salvage of such research may also count, though it can be arguably be used to avoid making the same error in the future.
** Boars are found aplenty, usually in corpse form by the time the player finds them. By late game, early game critters attacking the player with suicidal bravery may also count. The reverse is also true with a low level character suicide rushing a late game critter.
** Theres no shortage of vultures, many of them willing to come to blows (and gunfire) over scavenge worthy materials. A player shooting his competition in a salvage quest also counts.
** As for wolves, there is no shortage of human predators out in the wastes. An early encounter with gun wielding foes is more likely to do a player in then anything else. The player can also become one of these to other wastelanders with terrifying efficiency. It particular, shooting a merchant you'll never see again for his stuff is more profitable then trading with him.
** Various merchants tend to be foxes due to a habit of trading with both sides. At least they're also willing to do business with the player.
** Weasels can be found as the various scammers throughout the wastes, with the most prominent example being drug dealers who profit off of a world half empty that makes escaping reality a fetching proposition, at least in theory.
Line 181:
{{quote|'''Dib:''' [[I Take Offense to That Last One|My head's not big!]]}}
* The citizens of Townsville in ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' are so accustomed to them that they've all become Lambs. They even have an episode where the girls get so fed up with everyone needing constant babying, that they set out to prove they ''aren't'' helpless idiots by taking a break and walking them through defeating the [[Monster of the Week]]. The moral? "We don't need the Powerpuff Girls at all!"
** There are also cases where citizens will allow [[Easy Impersonation|easy impersonators]] or [[Cute Is Evil]] criminals to freely commit crimes, give the girls a curfew which villains will exploit, and prevent the girls from using superpowers because [[Moral Guardians|their actions are setting a bad example]].
* Everyone in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' turns into Vultures as soon as the lights go out. Not one window remains unbroken. Tip: If moving to Springfield, become a glazier.
** According to the DVD commentary, the writers ''loved'' to incite riots in Springfield, often over relatively small events, like a soccer game or a museum opening. The insert for ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'' DVD proclaims "Springfield's largest riot ever!"