Right-Hand-Cat: Difference between revisions
m
→Western Animation
m (→Comic Books) |
|||
| (10 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 2:
[[File:blofeld 5403.jpg|link=You Only Live Twice|frame|[[Cats Are Superior|The cat looks more dignified than its owner]].]]
{{quote|''"[[That Makes Me Feel Angry|That makes me angry]], and [[Third Person Person|when Dr. Evil gets angry]], Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset. And when Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset... people '''DIE!'''"''
|'''Dr. Evil''', ''[[Austin Powers|Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery]]''}}
In an [[Evil Counterpart|evil contrast]] to how much [[Heroes Love Dogs]], [[Diabolical Mastermind]]s are cat people. If they [[The Faceless|don't have a face]], they will always have a pet cat, usually some shade of white, sitting on their desk or in their lap, that they stroke as they describe their [[Evil Plan]].
Line 8 ⟶ 9:
Why do bad guys like cats? Maybe because [[Cats Are Mean]] -- [[Predators Are Mean|they kill birds and mice, just so they can offer you the corpse]]. Cats are lap-sized and perfect to pet while scheming. Or maybe it's because cats also (reputedly) believe they are entitled to be worshipped and revered by humans, or deserve to [[Take Over the World]] themselves. Dogs are faithful and loyal, but cats are fickle with a superiority complex. Villains and cats just fit. It's the perfect accessory for a [[Card-Carrying Villain]].
The [[Big Bad]]'s '''Right-Hand-Cat''' will have varying degrees of a personality depending on the context of the series. Some will display sentient facial expressions and even an evil laugh, showing a morality in sync with their master's. Some just sit there, emotionless, yawning and purring like any other ordinary pet. Even in animation, the cat will probably never speak, but it will almost always have a name.
This may stem from the tradition that [[All Witches Have Cats]] and often use cats as their [[familiar]]s. See [[Kindhearted Cat Lover]] for examples when a character simply likes having a cat around.
Line 20 ⟶ 21:
{{examples}}
== Played Straight ==
=== Anime
* Giovanni with his Persian, from ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]''. For a while, the Team Rocket trio's Meowth from the same series had it as his overriding goal to ''become'' a Right-Hand-Cat for Giovanni.
* In ''[[Peacemaker Kurogane]]'', after going [[Axe Crazy|crazy]] and [[Depraved Homosexual|gay]], Suzu is depicted as having a fondness for cats.
Line 33 ⟶ 34:
* Gargamel's cat, Azraël, from ''[[The Smurfs]]''. Leans into [[Right-Hand Attack Dog]] territory, since the Smurfs are small enough to be frequently chased by Azraël.
=== Film ===
* In Disney's version of ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'', Cinderella's stepmother has a cat named—I kid you not -- ''Lucifer''. He is intelligent enough to understand that Cinderella is unfairly put-upon with the chores, and mean enough to complicate them at one point in the movie. His opposite number is Bruno, a nice dog who sleeps in the basement.
* Junkman in the ''[[The Incredible Crash Dummies]]'' (a 1993 half-hour CG movie) has the Hubcat.
* Ernst Stavro Blofeld, from the early ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' films, as pictured above. His ever-present fluffy white cat is probably the [[Trope Codifier]], being responsible for most, if not all, of the parodies and references listed below.
** ''[[Diamonds Are Forever]]'' plays with this a little, when Bond confronts Blofeld and his double. Unsure of which is which, Bond kicks the white Persian in the room and shoots the Blofeld it jumps to for safety. Sadly, it doesn't work, as there's more than one cat too.
Line 59 ⟶ 58:
* Etienne Galant, the [[Big Bad]] in ''The Corpse in the Waxworks'' by John Dickson Carr, is seen stroking a white persian. The book was published in 1932.
* In the ''[[Novels of the Change]]'', [[Chessmaster]] Sandra Arminger pets her Persians as an aid to concentrating on her schemes.
* She doesn't hold her cats in her hand, but [[Harry Potter/Characters|Dolores Umbridge]] from ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', probably the second most sadistic person in the series behind Voldemort himself, is seemingly addicted to cats. Her office is lined with plates and pictures depicting cats. As well, her Patronus was in the shape of a Persian cat, and it paced in front of her during the courtroom scene in ''[[
** This evenhandedness also extends to actual cats. The two cats with actual camera time are Mrs. Norris and Crookshanks, who are respectively kept by Mr. Filch (the caretaker, an entirely unsympathetic person and supporter of Umbridge when she was at Hogwarts) and Hermione (the heroine).
* Averted in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'': Harry Dresden lives with a gigantic grey cat named "Mister," whom he (Harry) rescued from a dumpster as a kitten.
=== Live-Action TV ===
Line 84:
===
* Pyewacket, Gillian's familiar in ''Bell, Book, And Candle''.
Line 102:
=== Web Original ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131013040617/http://www.villainsource.com/misc.html This website sells them.]
* [http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/10/20/chairman-of-the-board/ Some family decided their Right-Hand Cat would signify the patriarch in family photos.]
Line 119:
* Geraldine has one in the ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' episode "Return of Geraldine".
* Ravage from ''[[Transformers]]'' is usually this to the Decepticons.
* Coco Diablo's cat, Esteban, in ''[[Trick or Treat Scooby Doo!]]''. Like Scooby, Esteban can talk, and has human-level intelligence, able to use a computer and camera with ease, doing so as his master's assistant. Being a cat, [[The Rival| he and Scooby don't get along.]]
== [[Subverted Trope|Subversions]] and [[Playing with a Trope|Playing with the trope]] ==
=== Anime
* [[Double Subversion]] in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'': the fact that Daitokouji-sensei had a pet cat could have been a clue he was [[The Mole]], until he was further revealed to be a [[Double Agent]]. And after his [[Redemption Equals Death]], the cat ''takes over his job''.
* In ''[[Medabots]]'', the Right-Hand Cat contains the soul of the [[Big Bad]]; the human body is just a robotic shell.
Line 137:
=== Fan Works ===
* Goldentusk's video for the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc17zmeMlSI James Bond Theme Song] parodies plenty ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' tropes, including the Right-Hand Cat.
* During her stint as the member of [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|the Ree]] who was into [[James Bond|Bond Villainy]], Kei Ayanami of the ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' fanfic ''[[Nobody Dies]]'' <s>stole</s> borrowed Ritsuko Akagi's cat to pet while making a video demanding one million helicopters and a dollar.
=== Film ===
* Ratigan from ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'' has a white cat, Felicia, do some of his dirty work for him—but, being a <s>rat</s> large mouse, he naturally can't carry her around. Henceforth, he uses a bell to ring her up whenever some hapless fool needs to become dinner.
* On ''[[Bolt]]'', the villain of the [[Show Within a Show]] has two cats. The actors who play them love to torment Bolt (who thinks the show is real) by going to his trailer and make threats in character. After Bolt is lost, he mistakes stray alley cat Mittens for one of the Right-Hand Cats and tries to get her to take him back.
* Inverted in ''[[Cats and Dogs]]'' where the villains of the film are cats who just happen to be led by a white Persian. The leader Persian Cat invokes this trope to interact with humans, using a comatose man in a wheelchair. The human's mouth has a bandana or something around it, so the cat make others think the human is talking, so as not to freak everybody out with a talking cat.
* In one of ''[[The Cannonball Run]]'' films, a Mob boss is seen stroking a cat. Then he looks down...and says (quietly and with no special tone), "This cat is dead. Bring me another cat." The mooks do.
Line 151 ⟶ 148:
=== [[Literature]] ===
* Gregor Brastov in [[Kim Newman]]'s alternate-history vampire novel ''[[Anno Dracula|Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha]]'' (a.k.a. ''Judgment of Tears'') is a Blofeldish cat-stroking archvillain who turns out to be {{spoiler|just a puppet manipulated by the real archvillain -- his cat. [[Captain Ersatz|Hamish Bond]] should have remembered that some vampires have [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]].}}
* ''[[Discworld]]''
** Parodied in the series, when Lord Vetinari, a [[Magnificent Bastard]] dictator who began as a sort of Blofeld spoof, had an old terrier called Wuffles, even though other characters and the narrator had him pegged as the "white cat stroking type".
** In the [[Time Travel]] [[Prequel]] ''[[
** Played with in that the Evil Lord Harry Dread, who would like to be the kind of villain that has a white cat, is allergic to them and has to settle for a pet Hamster instead.
* In the book ''1633'' (in which an American town is transported to 17th-c. Europe), the people of Grantville send Cardinal Richelieu a Siamese cat as a "diplomatic offering". He takes it and strokes it in exactly the way described here. (Persians evidently were introduced in Europe in 1620 according to T.O.W., so one of them wouldn't have been quite as impressive a gift, though a modern Persian's appearance is evidently very different-looking to those times'.)
Line 183 ⟶ 180:
===
* Creepily subverted in the play ''[[Woyzeck]]'' (as well as the opera and rock opera based thereon). Although [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|the Doctor]] has a pet cat, he [[Kick the Dog|throws it out the window]] [[For Science!|just to see whether it lands on its feet.]]
* In a version of ''The Pink Wasp and Yellow Jacket'', the villain has a cat that he would periodically forget he was holding and accidentally throw into the air. At one point, Yellow Jacket, played as a asian stereotype, picks up the cat and tries to eat it.
Line 202 ⟶ 199:
* Referenced in the commentary of [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0275.html this strip] of ''[[Darths and Droids]]''.
* In ''[[Scandinavia and The World]]'', any of the characters (notably, Russia) can appear stroking a white cat while in "evil mastermind" mode.
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [
Line 217 ⟶ 214:
* In ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' episode where Timmy wished that life was an action movie, Jorgen turns villain complete with pet cat, who he accidentally abuses so much it does a [[Heel Face Turn]].
* Parodied in the ''[[Total Drama Action]]'' episode "Dial M for Merger". As a parody of spy movies, Chris introduces the challenge wearing an [[Eyepatch of Power|eyepatch]] and petting a white cat. Afterwards, [[Animals Hate Him|the cat attacks him]].
* Discussed in ''[[Bob's Burgers]]''. where Bob's landlord Mr. Fisher is an eccentric rich guy who wears an outdated white suit, an eyepatch, and drives a golf cart (as in, not while playing golf, he drives it instead of a car). Louise says he's "one white cat away from being a super-villain."
=== Real Life ===
Line 231 ⟶ 228:
== Right-Hand Cat Substitutes ==
=== Anime
* In ''[[Read or Die]]'', {{spoiler|The Gentleman}} has a turtle instead.
* Played with in the ''[[Hellsing]]'' manga and OVA with the [[Big Bad|Major]] and Schrödinger, a [[Catboy]] subordinate fond of sitting on the floor next to his superior's [[Cool Chair|chair]] with his head at convenient scratching height.
Line 243 ⟶ 240:
===
* ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]]'' film. The [[Big Bad]] of the "Taarna" segment has a Right-Hand Rat: a giant rat-like creature with a nasty snarl. He petted it while it sat next to him.
* In ''[[Twice Upon a Time (1983 film)|Twice Upon a Time]]'', Synonamess Botch has a pet armadillo named Ratatooie.
* In ''[[Despicable Me]]'', Gru has a bizarre-looking mongrel dog named Kyle.
* Early on in ''[[Megamind]]'', the title villain uses one of his Brain-bots for this purpose.
* Spoofed in ''[[Spice World]]'', where [[James Bond (film)|Roger Moore]], unseen, strokes a series of increasingly ludicrous pets as he plays the Spice Girls' corporate boss.
* ''[[Dirty Work]]'' (1998): the villain holds his tiny dog a lot. The protagonists speculate that their relationship is not entirely platonic.
Line 258 ⟶ 252:
* ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock]]'': The Klingon Villain Kruge has a pet "Monster Dog" on board his Bird of Prey, which is said to be a cross between a lizard and a timber wolf.
* Jabba the Hutt from ''[[Star Wars]]'' has Salacious Crumb, a mischevious "Kowakian monkey-lizard" which officies as jester in the crime lord's court.
* In ''[[A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!
Line 311 ⟶ 305:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:Obviously Evil]]
Line 316 ⟶ 311:
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Feline Tropes]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
| |||