The Validity of Anthropomorphism (Scrappy Doo Hate Post)

    Pop culture, especially when marketed to children, is saturated with talking animals. Let's take a look at a few examples of anthropomorphism and decide whether it would make a difference if these cuddly creatures were replaced with humans. Our criteria will be anatomical accuracy, behaviors, and relationship to the human world.

Stuart Little

A horrifying non-mouse

 

I hate Stuart Little so much. There's no reason for him to be a mouse except so that he can get into hilarious and wacky misadventures based on his small size. In fact, we aren't even sure that he's a mouse. His biological parents, as per the E.B. White novel, are humans who gave birth to some sort of mini eldritch horror. As far as acting like a mouse, he wears human clothes, speaks English, and drives a car? Nothing he does indicated that he is a rodent, which indeed he may not be.

Robin Hood 

"A kiss for the winner? Oo-de-lally!"

This largely overlooked Disney gem is one of my absolute favorite movies. The music is fantastic, the animation is charming, and the humor stands up even on the hundredth viewing. But why would they all need to be animals? As far as physical characteristics go, all characters except Sir Hiss are bipedal. Sir Hiss, being a snake, slithers, but does so with his head upright like a person walking. They also all speak English and seem to have no trouble communicating across species barriers. However, I still think animals were the right choice for this movie. Why? Because Robin Hood is a folktale, so using animal stereotypes helps to simplify the story. Robin Hood is a fox because he's sneaky and clever. He goes up against the wolfish Sheriff of Nottingham, sneaky serpentine advisor Sir Hiss, and cowardly lion Prince John. The lines between good and bad are drawn by species to show how the powerful prey upon the weak: crocodiles, elephants, and rhinos attack mice, rabbits, and chickens. So although these may be only symbolic animals, this aspect is important to the storytelling.

Bambi

Bambi, Flower, and Thumper

 

The American Film Institute published a list of the 100 top villains and the hunter who shot Bambi's mom made the list, just above Jack Torrance from the Shining. Why? Overall, he made no significant dent in the ecosystem and Bambi turned out fine. People forget that besides the sparse dialogue, the animals of Bambi's forest are really and truly animal. They live in their actual habitats, mature at the rate of real animals, and follow the patterns of the changing seasons. They aren't some sort of pants-wearing, car-driving miniature humanoids. Call me a psychopath, but Bambi's mother's death was part of the circle of life. Speaking of... 

The Lion King

It's what Shakespeare would've wanted.

These animals are sort of a happy medium between Robin Hood and Bambi. They walk on four legs and live in the wild, but have more complex social structures and sing and dance in a cartoonish way. Could this movie be made with humans? Yes, maybe it could be set in Denmark. We could rename Timon and Pumbaa something like "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern"... oh wait. Anyways, I think the Lion King needs to involve lions because ecology is one of the central messages, which we can see more clearly through the eyes of the animal kingdom.

Scooby-Doo

 

Name a more iconic team.

 

The writers of Scooby-Doo somehow created the perfect formula that has been entertaining kids for decades with no end in sight. Part of this is the balance of characters that work together to keep the show funny, interesting, easy to follow, and surprisingly full of warmth. At the heart of this is the beloved dog, Scooby. He is the mascot of the team and really the emotional crux of the show. My only complaint about him is that he sometimes acts as a deus ex machina, getting the gang out of tough situations just through happy coincidences, which is a bit lazy. He walks on four legs and generally acts like a dog, as far as being loyal and motivated by dog treats. Shaggy, it is worth noting, is also motivated by dog treats. My only explanation for this is that he is high as a kite in every episode, but hey, it was the 60s. But I digress. 

Why does Scrappy wear a collar? He could literally just call an Uber if he got lost.

Scrappy Doo, Scooby's nephew, is another matter entirely. This minotaur-ish monstrosity has the head of a dog, but a humanoid body. He speaks perfect English, unlike Scooby's intelligible barks. There is no reason for him to be a dog, in fact, there is no reason for him to even exist. Adding or subtracting any element from the Scooby gang results in lackluster episodes. Why repaint the Mona Lisa? 

 Zootopia

Sometimes I wish the world had just ended in 2012.

 

It's hard for me to distinguish my feelings for this movie (largely negative) from my feelings on the need for anthropomorphism. At this point, animation has reached a level of realism that the animals become disturbing. They are all fully clothed and bipedal. I would say that the argument of Robin Hood applies to some degree, as there is the same dynamic between predators and prey, however, Zootopia is too self-aware. It tries to explain why the people are animals, which just makes it more confusing. If the meteor missed the dinosaurs, why wouldn't there have been some other extinction event? Furthermore, why would multiple species become sentient? Why would any species need to be sentient? I know that suspension of disbelief is necessary to enjoy a movie, but I would be a lot happier if they didn't address how sexy bipedal antelope Shakira came into being.

The Jungle Book (1967 Disney cartoon) 

Baloo, Mowgli, and Bagheera.

 

 This one is a given. The story is about a boy who lives with animals. Of course they would have to have some way to communicate, or it would be a pretty boring movie. The animals have similar traits to those you would find in the wild. For instance, the wolf pack is protective and hierarchically structured, the monkeys are curious and inventive, and the tiger is aggressive. This is another movie that has stood the test of time well. 

Tangled

This is basically the plot of the movie.

 

At this point in Disney's history, they are self-aware about animal sidekicks. Cinderella had mice and birds, Pocahontas had a raccoon and a hummingbird, Belle had an ottoman. But the Max the horse and Pascal the chameleon are in a league of their own. They contributed so many laughs to an already hilarious movie.

Max's expressions are so funny throughout

 

Most importantly, they don't talk. They don't need to tell jokes. Some animal sidekick characters (Olaf, Mushu, Donkey from Shrek) are very funny, but their comedy is mostly verbal. A truly top tier sidekick should rely more on physical humor, reactions, and their jokes should be more along the lines of lazzi, a funny situation happening in the background of the action. The animal characters of Tangled don't say a word, but their timing is perfect.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

The stop-motion animation is stunning

 

I will admit, I love Wes Anderson. I also love Roald Dahl. This is a perfect storm. It's also a very fresh take on talking animals. These animals know they are animals. They live in human houses in animal settings. For instance, the Fox family moves to a tree. They use a moving company to do it. Somehow, it really works. 

Prime real estate being sold by a weasel.

The animals in the movie are bipedal and fully clothed. However, they are approximately the same size as their actual species when compared to the human scale, a la Stuart Little. They can communicate with humans nonverbally as well as through written communication. Basically, it seems like it would violate everything I just established about animals I do and do not like. But it's different! This movie was definitely made with a bit of a wink and a nod, as evidenced by the snappy dialogue. Maybe because there is no explanation of how this world works. We are simply thrown in, in medias res. Obviously we know what Whack-Bat is, why Bean's apple cider is so good, and where they got all those fake bandit masks! 

A diagram on how to play Whack-Bat, a fictional sport made up for this movie.

 

These talking animals work because they aren't given to us as watered down, palatable, adorable little humans, but inhabit their own world that we have to run to keep up with. For the other animals in this post, they were made animal to make stories easier for children to understand and maybe just cuter, but the human-animal dynamic in Fantastic Mr. Fox actually makes the story more complicated than just predators and prey.