History Main / FurryLens

* This was Creator/WaltDisney's intent with the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts characters. Early shorts clearly had them as animals however eventually he began to see them as humans who simply look like animals to the audience. This explains why many older shorts [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy portray the characters living alongside humans]]. He banned any {{Furry Reminder}}s, such as Mickey eating cheese. Since Walt's death, Disney has ignored this idea, and the idea that the characters were "actually" human was gradually discarded. WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse and the others are repeatedly noted to be {{Funny Animal}}s and {{Furry Reminder}}s aren't that uncommon.

* This was Creator/WaltDisney's intent with the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts characters. Early shorts clearly had them as animals however eventually he began to see them as humans who simply look like animals to the audience. This explains why many older shorts [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy portray the characters living alongside humans]]. He banned any {{Furry Reminder}}s, such as Mickey eating cheese. Since Walt's death, Disney has ignored this idea. WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse and the others are repeatedly noted to be {{Funny Animal}}s and {{Furry Reminder}}s aren't that uncommon.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' may or may not qualify. The original books and the very earliest episodes of the TV series stated or at least implied that the characters are animals, albeit functionally human. However, as the TV series went on, even these {{Furry Reminder}}s were phased out, and this trope is often thought to be in effect. This is most obvious in the episode where Arthur and his friends watch the self-parody "Andy Aardvark" and point out all the FridgeLogic inherent in a FunnyAnimal series. Much like in ''The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck'' mentioned above, historical figures and racial profiling match those of the real world, further suggesting the characters see themselves as humans.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' may or may not qualify. The original books and the very earliest episodes of the TV series stated or at least implied that the characters are animals, albeit functionally human. However, as the TV series went on it established the characters as being essentially human for all intents and purposes. This is most obvious in the episode where Arthur and his friends watch the self-parody "Andy Aardvark" and point out all the FridgeLogic inherent in a FunnyAnimal series. Much like in ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'' mentioned above, historical figures and racial profiling match those of the real world, further suggesting the characters see themselves as humans.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' may or may not qualify. The original books and the very earliest episodes of the TV series stated or at least implied that the characters are animals, albeit functionally human. However, as the TV series went on it established the characters as being essentially human for all intents and purposes. This is most obvious in the episode where Arthur and his friends watch the self-parody "Andy Aardvark" and point out all the FridgeLogic inherent in a FunnyAnimal series. Much like in ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'' mentioned above, historical figures and racial profiling matches that of the real world rather than being species-based, further suggesting the characters see themselves as humans.

Some creators, however, go one step further and make the characters straight up '''not''' anthropomorphic animals at all, but human beings, ''visually portrayed'' as anthropomorphic animals. In this case, the characters are contextually human beings, but are portrayed as animals, often for symbolic reasons.

* This was Creator/WaltDisney's intent with the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts characters. Early shorts clearly had them as animals however eventually he began to see them as humans who simply look animal to the audience. This explains why many older shorts [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy portray the characters living alongside humans]]. He banned any {{Furry Reminder}}s, such as Mickey eating cheese. Since Walt's death, Disney has ignored this idea. WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse and the others are repeatedly noted to be {{Funny Animal}}s and {{Furry Reminder}}s aren't that uncommon.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' may or may not qualify. The original books and early episodes stated or at least implied that the characters are animals, however most episodes past season one do not. This is most obvious in the episode where Arthur and his friends watch the self-parody "Andy Aardvark" and point out all the FridgeLogic inherent in a FunnyAnimal series.

* This was Creator/WaltDisney's intent with the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts characters. Early shorts clearly had them as animals however eventually he began to see them as humans who simply look animal to the audience. This explains why many older shorts [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy portray the characters living alongside humans]]. He banned any {{Furry Reminder}}s, such as Mickey eating cheese. Since Walt's death, Disney has ignored this idea. WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse and the others are repeatedly noted to be {{Funny Animal}}s and Furry Reminders aren't that uncommon.

** Taken to its logical conclusion in ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfTheThreeCaballeros'' where Panchito (who is depicted as a rooster) has this to say:
->"We're not birds. Its not like we can fly".

* According to Sanrio, this is what ''Franchise/HelloKitty'' is.

* Punpun and his family from ''Manga/GoodnightPunpun'' are depicted as [[StylisticSuck sloppily drawn]] cartoon birds. Everyone else is a semi-realistic human. It's been shown that Punpun is also a human, and that "Punpun" probably isn't even his real name, however he resembles a bird to the reader. [[spoiler:Punpun's form also changes when he becomes dark or depressed]]. Punpun's real face is never fully depicted, only bits and pieces of it are shown at a time. A character drew him once however [[TheUnreveal marked out the eyes]].

* The characters of ''Webcomic/{{Lackadaisy}}'' are portrayed as anthropomorphic cats, but (at least in the canon strips) act exactly like prohibition-era humans. The non-canon strips have an occasional FurryReminder, like Rocky claiming he had to shave Freckle's face to see his freckle, and the characters being confused what Tracy J. Butler's AuthorAvatar (depicted as a cartoony human) actually is. Tracy J. Butler also made some drawings how the characters would look like as humans - which is presumably their actual appearance.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' may or may not qualify. The original books and early episodes stated or at least implied that the characters are animals, however most episodes past season one do not. This is most obvious in the episode where Arthur and his friends watch the self-parody "Andy Aardvark" and point out all the FridgeLogic.

* The TropeNamer is ''ComicBook/{{Circles}}'', where the characters are drawn as various anthropomorphic animals, but stated by WordOfGod to be actually human beings seen through a "furry lens". Finally confirmed in the last "issue", which is actually an illustrated novel, where the narration pretty explicitly describes the characters as human... while the illustrations still show them as animals.

* ''ComicBook/{{Circles}}'' is a story about the lives of a group of gay men, going through the standard issues of the time (homophobia, relationship dramas, AIDS, grieving people dead [[spoiler:due to '''all''' of those incidents]], et cetera), with the main characters depicted as rather fuzzy mammals. Notably, however, the characters are actually contextually human beings; we're only seeing them through a "furry lens", and the illustrated novel that concludes the comic does in fact describe them as such rather than the anthropomorphic animals they are in the visual art.

* ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'' is an a biography of Creator/ArtSpiegelman's father, in which various ethnic groups are visually portrayed as animal species (i.e. Jews as mice, Germans as cats, French as frogs, et cetera). Contextually, they are still human beings, not allegorical animals representing human groups (though a few gags mock the concept).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' may or may not qualify. The original books and early episodes implied that the characters are animals, however most episodes past season one do not. This is most obvious in the episode where Arthur and his friends watch the self-parody "Andy Aardvark" and point out all the FridgeLogic.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' has toyed with this trope a lot. The original books and early episodes implied that the characters are animals, however most episodes past season one imply that they're actually humans. This is most obvious in the episode where Arthur and his friends watch the self-parody "Andy Aardvark" and point out all the FridgeLogic.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' has toyed with this trope a lot. The original books and early episodes implied that the characters are animals, however most episodes past season one imply that they're actually humans.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'' has both its anthropomorphic characters, who live exactly like regular humans, and actual animals, with no suggestion that they're meant to be the same. There are even references to "people" and "humanity," with only a FurryReminder or two that would suggest they're really meant to be animals.
[[/folder]]

Sub-trope to StylizedForTheViewer. Compare and contrast FurryDenial, which can invoke this, but it is (usually; see the Disney examples below) non-overlapping since it ''directly acknowledges'' that the characters are animals.

* Punpun and his family from ''Manga/OyasumiPunpun'' are depicted as [[StylisticSuck sloppily drawn]] cartoon birds. Everyone else is a semi-realistic human. It's been shown that Punpun is also a human, and that "Punpun" probably isn't even his real name, however he resembles a bird to the reader. [[spoiler:Punpun's form also changes when he becomes dark or depressed]]. Punpun's real face is never fully depicted, only bits and pieces of it are shown at a time. A character drew him once however [[TheUnreveal marked out the eyes]].

* The video for Music/DaftPunk's "Da Funk" shows an anthropomorphic dog walking around New York City with a boom box playing the song. He has a number of small adventures, but no one seems to acknowledge that he's an anthropomorphic dog.

[[/folder]]

* Punpun and his family from ''Manga/OyasumiPunpun'' are depicted as [[StylisticSuck sloppily drawn]] cartoon birds. Everyone else is a semi-realistic human. It's been shown that Punpun is also a human, and that "Punpun" probably isn't even his real namw, however he resembles a bird to the reader. [[spoiler:Punpun's form also changes when he becomes dark or depressed]]. Punpun's real face is never fully depicted, only bits and pieces of it are shown at a time. A character drew him once however [[TheUnreveal marked out the eyes]].

The Furry writer's podcast [[http://fangsandfonts.com/ "Fangs and Fonts"]] refers to this type of fiction as "zipperback", with the implication that the characters might as well be humans in fursuits.