Animal Motifs / Film

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Animated

• Jafar, the villain of Aladdin, was given a snake motif: his hat and robes resemble the hood and body of a cobra, he has vaguely serpentine eyes, teeth resembling a venomous snake's fangs, a constant tendency to flick out his tongue while speaking, he always carries a cobra-headed staff with him all the time, and at the end of the film, he even turns into one.
• The Book of Life:
  • Manolo with bulls. He comes from a family of bullfighters but can't bring himself to deliver the final blow.
  • Joaquin with eagles, given the small, but generous number of them surrounding him throughout the movie.
  • Xibalba with snakes, given his magical staff is a two-headed snake. Word of God even states that the snake staff is actually a part of Xibalba himself.
• An in-universe example in Brother Bear; the protagonist's spirit animal — much to his annoyance — is a bear, and he ends up getting transformed into one.
• From Coraline, the Other Mother is especially given the imagery of a spider. It's revealed to be her real form, and her kind is known to eat their offspring.
  • Bugs are everywhere in the film as well. The Other Mother added them to the Other World because she thought Coraline liked bugs (Coraline is always wearing a dragonfly hair clip).
• Several characters in Encanto. They're often incorporated onto that character's magical door and their clothing.
  • Butterflies are used for the family in general (there are butterfly designs on the magic candle) but are particularly associated with Mirabel and their grandfather Pedro.
  • Luisa has donkeys. She's The Reliable One who does most of the town's physical labor, feels like she needs to "carry their burdens," and is gentle despite her strength.
  • Antonio has jaguars and toucans, both of which are among his "pets." Mirabel also gives him a stuffed jaguar early in the film, while toucans are a symbol of communication.
  • Camilo has chameleons (notice that his name sounds similar).
  • Bruno has rats. Oddly, they don't relate directly to his gift, but he keeps them as pets, and, like him, they live in the walls and have a bad reputation.
• The Big Bad of How to Train Your Dragon 2, Drago, has an elephant motif. He's a large, burly man who carries a bullhook (a tool used to goad elephants) as a weapon, and his personal Bewilderbeast has two large tusks.
• In Ivanhoe (Burbank Animation), Bois-Gilbert has a raven motif, and Front-De-Bouef has a bull.
• The Great Mouse Detective: Basil and Ratigan carry some traits from the animals they choose as their companions. Ratigan, like his pet cat, preys on the mice around him and displays many Cats Are Mean tendencies. Basil, on the other hand, who 'owns' a dog, is a dogged and excitable eccentric similarly. Both characters are fixated on the other's defeat and exemplify Heroic Canines, Villainous Felines.
• Kung Fu Panda takes it so far as to name characters after what species they are (or what style of kung fu they practice). For example, Tigress practices Tiger Style, and her personality is deeply emotional and fiercely competitive. Monkey is playful and used to be the town prankster.
  • Master Oogway, a tortoise, is patient and wise.
  • The peacock Shen is a vain perfectionist.
• Beetles are a motif in Kubo and the Two Strings. A beetle is Kubo's family crest, the character of Beetle is self-explanatory, and the end credits are accompanied by a cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by The Beatles.
• Crows appear frequently in Loving Vincent as Armand's mission shifts from finding a recipient for Van Gogh's undelivered letter to working out how and why he died. The painting Wheatfield with Crows forms the basis for several scenes.
• The Prophet: There are a lot of avian ones about Mustafa and Almitra. Mustafa waxes poetic about the freedom that birds may aspire to with their wings and Almitra is often accompanied by a seagull that she emulates both as a fun-loving free spirit and as a scavenger.
• The Sea Beast: The sea beasts are pretty analogous to whales, who were vilified as aggressive, dangerous, and unknown sea monsters once upon a time, and for a long time. The Red Bluster drives fish to the surface using a similar move to real whales creating bubble nets. Red can also walk on land as a homage to whale evolution or "walking whales", albeit she is more like a seal or a sea lion (and actual walking whales were significantly smaller.) Whales are peaceful creatures by nature, who were basically saved in Real Life by crude oil destroying the whale oil economy. The idea that they were sensitive, intelligent animals wasn't discovered until ages later. The harpoons in Red's hide are also accurate, as 200-year-old whales with unexploded harpoons in their bodies have been discovered. The culture surrounding whaling was also pretty close to the fantasy hunters, as celebrated heroes who risked life and limb for the good of humanity.
• Song of the Sea: Saoirse and her mother Bronagh are associated with seals, due to them being selkies.
  • Macha the Owl Witch has a lot of owl imagery in her character design, as well as having barn owls for pets.
• In Turning Red, red panda motifs are everywhere in the Lee family temple including multiple red panda statues and practically all of their gift shop merchandise being red panda themed. Justified due to their ancestor, Sun Yee, having a strong connection with red pandas.
• Wolfwalkers: Even in her human form, Mebh still has a lot of traits associated with wolves, from having fangs to her fierce personality.

Live-Action

• Art of the Dead: In the 'Animals' painting series, each of the Seven Deadly Sins is represented by an animal. Characters corrupted by that painting begin to take on aspects of that animal.
  • Pride = Peacock
  • Lust = Goat
  • Gluttony = Pig
  • Sloth = Snail
  • Greed = Toad
  • Envy = Snake
  • Wrath = Lion
• In the 2016 film Before I Wake the child protagonist Cody is associated with butterflies due to his love of them. Whenever he falls asleep glowing butterflies are presented. In the final act Cody desperately protects social services by sticking them to the walls by the use of chrysalis. Jessie also defeats The Canker Man by presenting a butterfly pillow to it, in the end a smiling Cody learns to control his dreams by creating a dream butterfly in his open hand.
• Many of the characters in Blade Runner are associated with an animal, including all of the (confirmed) Replicants. Roy Batty, in fact, has two — wolves (his howling and stalking of Deckard in the climax) and doves (his final scene). His creator Dr. Tyrell has owls — his company's logo is an owl, he keeps a (Replicant) owl in his offices, his large glasses give him an owl-like appearance and he is a holder of knowledge like owls are often portrayed.
• Bram Stoker's Dracula has the obvious bat, rat, and wolf associations for the titular character, but there's also a snake motif for Lucy: her first appearance has her wearing an evening gown with snake embroidering and a hairdo resembling coiled snakes, the nightgown she wears when attacked by Dracula resembles a snake's belly, and her wedding/funeral dress was inspired by frill-necked lizards.
• Clock: Spiders (dead and alive) are present in Ella's hallucinations. She sees a huge tarantula crawl across her friend Shauna's pregnant belly and nearly squashes it flat with a book.
• In Confessions of a Psycho Cat, Virginia assigns animals to each of her 'prey', according to traits she sees within them: Freeman is a lion, Rocco is a bull, and Buddy is a jackal. This then influences the ways in which she kills them.
• The Conspiracy: Members of the Tarsus Club are divided into ravens and lions, complete with masks, and the core of their mythos is the worship of Mithras with a heavy focus on the bull hunting-and-slaying scene and a ritualistic murder symbolic of the latter in every meeting.
• In The Dark Knight, the Joker makes some references about dogs and their loyalty. One of the gangs in Gotham is led by a man who starves and abuses a group of dogs to make them viciously attack anyone. Joker sets them on him.
• The last shot of The Departed, a movie about a pair of moles within the Boston Mob and the Mass. "Staties" hunting each other, features a rat scurrying across a balcony
  • Spoofed on The Simpsons which did a parody of this movie. As the rat scurries by at the end, Ralph pops up and tells the audience, "The rat represents obviousness!"
• Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two: Not too obvious, but with his pasty grey skin, bald head, his corpulent physique, and the fact he bathes in black mud, the Baron is likened to a hippo or an elephant.
• In Ever After, when preparing for the masque, Marguerite is dressed as a peacock, beautiful and vain. By comparison, her sister, Jacqueline, who is kind and sweet, is dressed as a horse. The brief conversation they had before leaving also reflected Jacqueline's situation. She complained that she always wanted to be the peacock (someone beautiful and admired like her sister), in which her mother then told her a horse is still a noble creature. In the end, she chooses to help Danielle and falls in love with the guard captain, living happily in the castle with her stepsister, unlike her mother and sister.
• Forrest Gump:
  • Jenny is associated with birds, from the moment she asks Forrest to pray with her:
  • The prayer itself:
    Jenny: "Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far. Far, far away from here."
  • Which is recalled in a conversation after he sees Jenny performing on stage:
    Jenny: "Do you think I could fly off this bridge?"
  • Later, we see her contemplating suicide again, ready to jump off a high-riser, with Free Bird's solo wailing in the background.
  • And then, finally, after Forrest finishes talking to Jenny's gravestone, a flock of birds flies out of their tree as Forrest walks away.
• MonsterVerse: Common but not universal are, fittingly, Kaiju motifs for the human characters.
  • Godzilla (2014): Ford Brody has a minor association with Godzilla: They both have the same goal (Killing the MUTOs). During a lull in the final battle, both lock eyes, with Godzilla curiously examining Ford and Ford visibly awestruck in return. Ford's explosive distraction saves Godzilla's life from the MUTO pair, and Godzilla later returns the favor, saving Ford's life from the angry female MUTO as a possible case of Androcles' Lion. After the end of the battle, they fall unconscious and collapse at the same time. It's also implied that the kaiju skeleton in the cave at the beginning could have belonged to a parent, sibling, mate, or another familial relative of Godzilla, and therefore there's another parallel- if it's true, then both Ford and Godzilla have lost family to the MUTOs.
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): All over the place but to a more minor degree. Fitting this film's focus on the Titans as "godlike" in more ways than one, the human characters' motifs instead show up as them being reverential of/honoring/following one specific Titan, almost like priests or priestesses. Character arcs reflect concepts like losing (and regaining) one's faith, acting overly hubristic, and/or faith in a higher power and accepting humans aren't the biggest fish in the pond being required for victory.
    • Dr. Ishiro Serizawa: Godzilla.
    • Mark Russell: Also Godzilla.
    • Emma Russell: Seemingly Mothra, in actuality Ghidorah.
    • Madison Russell: Both Mothra and Godzilla. The latter becomes more prevalent in the sequel, Godzilla vs. Kong.
    • Alan Jonah: Ghidorah.
    • Ilene and Ling Chen: Mothra. It's pretty subtle, but if you know your Mothra lore, it becomes explicit and obvious, due to Canon Character All Along.
• Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai has this, but only a few animals show up more than once.
• In the 2016 The Great Wall, each of the five main groups of warriors protecting the titular wall are coded by the animals on their helmets and ornaments. The horse-riding cavalry are represented by a purple stag. The archers perched at the top are represented by a red bird. The artillery group handling the cannons and heavy-lifting are represented by a golden tiger. The elite female troops who spear their enemies from above are represented by a blue crane. And the main military force guarding the walls is represented by a grey bear.
• The Hobbit: The Marvelous Deer for the Elvenking Thranduil. He rides a giant stag, his throne is adorned with a massive pair of antlers, and the design of his circlet in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies includes highly stylized antlers. The Extended Edition of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug also shows Thorin shoot an arrow at a white stag, which Bilbo notes is a bad omen, shortly before running afoul of Thranduil.
• The Howling is filled with wolf motifs.
• From The Hunger Games: Catching Fire onward, Katniss Everdeen is strongly identified with mockingjays. She received a pin of one early in The Hunger Games and it became her symbol.
• James Bond:
  • Skyfall: Raul Silva compares himself and Bond being betrayed by the MI6 and targeting each other; to rats who were forced into a barrel, resorted to cannibalism, and even when released still choose to eat nothing but their own kind. Bond notes on this after he knifes Sliva in the back.
  Bond: Last rat standing, Mr Sliva...
  • Spectre:
    • Franz Oberhauser describes Bond as a cuckoo because Bond was adopted into Oberhauser's family and his father loved Bond more than Oberhauser, likening it to how a cuckoo bird would lay its eggs in another bird's nest and kick out the original eggs.
    • Oberhauser/ Ernst Stavro Blofeld chose an octopus as the titular Nebulous Evil Organization's logo, symbolizing its omnipresence and behind-the-scenes reach to tilt geopolitical events to its favor and Take Over the World.
• Rabbits of course in Jojo Rabbit. Jojo gains his derisive nickname at the Hitler Youth camp when he doesn't go through with killing the rabbit. Imaginary Hitler gives him a pep talk about the nickname by invoking the rabbit's "mighty" traits (being hard-working tricksters who survive the harshness of the wild by outwitting stronger animals). It's also ironic since Jojo immediately injures his leg in a grenade incident, slowing him down considerably. It quickly becomes clear that the name reflects the animal's innocent and peaceful nature as Jojo becomes increasingly disillusioned with Nazi propaganda.
• The Splices in Jupiter Ascending, with varying levels of subtlety.
  • Stinger is a beekeeper with incredibly precise piloting skills. He also used to have wings.
  • Caine is described in-universe as a lone wolf searching for a pack. His characterization is defined by his loyalty to Jupiter and martial skills.
• In Love Again, Mira writes children's books about a butterfly hesitant to leave its cocoon, which is also a metaphor for her being unwilling to move past her grief.
• Mirror, Mirror has the Queen dressed as a vain peacock during the thematic ball. In contrast, Snow White is a swan and Prince Alcott is a rabbit.
• Napoléon (1927):
  • Napoléon Bonaparte had a pet eagle as a child and is represented by eagles throughout the film (his Real Life imperial symbol as well).
  • Maximilien Robespierre is introduced sitting beneath a statue of a vulture. No points for subtlety there.
• The Northman:
  • Ravens represent Aurvandill (who is called "War-Raven") as well as Odin (who used ravens as messengers in Norse myths).
  • Both Amleth and his father are both associated with canines. Aurvandil likens himself to a battle dog when he returns to his hall and greets Amleth and Gudrun. Right behind him comes Fjolnir with two hounds on leashes. The rite of passage Amleth endures involves him and Aurvandil acting like feral dogs while being tested by Heimer to prove their humanity. The pre-raid ritual Amleth takes part in with the Beserkers similarly involves them channeling their ferocity while wearing wolf pelts. A small black dog acts as Amleth's guide throughout his entire quest.
  • The beheading of a horse is shown to represent the end of the mourning process for Vikings, and Fjolnir's declaration of revenge after Thorir's funeral and later at the base of the volcano where Fjolnir brings the corpses of Gudrun and Gunnar before the final battle.
• Count Orlok, of the 1920's vampire film Nosferatu has a subtle plague rat motif as his base. His famous appearance combines needle-like incisors reminiscent of a rat's front teeth, Bald of Evil, elongated pointy ears, Creepy Long Fingers, and a set of facial features (pinched cheeks, long pointy nose) that make one think "rat". He seems to summon a Swarm of Rats wherever he goes, and the effects of his feeding are mistaken as some kind of plague.
• Only Stwpd Cowz Txt N Drive: Cassie Cowan has a cow motif. Her surname is Cowan, her nickname is Cow, her alarm clock is cow-themed, and she buys a cow charm with her friends. However, "Cow" has also be an insult, usually directed towards women; this is intentional, as Cassie frequently texts and drives, which ends up causing a huge crash that claims at least four lives.
• On the Waterfront has a bird motif. There are many references to birds that mirror the various human interactions in the plot.
• Original Piranha has a sea life motif.
• The angels in The Prophecy and its sequels perch like birds instead of sitting down like humans, which evokes the presence of their wings even when they are not shown.
• Psycho also has a bird motif, associating Norman Bates's female victims with the birds he stuffs. He comments that Marion Crane (note the surname), from Phoenix, Arizona, eats like a bird shortly before killing her. In the finale, we learn that he has preserved the corpse of his mother with his taxidermy skills. There are many, many different references to the bird motif throughout the film. Try to find them all!
• In Rebecca (1940), the animal favoured by the nameless heroine is the lap-dog, Jasper. Rebecca, however, is regularly mentioned in conjunction with horses. The second Mrs. de Winter is meek, mild, and childish, always eager to please and desperate for her husband's approval, to the point where she is almost pathetic. Rebecca, however, is wild and dangerous and too powerful for Max De Winter to keep control of — especially since the horses mentioned alongside her are crazy with pain, as Rebecca whips them into a frenzy.
• In Return of the Jedi, the windows in Emperor Palpatine's throne room on the Death Star resemble spider webs, referring to his intricate plotting and scheming throughout the series.
• The Jigsaw Killer and his accomplices from Saw tend to be associated with pigs. The first killer was a believer in the Eastern Zodiac, and his unborn son would have been born on the Year of the Pig. He instead twists this imagery to symbolize a decaying world, abducting people using disturbing pig masks and designing a trap in which rotten pig carcasses are ground up above a man. Similarly, in Spiral (2021), the Spiral Killer's taunting use of the imagery (including a monstrous-looking pig marionette in place of Jigsaw's traditional "Billy" puppet) is in line with the metaphor for the corrupt police officers he targets being "pigs".
• Spencer: Diana comes to identify with the pheasants the royals shoot for pleasure — common, pretty enough, but bred for slaughter. It's not a coincidence that her first moment of assertion is interrupting said shoot and demanding her sons come with her.
• From Sherlock Holmes (2009), a crow is always seen whenever Lord Blackwood is about to kill someone. So in the end, when Lord Blackwood really does die for real, it flies away. The crow turns out to be nothing more than a normal crow.
• At one point in Star Trek (2009), McCoy indirectly referred to Kirk as a stallion, who had started out wild, reckless, and proud. Eventually, he does grow up and becomes "tamed" and more controlled of his emotions.
• James Cameron has stated that he used a butterfly motif on Rose in Titanic (1997). Most evident in the (in)famous "I'm flying!" scene.
• Arliss Loveless, the Big Bad of Wild Wild West, has a spider motif, best exemplified by his ultimate weapon: a giant mechanical spider.
• The Wolverine: Next to the Wolverine, we also have the Viper, and the film alludes often to the animalistic natures of both.
• In the opening credits of the 1939 film version of The Women, each major character is represented by an animal, which dissolves into the face of the actress. (As with the human characters, all animals in the movie were female.)
• The beautiful and beloved Miranda in Picnic at Hanging Rock is associated with a swan.

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