Basic Trope: Non-human primates are often portrayed as intelligent and usually sophisticated/civilized individuals.
- Straight: Charlie is a Talking Animal chimpanzee who is portrayed as very refined and intelligent.
- Exaggerated:
- Charlie is so smart that he's omniscient.
- All of the primates shown in the work are highly intelligent.
- Downplayed:
- Charlie is shown to have intelligence levels that are only slightly above average.
- Charlie is a normal chimpanzee, but shows some Amplified Animal Aptitude.
- Justified:
- Truth in Television - primates are some of the smartest animals in the world.
- Charlie is an Uplifted Animal.
- Charlie used to be a human before he was turned into a chimpanzee, but retained his intelligence anyway.
- Inverted: Charlie the chimpanzee is The Ditz, or even Too Dumb to Live.
- Subverted: ???
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied:
- Charlie works as a scientist in an otherwise human-dominated field. No one ever questions this.
- Alice and Bob are chased by a Killer Gorilla, who abruptly stops to recite Shakespearean poetry in a posh British accent.
- Zig-Zagged: Charlie's intelligence level seems to vary depending on the writer. Sometimes, he's portrayed as highly intelligent, sometimes he's only of average intelligence, and sometimes he's The Ditz.
- Averted: Primates are not particularly portrayed as intelligent.
- Enforced: Animal Stereotypes
- Lampshaded: "I guess monkeys really are smart!"
- Invoked:
- Charlie's zookeepers teach him how to use sign language to communicate.
- Charlie is made into an Uplifted Animal.
- Exploited: Alice becomes friends with Charlie the chimpanzee, and he helps her with her homework.
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "That chimp from Charlie and Friends is so smart! Are real primates as smart as him?"
- Implied: Charlie is a non-anthropomorphic chimpanzee with little characterization, but there are some signs that he seems to know what's going on.
- Played for Laughs: Charlie combines this trope with Silly Simian, being a smart comic relief character.
- Played for Horror: Charlie is an Evil Genius and/or Mad Scientist.
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