This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: The Unhuggables: From YKTTW
TTD: Edited the description so it gets to the point faster.
Your Obedient Serpent removed the following from the Jay Naylor example:
- Jews as Mice already has a precedent, from the comic Maus. Hyenas, on the other hand, are scavengers that live off the kills of other animals. (There may be some common perception of them not doing anything for themselves; this is untrue. They do hunt.) Hyenas are also carrion eaters. Hence why, given the particulars, it can come across as Unfortunate Implications.
As SAMAS says, "the public image of Hyenas is all wrong."
More correctly, Hyenas have a reputation as scavengers that live off the kills of other animals. They are, however, active hunters, and more often than not, it's the proud, noble lions who steal the kills from the "carrion eaters". (All predators are opportunistic, and will cheerfully indulge in any "free meals" they might find lying around.)
TTD: Hell, Bald Eagles are scavengers for the most part - though you don't hear much about it, do you?
TTD: Not sure about the "Real Life" bit. Seems to attract "natter". On the other hand, the Coelocanth's tale of woe must be told. Any thoughts?
Count Spatula: Yeah, I'd say keeping the Ceolocath bit there. I was considering adding something about pescetarians under that section, but I'm worried it would just degenerate into argument.
TTD: This trope in action! <:( I know my endangered species, but I have never heard of the Pescetarian.
Diddgery: Like with Reptiles Are Abhorrent, I removed a reference to the Bangaa from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. "They're the only race in Final fantasy tactics advance that are enemies and common ones at that," my butt.
Dioschorium: This troper apparently has a very strange sence of aestethics as he considers many reptiles very cute.
I've always liked insects. Praying mantids are my favorite.
TTD: Sorry to have to cut that as it'd just go on and on into Natter, but I'll add a bit in the description of how good it is that so many Tropers like "Non-Cutes"
Also, I cut this and added something in the description about how Your Mileage May Vary do to cultural reasons:
- I'm not entirely sure where the idea that foxes are "traditionally nice animals" came from. Traditionally, they're bad guys; though recently, people have started to notice they can be kind of cute, so it still sort of fits the trope.
- In virtually every culture that comes in contact with them, foxes are just changeable and tricky. They are sometimes helpful, often harmful, and generally untrustworthy, from the Japanese kitsune to the French Reynard. A fox isn't necessarily a good guy, but they're usually more ambiguous than to be just a bad guy.
- Someone should have told that to the Koreans, because their version of kitsune called "kumiho" transform into beautiful maidens, lure unsuspecting men away, and feed on their internal organs.
- I'm not entirely sure where the idea that foxes are "traditionally nice animals" came from. Traditionally, they're bad guys; though recently, people have started to notice they can be kind of cute, so it still sort of fits the trope.
At this point, as the Trope launcher, I have to say how happy I am that this has struck a chord. More to the point, I'm happy that I'm not the only one bothered by this.
TTD: OK, I'm going to make an It Just Bugs Me! page for the Real Life examples. It's turning into Complaining About Environmental Policies You Don't Like - and it's becoming too hypocritical for this trope.
Should the thing about cats in the opening be corrected? They don't normally like having their stomach area rubbed and aren't asking for that when they roll on their backs.
"Where are the wise crows, easygoing iguanas, relentless all-consuming caterpillars, murderous doves, Axe Crazy chimpanzees, bullying swans, ad infinitum? (Okay, the relentless all-consuming caterpillars do get their representation... but said caterpillar is still "cute".)"
The Big Bad(s) in the Star Control series of games are a race of un-cute relentless all-consuming caterpillars.
This trope is partially justified in real life, since we've evolved to find things dangerous to us disgusting. There is a reason we find parasitic creatures abhorrent for example.
Okay, I edited the Beast Wars bit. Silverbolt is NOT a vulture. He is a wolf/eagle fuzor. I left him in the list, though. I'm not sure if he still applies. Eagles are seen as noble and wolves are often loved, despite their predatory natures. Just making a note of it.
- In the sequel—which, granted, didn't happen—he gets a vulture beast form instead.
- The sequels kind of messed this up, however. Up until then, many fans naturally came to the conclusion that Fiona had started out as an ogress and was "cursed" to turn into an "ugly" human during the day. The 3-D film at the Universal parks darn near confirms this. And then "Shrek 2" comes along and reveals Fiona's human parents. So Yeah.
- Actually, the second movie confirms that the ogress is Fiona's true form pretty clearly. Her father's a frog. A frog turned into a human, but still a frog. Apparently, frog + human = ogre.
- To be fair, he was a frog cursed into the form of a human by the
witch-ish villain of the movie.
Is it just me that finds the coelacanth picture adorable? Look at its li'l smile! D'awwwwww. (I mean, I can understand if it's ugly and smelly IRL, but that has to be, like, the worst picture to sum up this trope! :P) ~Finlay
