Basic Trope: An animal is motivated to move by dangling food in front of its face on a stick.
- Straight: Alice has a mule. She rides it around, using a carrot on a stick to keep it going.
- Exaggerated: Alice's mule goes from 'refuses to move' to 'faster than light' the second it sees the carrot.
- Downplayed: ???
- Justified: The mule is dumb enough not to realize that it won't get the carrot.
- Inverted: Alice uses a scary object on a stick to make the mule go the other direction.
- Subverted: The mule was walking forward of its own free will, as the Talking Animal explains before eating the carrot mid-walk.
- Double Subverted: But later it turns out the mule was trying to save face for being tricked so easily.
- Parodied: Alice rides around on a Kaiju. She has an elaborate setup to dangle an appetizing human in front of it.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Alice uses some other means to motivate her mule.
- Enforced: Rule of Funny
- Lampshaded: "Would you do it for a carrot on a stick?"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: The mule feigns unwillingness so it can get a chance at the carrot.
- Defied: The mule refuses to be fooled and stays where it is.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed
- The mule streches out its neck and eats the carrot.
- The mule realizes eventually that it will never get the carrot.
- Reconstructed
- Alice gets a longer stick to hang her next carrot from.
- Alice occasionally lets the mule have its carrot, which ensures that it will continue.
Back to Motivation on a Stick
