History WesternAnimation / YourFriendTheRat

* TheCameo:
** Music/TheBeatles have a brief cameo near the end (complete with a rat assisting [[Music/RingoStarr Ringo]] on drums).
** When the flea of the Black Death is mentioned, [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife P.T. Flea]] appears.

* CompanyCrossReferences: P.T. Flea from ''A Bug's Life'' appears, trying to catch the audience's attention when a flea is credited with the Black Plague. Remy mentions it's not him, to which P.T. Flea becomes disappointed.

* Anachronism Stew: The film points out that John Berkenhout coined the term "Norway rat", and then shows a Viking ship full of humans and rats. However, Berkenhout lived in the 18th century, long after the end of the Viking age.

* RandomlyReversedLetters: The chalkboard behind Remy and Emile features a backwards R at the beginning (when it reads "A History of Rats") and the end ("Plan B: Mars Song) of the film.

* ArtShift: The short has 3D animation, 2D animation, clay animation, and even a scene done in the style of an 80s video game.
** It also has live action (the flea) and a section which is a pastiche of the earliest (silent) movies.
* TheCameo: Music/TheBeatles have a brief cameo near the end (complete with a rat assisting [[Music/RingoStarr Ringo]] on drums).

* YouDirtyRat: Already averted with Remy and Emile, and the entire short is one big aversion of this trope. The two rats explain that rats are not all bad, and, among other things, that it was the flea that got on the rat, not the rat itself, that caused TheBlackDeath. The rat was as much a victim as humans were. In fact, the Norway rat, the kind of rat that Remy and Emile are, had supposedly helped to end the Black Death.
** And then this trope is both played with and double subverted at the very end, when [[RattlingOffLegal a cautionary disclaimer]], allegedly from the clip's producers, scrolls by to remind the audience that rats are vicious, unsanitary, pestilent vermin, and anyone who interacts with them does so at their own risk, as Remy and Emile can be heard vigorously protesting in the background.

* ExecutiveMeddling[[invoked]]: Parodied in the ending, which has a [[RattlingOffLegal prolonged legalistic crawl]] warning people that Pixar does not encourage people to have contact with rats. Remy and Emile object to the inclusion of this producer-imposed warning and even push the crawling words aside as best they can.

* ArtShift: The short has 3D animation, 2D animation, clay animation, and even a scene done in the style of an old arcade game.

* EarlyBirdCameo: WesternAnimation/WallE shows up for a moment driving a lunar rover.
* EducationalShort: It both spoofs this and plays it straight, as tongue-in-cheek as the short is it still manages to accurately teach a lot about the history of rats in a short span of time.
* ExecutiveMeddling[[invoked]]: Parodied in the ending, which has a prolonged legalistic crawl warning people that Pixar does not encourage people to have contact with rats. Remy and Emile object to the inclusion of this producer-imposed warning and even push the crawling words aside as best they can.

* ShoutOut: During the song, a rat is seen hanging out with Music/TheBeatles when Liverpool is mention.

** And then this trope is both played with and double subverted at the very end, when [[RattleOffTheLegal a cautionary disclaimer]], allegedly from the clip's producers, scrolls by to remind the audience that rats are vicious, unsanitary, pestilent vermin, and anyone who interacts with them do so at their own risk, as Remy and Emile can be heard vigorously protesting in the background.

** And then this trope is both played with and double subverted at the very end, when a cautionary message allegedly from the clip's producers scrolls by to remind the audience that rats are vicious, unsanitary, pestilent vermin, and anyone who interacts with them do so at their own risk, as Remy and Emile can be heard vigorously protesting in the background.