Basic Trope: Rats portrayed as disgusting and often evil creatures.
- Straight: Rachel the Rat is nasty, malevolent, and the Big Bad of the film.
- Exaggerated:
- Rachel is literally evil incarnate - she wants to wipe out the entire universe with a plague, is Ax-Crazy, and leaves messes everywhere.
- Rats are Always Chaotic Evil.
- Downplayed:
- Rachel is often dirtier than real rats, but not necessarily evil.
- Rachel is a sleazy Jerkass, but more of an anti-hero than an outright villain.
- Justified:
- Rachel has a Freudian Excuse that made her evil.
- The protagonists of the story are Nice Mice, or other animals that are prey to/enemies of rats.
- Inverted:
- Nice Mice
- Rats are friendly individuals.
- Subverted: The heroes initially think Rachel will be mean and disgusting, but when they actually meet her, she turns out to be very nice and pleasant.
- Double Subverted: ...But then it turns out she's actually a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
- Parodied:
- Rachel the Rat is a lawyer.
- Rachel is a Combat Pragmatist.
- Rachel is literally dirty.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Rachel keeps switching back and forth between the heroes' and the villains' sides.
- There are good rats as well as evil ones.
- Averted:
- Rats are portrayed realistically and are no more evil than other animals.
- There are no rats.
- Enforced:
- The author has a fear of rats.
- Rats are more likely to be the villains in a setting with Nice Mice, often because of Evil Is Bigger.
- Lampshaded: "Oh, rats. Rats."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: A cute, harmless-looking villain decides to frame Rachel for their crimes, banking on the public perception that rats are nasty.
- Defied: Rachel washes herself and greets the other animals nicely, trying to show that rats aren't so nasty and mean as everyone thinks.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to You Dirty Rat!
