Challenge #2: Pets of Fandom
Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!
I'm going to talk about pets as portrayed in fiction I have consumed from childhood to present.
I think that pets can play an interesting part in fiction. Let's take a look. I'm going to cover a few fictional pets I remember, from my childhood to more recent years. Obviously, this is a very short list; I'd be here forever otherwise.
I'm also going to try avoiding spoilers to the best of my ability.
Chance, Shadow and Sassy, Homeward Bound/The Incredible Journey: Two dogs and a cat. From what I remember, Chance is silly yet skittish, Shadow is wise, and Sassy is... in the name. But she's never mean, IIRC, and has a lot of empathy towards a lost little girl (likely reminding her of her own human).
(I rewatched the ending of Homeward Bound for this part, and now I'm sobbing. The things I do for you people.)
Miss Kitty Fantastico, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow and Tara's cat. I mostly remember that she dies offscreen, and her death is noted as accidentally being killed by a crossbow. Which is actually pretty brutal. I don't love when cats dying is treated as a minor inconvenience. (And it's always cats.)
Buttercup, The Hunger Games: Prim's cat, who Katniss hates and frequently mistreats, especially after a certain spoilery event. However, after a very long time, she does take slightly better care of Buttercup.
Awful through Buttercup is treated, I feel it's meant to show how hardened Katniss is. Also, as a hunter, I think all animals are food to her - she would never eat Buttercup, that would devastate Prim, but she doesn't see Buttercup as family, either.
Little Sebastian, Parks and Recreation: A
pony mini horse. We actually only meet his handlers in a very short scene, but he's absolutely adored by most of Pawnee's residents. Save for Ben Wyatt. Even Ron and April get tickled over him.
Ron and April.
(Oh God, guess what song's in my head now?)
A
Fuckton of Cats, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Technically, no cats are ever purchased. But Rebecca briefly considers it in
this song.
Points the song brings up include that cats sleep most of the time, which is true. However, they also claim they're not that friendly, and I have to disagree. Cats can be very friendly; they're just not friendly on command. That's what people don't like.
Song's hella catchy, though!
Louie, This Is Us: I can already feel the anger rising. Louie is initially beloved, but his main human, Kate, blames him for Jack's death. (That's not a spoiler, we learn that Jack's gone pretty early on in the show, although not how.) That actually really upset me on several levels, though it sadly makes sense. Still, I wish Rebecca had been in the headspace to find a temporary home for Louie, at least, while Kate worked through her feelings. But it's a drama, so. (And in Rebecca's defense, she was reeling from losing her husband. But still.
Karl, Our Flag Means Death: Karl is mostly Buttons's pet, but the rest of the crew respects him, more or less. His death is the last straw for Stede.
Nellie, Heartstopper: Nellie is Nick's dog, and absolutely a member of the family. Charlie takes to her quickly, too. Nellie is very much family.
Artie, Fisk: Helen's dog. He doesn't do much, but he's sweet. When he appears to have been taken, Helen is devastated, and works through her grief by relating it to the loss of a human.
So, there you go. Most cat portrayals I can recall are either negative, or potentially negative (with redemption). I think Sassy is the most positive. Dogs are portrayed with much more positivity, although how much the characters consider them family varies. Pet birds and horses are also beloved and seen as important, often family.
Something to note as well is the transition from pets in children's stories being used to help us connect with humanity, and pets existing as pets in stories for adults.
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