TMS Discussion: The Eternal Cats vs. Dogs Debate
(Indian Paintbrush / Searchlight Pictures)
NOTE: This article was originally written for The Times of San Diego in 2018
Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs (2018) was the filmmaker’s return to stop-motion animation following Fantastic Mr. Fox (2008) and received all kinds of feedback. Feedback over how impressive the animation effects are, feedback with the clever dialogue written for the dogs, feedback on how many big names Anderson once again can get for his casts, as well as feedback that the indie hitmaker’s portrayal of Japan is possibly problematic. But to not sound like a broken record, as there have already been a number of pieces and conversations over the divisive culture choice for the film; I’m going to get into a completely different argument that comes and goes every so often. Why are cats so often portrayed in the media as evil as opposed to dogs?
For every Rin-Tin-Tin there is a Lucifer from Disney’s Cinderella (1950), for every Lassie there’s a Shere Khan, for every Air Bud a Mr. Bigglesworth from Jay Roach’s Austin Powers comedies [a direct reference to Donald Pleasance’s 007 villain Ernst Blofeld’s cat in Lewis Gilbert’s You Only Live Twice (1967)]. I remember when I was a kid, there was that silly family comedy of Lawrence Guterman’s Cats & Dogs (2001), where of course the dogs—voiced by Tobey Maguire and Alec Baldwin—were the good guys and the cats—Sean Hayes and Jon Lovitz—were the villains. The cats in Isle of Dogs aren’t really villainous, but the real antagonists of the film appear to obviously have a bias towards them and have their own housecat.
(Walt Disney Pictures)
But where did this cliché come from? I’ve lived with both cats and dogs throughout my life and have gone through phases where I prefer one species over the other. Well, to amusingly quote Red Letter Media character Harry Plinkett: “Cats are f*cking creepy. Dogs can be trained. Cats won’t give you the time of day. In fact, the only sort of video you can make with them is something like ‘Jingle Cats.’ And even then, they just sit there bored and looking at you like you’re an idiot for putting them in a video like this.”
Plinkett has a point there. I remember reading the Coen Bros. vowed to never work with a cat as a lead animal again after making Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) because the process was such a hassle. So while I do wish there were more feline protagonists a la Disney’s Oliver & Company (1988), maybe I’ll just have to sit back and enjoy the companionship of my own, real cat. And let the fictional ones continue supplying the menace.