The actual portrayals of rats vary from negative to positive with a majority in the negative and ambiguous.[40] The rat plays a villain in several mouse societies; from Brian Jacquess Redwall and Robin Jarviss The Deptford Mice, to the roles of Disneys Professor Ratigan and Kate DiCamillos Roscuro and Botticelli. They have often been used as a mechanism in horror; being the titular evil in stories like The Rats or H.P. Lovecrafts The Rats in the Walls [40] and in films like Willard and Ben. Another terrifying use of rats is as a method of torture, for instance in Room 101 in George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four or The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe. Selfish helpfulness —those willing to help for a price— has also been attributed to fictional rats.[40] Templeton, from E. B. Whites Charlottes Web, repeatedly reminds the other characters that he is only involved because it means more food for him, and the cellar-rat of John Masefields The Midnight Folk requires bribery to be of any assistance. By contrast, the rats appearing in the Doctor Dolittle books tend to be highly positive and likeable characters, many of whom tell their remarkable life stories in the Mouse and Rat Club established by the animal-loving doctor. Some fictional works use rats as the main characters. Notable examples include the society created by OBriens Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Doctor Rat, Rizzo the Rat from The Muppets, and animated films such as Pixars Ratatouille. Mon oncle dAmérique (My American Uncle), a 1980 French film, illustrates Henri Laborits theories on evolutionary psychology and human behaviors by using short sequences in the storyline showing lab rat experiments. In Harry Turtledoves science fiction novel Homeward Bound, humans unintentionally introduce rats to the ecology at the home world of an alien race which previously invaded Earth and introduced some of its own fauna into its environment. And A. Bertram Chandler pitted his space-bound protagonist, Commodore Grimes, against giant, intelligent rats who took over several stellar systems and enslaved their human inhabitants. The Stainless Steel Rat is nickname of the (human) protagonist of a series of humorous science fiction novels written by Harry Harrison. The Pied Piper Main article: Pied Piper of Hamelin One of the oldest and most historic stories about rats is The Pied Piper of Hamelin, in which a rat-catcher leads away an infestation with enchanted music—the piper is later refused payment, so he in turn leads away the towns children. This tale, placed in Germany around the late 13th century, has inspired the realms of film, theatre, literature, and even opera. The subject of much research, some theories have intertwined the tale with events related to the Black Plague, in which black rats may have played an important role. Fictional works based on the tale that focus heavily on the rat aspect include Pratchetts The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, and Belgian graphic novel Le Bal du Rat Mort (The Ball of the Dead Rat).
Posted on: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 16:16:48 +0000
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