Animal Tropes

The relationship between humans and animals can take many different forms. Even within the topic of animal sidekicks, there are quite a number of ways in which the link between a human and a non-human creature can be portrayed, as can be seen here at TVtropes. The tropes of an animal companion can be used in various ways, as both plot devices and characters. Unfortunately, to examine many of these relationships in greater depth would take more room than is currently available in this essay/blog.

Literary critters

Animal sidekicks within the vast land of literature often toe the line between accurate depictions of real animals and more fantastical depictions of animals with human qualities. As a sidenote, both below examples are from fantasy series, and both have been turned into movie and television adaptions, but the literary representations are unique in that the reader can determine how to view the relationships between human and animal. 

The Stark children in the doorstopper series A Song of Ice and Fire each have their own pet direwolf – the direwolf is also the sigil of the Stark house. Within this series, the wolves act exactly like one would expect wolves to act and must be domesticated and trained by the children. However, several of the children have been shown throughout the series to be able to communicate with the wolves in special ways, untapping an ancient magical ability to slip into the body of the wolves for short whiles.

DeviantArt user nilaffle's depiction of the Stark children with their direwolves.

In comparison, the three main characters in the Harry Potter novels each have their own pet – an owl, a cat and a rat. In most instances, these animals act like realistic animals. However, it has been hinted at by the author that these animals are magical as well, and as of Prisoner of Azkaban Scabbers the rat is revealed to have been a man in disguise all along. This man, Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew has taken on particular animalistic qualities, one reason he was able to keep his cowardly disguise for over thirteen years. Like Locke's changelings and monsters, Wormtail is villainous and violent, in tune with his wild nature; his behaviour disgusts and horrifies the other characters.

DeviantArt user beckadoodles' depiction of Harry Potter, Hermione Grainger and Ronald Weasley with their pets.

There are many other countless examples, such as animals depicted in centuries-old fairy tales, or other popular series like the daemons in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. These depictions show that animals may be more intelligent than originally thought. The natural distinctions between humans and animals which Bataille emphasizes is blurred, when animals act more like humans and humans act like animals. Animals are merely "like water in water" according to Bataille, but then so are humans - neither are able to remove themselves from the environment completely. But the friendship and companionship between humans and non-humans allow both the characters within the media as well as the reader observing from outside the literary world to reevaluate their own friendly relationship with animals.

Animals in animal-ation

Animation is nearly limitless - traditional hand-drawn and computer-generated imagery (CGI) both enable the storyteller to depict a world without the physical boundaries that might hinder the story if the film were live-action. For this reason, animals within animation cannot be seen as accurate depictions of animals in real life. However, one can still examine the relationship between the characters - both human and animal - and how these relationships shape the contemporary thought of animals. Due to this, animated movies with all or mostly all animal casts cannot be included in this discussion. 

Ron Stoppable with his naked role rat, Rufus, from the Disney show Kim Possible.

Calarco explains the theory of humanity as having a place in the world, not just a place in captivity: in these animated movies, the animals depicted have their own place in the world of the film. The animals' ability to talk or to project very human emotions with their facial expressions and body language gives them opportunity to play with the world around them, to construct it and shape it as their own. 

Animals in animated movies are given human qualities, allowing the humans in the narrative to relate more easily to the animals. By projecting themselves onto the animals, humans no longer have such a large barrier to cross in order to connect with their pets, friends and sidekicks. Animals with distinctly human characteristics are more often depicted in animation, because of the relative ease with which storytellers can translate these unique qualities through their artwork. Whether it's a dog, horse or mythical creature, animators are able to make these creatures seem remarkably human even if the animals don't speak. Making animals seem more human lifts them from being poor in the world like Heidegger claims and brings them to a plane of existence level with humans.

A top 10 list of animated animal sidekicks.
Please note that not all of the movies mentioned feature distinct human-animal relations.

Real animals!

An important distinction to note about live-action movies which incorporate real animals as characters is the fact that these animals are exactly that - real. This means that the animals portraying the character (and often there is more than one animal playing the same role) have to be specifically trained for 'acting' in the role. These animals are conditioned to react and respond to their environment in a certain way. Heidegger's essay in Animal Philosophy claims that while humans have recognition, animals merely have the ability to react - and that is what makes animals "poor in the world". But in these cases, when the animal is taught how to act on the camera, the animals - whether they are cats, dogs, gorillas or dolphins - they are then able to recognize their surroundings and commands as such. 

Jack the Monkey from Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
Played by two Capuchin monkeys in the movie; played by others in sequels.

It is interesting to note that humans are still in control - it is humans who have written the part the animals are to play, and humans who have trained the animals. The world within the movie belongs to the humans outside of it. Calarco explains that to "have" world, to be rich in it, is to construct and see a world that we can make or control. This is exactly what the humans have done in creating film.

Of course, there are movies that don't use real animals - directors make use of puppets such as Salem Saberhagen the cat from the TV series Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Falkor the dragon from The Neverending Story, or CGI animals like Rocket the raccoon from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. These do not count as real animals, as they are created by humans working behind the scenes, and voiced by human actors. However, they are still important as part of our examination. These depictions, despite not being real animals, still reflect the human being's vision of animals used as sidekicks, similar to animals in animated films. 

A top 10 list of animal side-kicks in live action movies.
A couple of these animals, like Falkor and Rocket, are not real animals.