Ever since the 1903 silent short The Sick Kitten, also credited as the film that pioneered the close-up technique, cute cat videos have dominated the moving image. Films about dogs are also commonplace, but while canines are loyal followers for the human owners, cats are generally more elusive and mysterious. Yet it's still hard not to fall for these fuzzy felines. Even Spider-Man is getting in on the cat action.
The cats featured in films can divided into separate sub-categories, each assisting with the story or themes in different ways. Cats are a little harder to read than dogs, who wear their animal emotions (whether happiness or anger) more openly. But through examining some iconic cats in cinema history, one can realize the potential for pets in stories, alongside simply looking cute and cuddly.
Standard Cat - Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Starting off is the standard cat companion. This regular cat is nothing to be ashamed of, but simply a normal cat that helps ground the characters as they go about their business. This could be Blofeld, the head of the James Bond series’ organization SPECTRE, stroking his white Siberian cat. Or it could the striped Persian cat of The Grand Budapest Hotel’s lawyer Kovac (Jeff Goldblum). Or the black-and-white Tabby Fat Louie from The Princess Diaries films (played by the real-life pet of lead actress Anne Hathaway). Whatever they do, these characters are made a bit more relatable by caring for their regular cat companions.
Played by the famous cat actor Orangey in 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the unnamed marmalade Tabby ‘Cat’ lives with socialite Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) as she enjoys her decadent lifestyle, the cat even being fed milk in a wine glass. Cat is used to show Holly’s sensitivity towards another creature, even if Holly dismisses that she and the cat are just two strays who found each other. Breakfast at Tiffany’s even revolves around their relationship, as Holly throws him out into the rain during the emotional climax, before running out to rescue Cat to prove her capacity to love.
Adventure Cat - Alien
While similar to the Standard Cat, the ‘Adventure Cat’ is a feline companion that adds to the stakes and tension of intense and abnormal circumstances. This does not mean the zombie-cat Church from Pet Sematary, but rather cats that assist the heroes in their fight against evil forces. Goose from Captain Marvel fits into this category, freaking out the alien Skrulls (albeit because Goose is revealed to be an alien itself). Or the brief but memorable scene in The Mummy when Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraiser) scares off Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) by holding up a hissing cat. As in ancient Egyptian times, cats are imbued with magical properties used to ward off evil spirits.
Still, the most iconic Horror Cat companion is Jonesy from Alien. True, Jonesy does not exactly help the Nostromo crew fend off the Xenomorph, and technically leads Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) to his death. But it's impossible to stay mad at this ginger American shorthair, with Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) risking her life to go back and rescue him. Jonesy provides a small token of comfort and hope in the cold abyss of space. Plus, after Ripley gets dragged away to battle more Xenomorphs in the Alien sequels, Jonesy is left as the sole survivor of the Nostromo.
Magical Cat – Coraline
Alongside broomsticks and cauldrons, black cats have become a staple of Hollywood witchcraft. Frequently, these cat companions are magical creatures able to talk, yet are generally helpful heroic creatures in such films. This kind of cat would be Salem from Sabrina the Teenaged Witch, Jiji (voiced in the English dub by Phil Hartman) from Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Thackery Binx (Jason Marsdem) from Hocus Pocus. Usually these magical cats are not evil but use their mysterious powers to help defend against the malevolent magical forces, even if they’re often sarcastic and grumpy along the way.
Another example is the sneaky and enigmatic black cat from Coraline, voiced by the great Keith David. When Coraline (Dakota Fanning) travels to a beguiling alternative ‘Other World’, it is this cat that helps her understand it’s a trap. The Cat is very mysterious and often sarcastic with Coraline, hinting at some larger struggle he’s had against the Other Mother (Teri Hatcher), but still assists in freeing Coraline. The Cat tells her “I’m not ‘the Other’ anything. I’m me”, standing out as a unique and elusive creature even within this magical sub-category.
Absurdist Cat - Inside Llewyn Davis
The mysterious and elusive status of cats also causes them to symbolize a story's absurdist themes, batting around a story's vague meaning like a ball of string. The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland fits this role, fancifully misdirecting Alice during her adventures in the surreal world of Wonderland. It also includes the cat of Philip Marlowe (Elliot Gould) in Robert Altman’s 1973 neo-noir The Long Goodbye, who reflects the aimless laidback wandering amidst the murder-mystery of a hard and untamed world. Or the cat Boil from South Korean psychological-thriller Burning, whose presence may or may not prove what Ben (Steven Yeun) has done.
Such cat-symbolized absurdity is used in Inside Llewyn Davis. One of the many problems of struggling folk-musician Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is him accidentally losing the cat of the couple whose couch he’s sleeping on, and spending part of the film trying to find and rescue it. Critics have interpreted this as the Coen Brothers subverting the screenwriting trope of “Save the Cat”, where the protagonist should do something heroic – like saving a cat – to establish their likeability. This cat, named Ulysses, could represent Llewyn struggling to save his flailing career or even part of himself, since a receptionist mishears him saying “Llewyn is the cat”. Whatever the precise meaning, the ginger Tabby creates a complex of meanings and problems as Llewyn tries to navigate the Coen Brothers’ absurd and tragic world.
Anthropomorphic Cat - The Cat Returns
A popular format of the cinematic cat is also a delicate one: the anthropomorphic cat. It makes sense that having the cat as the lead character would mean making them more humanoid, but often this results in them becoming monstrous chimeras. This includes Mike Myers as The Cat in the Hat, the entire cast of Cats, and even the cartoonish Garfield (Bill Murray) in the live-action world. Anthropomorphic Cats do generally work better fully animated, whether it’s the cool kittens of The Aristocats or the adorable swashbuckler Puss in Boots (Antonino Banderas) from the Shrek franchise.
Perhaps the coolest humanoid cat is Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (voiced in the English dub by Cary Elwes – aka Westley from The Princess Bride) from The Cat Returns. A spin-off from the previous Studio Ghibli film Whispers of the Heart, The Cat Returns follows schoolgirl Haru (Anne Hathaway), who after rescuing a stray cat from being run over, discovers it was actually Prince Lune (Andrew Bevis) of the Cat Kingdom. As a ‘reward’, Haru is kidnapped and transported away to the Cat Kingdom to marry him, with all the cats standing on hind-legs and being ruled by the scraggly obstinate Cat King (Tim Curry), and being slowly transformed into a cat herself. However, the Baron comes to Haru’s rescue with dashing verve, even making her admit that while she won’t marry any cat, she has a crush on the Baron himself. Any cat that can tempt a human into interspecies love demonstrates their success as an anthropomorphic cat.