Fifty Horror Clichés That Need to Die in a Fire

#4: Cats Are Evil

  Ever since The Middle Ages in Western Europe, cats in literature have gained quite the backwards reputation of being depicted as demonic creatures.  This is especially true for black cats, who during that time period gained the horrible reputation of being connected to witchcraft.  Cats during this age, who were protecting many areas from rat infestations, got slaughtered by the dozens all because of this misconception.  This in turn may have contributed to the disastrous results of The Black Plague, which may have been prevented had the population of cats have not been at an all time low due to these massive killings.  Even with this plausible theory created from historical evidence hundreds of years later, many people still persecute cats as being emotionless creatures.  While many cats saved people from being infected by harmful diseases carried by rats, people still decided to give them the cold shoulder.  Today, this even stands true with millions of people, who still believe in harmful superstition that cats are demonic.  As a result of this, cats have gained the reputation of being the animal most depicted as evil in horror stories.  Hundreds of these stories exist, written by even the greatest contributors to the genre.

Edgar Allen Poe, an icon of the horror genre, depicted black cats as evil in his short story "The Black Cat", even going so far as to depict one of the two cats in the story being mercilessly hung by its neck inside the narrator's backyard.  Stephen King, another huge horror icon, did the same with his extremely graphic novel Pet Semetary.  In it, the family black cat Church is first run over by a car on a notoriously bad street, get revived as a flesh eating monster, and then has to be killed again by his owner Louis Creed.  (Not to mention, Stephen King based the cat on one he had, Smucky, that fatally got hit by a car as well, which inspired a huge chunk of the story.)  L.J. Smith's second and third books in The Vampire Diaries book series depicted a snowy white kitten the villainous Katherine Pierce shape-shifted into in order to spy on main character Elena Gilbert.  Other mentions of cats being depicted as evil goes to the books Goosebumps: Cry of the Cat by R.L. Stine, The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Keatley, and Hell Cat of the Hotel by Mark Cassell.  Basically all you need to do is google a list of evil cats in horror and you will find hundreds of books under the same category.

  Usually when talking about a cliché of any kind, I explain the trope mentioned as being either bad for being overly used or being illogical to the audience.  That is the reality of how many tropes gain their reputations in modern media.  In many past examples through my three editorials, I proved this with the current onslaught of modernized vampires and mermaids losing their vicious reputation as murderous sirens.  However, there are the rare tropes that I will call out for potentially being harmful to a group of individuals.  In the previous editorial One Hundred Clichés That Need To Rest In Peace, this "honor" went to the LGBTQ's representation in some forms of media as well as towards writers who were judged for writing about animals or humanoid creatures.  Cats being depicted as evil is one of these tropes.  Even though they are not human, cats deserve respect for the role they play in catching harmful pests as well as being affectionate family pets.  Felines have even in the last hundred years been proven to be one of the most emotionally driven pets out there from loads of psychology studies.  I am not saying that if you do not like cats yourself, that this mindset is wrong and you need to change it.  The real statement I am trying to put across is how the negative depictions of cats can be harmful for not only them, but for people as well.  Humans have a habit of repeating past mistakes throughout history and the near eradication of cats in Western Europe because of superstitious beliefs is one that could easily be repeated if the trend of demonizing them continues in the horror genre.

  Now before you go posting negative outbursts on Stephen King or any other author mentioned here for demonizing cats, I just want you to know I used these writers as mere examples to prove my stance.  In many of the cases presented in each author's story, they were merely following the trend, not trying to preach a negative outlook on cats.  Stephen King for example only used Smucky as inspiration towards Church in Pet Semetary to drive home the point that sometimes it is unfortunately best for the animal to stay dead.  Church was not the same animal when Louis Creed revived him, as was anything else buried in that satanic cemetery.  They came back as a different creatures, shadows of themselves that were basically walking zombies.  I do not agree with Stephen King's reasoning for using the death of his cat as an excuse to write the story, but he was not trying to tarnish Smucky's reputation.  These authors are not the true blame for this cliché.  The real people at fault are the ones who started the superstitions that translated into the horror genre.  Without them, cats would not have such the bad reputation they received over many centuries.

  To subvert this cliché, all you need to do is one thing; kill the superstitions off by replacing them with the truth.  By depicting cats as average house pets who have a whole onslaught of personalities like humans, the cliché can be better noticed.  This way, the trend can slowly die out naturally when other tropes start overshadowing it.  In no way should you in any way achieve this by using another animal as a scapegoat for cats.  If you do this, all that will happen is the creation of another problem entirely.  Just look at the reputation sharks, bees, hyenas, and wolves have received as proof of this.  Just state the facts and in a creative way use this in a way that the audience can enjoy.  After all, you do not want to sound too preachy as well.

  On a more positive note, if you want to see a book that depicts cats in a more diverse way, I highly recommend the British book series Warriors.  These books takes a look at feral cats and shows a creative interpretation on how they live out their lives in a loyal clan structure.  Throughout the series, themes of war, depression, friendship, romance, and family have been beautifully expressed in each cat's behavior from their environment.  It is a series that does not fall into the usual generalization of making all cats evil.  Even though they are labeled as a children's book series, the material in it is still relatable enough for teenagers and even adults.  Check it out if you have not already.