A bit of a rant about rats in movies

As a rat owner I must say I have my pet peeves when it comes to the portrayal of rats in movies or TV shows. I guess I should just let it pass as a means of storytelling and making an emphasis, but after encountering the same clichés in movie after movie, I can’t help saying something about it. 

The one thing that bothers me most is that RATS ALWAYS SQUEAK IN MOVIES. Whenever a rat is on screen, it makes a squeaking sound or even shrieks. In reality they do make these sounds, but only in certain contexts: when they're nervous, scared, in pain or in distress. So these sound effects are something that's added to the film afterwards (I hope) to draw the audience's attention to the rats. As a side note, it is true that we must also take into account that rats are very intelligent animals and know that playing drama queen or king can sometimes work in their favour. For example during their free roaming time one of my rats might squirm its way into my wardrobe and squeak in protest when I take her out. But the point is that for me it's very weird to see rats just walking around squeaking or practically having a conversation using these sounds. 

The other thing is that rats are very social animals and always live in packs. If you want to get a rat as a pet you must always get at least two, though many would argue that it takes three to make a pack. Or should we say a mischief, as a group of rats would correctly be called. This means a lone rat will live a very depressing life, as we humans can never substitute the company of other rats. (I must mention there are also rare cases of rats that are aggressive with any other rats, but that is a whole another story.) Even if we're talking about something purely fictional, I hate to see pet rats kept alone. This gives us the wrong idea about how to properly care for rats, as movies might even inspire some people to get a pet rat of their own.

Disclaimers!

There might be spoilers in this post.

I don’t remember seeing any of these movies except Ratatouille. I chose the clips based on what I could find on Youtube with the search words “rat movie scene”, because I knew most of them would prove my point true. I’m stating this because sometimes context matters (e.g. Harry Potter, where in fact the rat is not a rat).

Also, there are TONS of movies where rats are used as a horror element or to torture someone (Game of Thrones, anyone?). I’m not going to talk about this kind of movie scenes for two reasons: I don’t really enjoy horror movies (nor violence), and on the other hand I can’t seem to take them seriously if they include rats. I feel like I somehow know too much and don’t really experience the same immersion. For example there was this one movie clip from Deathwatch that I watched on Youtube. The clip is about a soldier who is eaten alive by rats, you can watch it here if you're curious (you’ve been warned, it is kinda gory). When I saw the rats I just started analysing the colour of their coats and thinking about what they were actually fed while filming, and the supposedly gruesome scene just seemed fake to me. I’m usually very sensitive when it comes to violence and the actors certainly do a great job portraying the horrors of the war, but he cute rats kind of help me remember this is still a work of fiction.

Bad examples

Okay, now on to some examples. Let's start with one that has it all...

Home Alone 3 (1997)

A lone pet rat? Check. Rat squeaking while not being harmed in any way? Check. 

Ghost Ship (2002)

At 0:51 when they open the box full of rats we have quite a squeakfest! I understand the loud noise is used a bit like a jumpscare but it's such a cliché that I'm just not buying it.

Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989)

At 1:08 when the camera focuses on the rats we suddenly start hearing a lot of squeaking. Of course.

iZombie season 1 episode 8 (2015)

At 1:27 they look for the rat and conveniently it starts squeaking while it's.. washing itself? I mean it must be awful to be covered in all that fake blood but I don't think she would mind that much. The protagonist picks the rat up from the floor and the poor creature just seems to keep squeaking like if it was in a lot of pain.

Bad Boys II (2003)

Here we go with the squeaking again. When the guy actually shoots at the rats, the squeaking stops. Uhh, okay, makes all the sense in the world...

Good examples

I'm sure you get the point with the bad examples, so let's go for some that are actually pretty decent.

Vacation (2015)

A lone rat? That's okay, he's not a pet and probably just wandered off on his own! Squeaking when he falls off the guy's shoulder? Makes sense! His nail seems to get stuck on his collar and a rat would certainly feel pain in that situation. Though of course I wish the rat was not actually harmed during filming. (Also gotta love how the guy proclaims he doesn't know the rat before storming off, haha.)

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

No squeaking? Just a rat minding its own business? Brilliant! Though I must mention you can hear something while the rat's walking on the buttons... But to me those sounds seem to be coming from the environment rather than the rat.

Ratatouille (2007)

How could I not mention Ratatouille? Perhaps we can't focus so much on realism when talking about an animated comedy film (with talking and cooking rats instead of squeaking ones), but at least they beautifully highlight the importance of the pack.

This time the pictures are mine, what better to illustrate this post than actual pet rats! ♥