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The Gruffalo

215 statements
41 feature instances
14 referencing feature instances

The Gruffalo	type	TVTItem
The Gruffalo	label	The Gruffalo
The Gruffalo	page	TheGruffalo
The Gruffalo	comment	The Gruffalo is a 1999 childrenâ€™s book, written by English writer Julia Donaldson and illustrated by German-born illustrator Axel Scheffler.Told entirely in rhyme, the book tells the story of a clever mouse walking through a forest in search of a tasty nut is beset by a series of predators, all of who want to eat him. Each time, he manages to scare them off by telling them that heâ€™s on his way to meet a "gruffalo", which he describes in such frightening terms that they all run off, whereupon he chuckles to himself that "thereâ€™s no such thing as a gruffalo" — or so he thinks. Eventually, he does meet one which looks exactly as he described, and it wants to eat him too!The book is easily Donaldsonâ€™s most popular, selling over 13 million copies, winning numerous awards and being translated into more than 30 different languages, including four different Scots dialect versions. A highly successful sequel, The Gruffalo's Child, was published in 2004.Both books would eventually be adapted into animated short film by The BBC that was directed by Max Lang and Jakob Shuh, with the voice cast including James Corden as the mouse, Robbie Coltrane as the Gruffalo, Tom Wilkinson as the fox and John Hurt as the owl. Helena Bonham Carter also stars as a newly-created mother squirrel character narrating the story in a framing device. Nine other of Donaldson & Scheffler's books would go on to get animated adaptations for the BBC.
The Gruffalo	fetched	2024-02-02T14:30:18Z
The Gruffalo	parsed	2024-02-02T14:30:18Z
The Gruffalo	processingComment	Dropped link to TrademarkFavouriteFood: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
The Gruffalo	processingUnknown	TrademarkFavouriteFood
The Gruffalo	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Gruffalo / int_113472aa	type	Miles Gloriosus
The Gruffalo / int_113472aa	comment	Miles Gloriosus: What the Gruffalo thinks the mouse is. He's right, but it's part of the mouse's Xanatos Speed Chess that he wants the Gruffalo to think he's this, so that the Gruffalo will follow him to see if his Badass Boast is true.
The Gruffalo / int_113472aa	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_113472aa	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_113472aa
The Gruffalo / int_1235f055	type	Dirty Coward
The Gruffalo / int_1235f055	comment	Dirty Coward: Played for laughs with the fox, the owl and the snake, and ultimately with the Gruffalo, who all run away in fear when they think a predator is after them.
The Gruffalo / int_1235f055	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_1235f055	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_1235f055
The Gruffalo / int_15b2cab3	type	Tempting Fate
The Gruffalo / int_15b2cab3	comment	Tempting Fate: The mouse does this every time he reminds himself "There's no such thing as a Gruffalo." The Gruffalo later turns out to actually exist.
The Gruffalo / int_15b2cab3	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_15b2cab3	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_15b2cab3
The Gruffalo / int_1e7487cd	type	Breaking the Fourth Wall
The Gruffalo / int_1e7487cd	comment	Breaking the Fourth Wall: The mouse looks slyly at the camera after scaring the snake away.
The Gruffalo / int_1e7487cd	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_1e7487cd	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_1e7487cd
The Gruffalo / int_23473ae7	type	Adaptation Expansion
The Gruffalo / int_23473ae7	comment	Adaptation Expansion: The film expands a good deal on the book, making it a story told by a mother squirrel (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter) to reassure her frightened kids, and adding various bits of business involving the things the mouse sees in the forest; the fox, owl and snake literally comparing notes on the mouse and banding up to go and find him; and explicitly showing the mouse's threat of the Gruffalo to be an Indy Ploy.
The Gruffalo / int_23473ae7	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_23473ae7	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_23473ae7
The Gruffalo / int_241c2cd6	type	Go-to-Sleep Ending
The Gruffalo / int_241c2cd6	comment	Go-to-Sleep Ending: The Gruffalo's Child ends with the child falling asleep next to her already-sleeping father.
The Gruffalo / int_241c2cd6	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_241c2cd6	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_241c2cd6
The Gruffalo / int_2930a60a	type	Foul Fox
The Gruffalo / int_2930a60a	comment	Foul Fox: Downplayed; the fox wants to eat the mouse, but that's only because foxes eat mice.
The Gruffalo / int_2930a60a	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_2930a60a	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_2930a60a
The Gruffalo / int_34c6ed8	type	Don't Go in the Woods
The Gruffalo / int_34c6ed8	comment	Don't Go in the Woods: Downplayed for the Deep Dark Wood. It's home to lots of creatures which eat mice, but they're only really dangerous to the mouse. In The Gruffalo's Child, the Gruffalo thinks it's home to a "Big Bad Mouse", but it isn't really; he just fell for a regular mouse's trick.
The Gruffalo / int_34c6ed8	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_34c6ed8	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_34c6ed8
The Gruffalo / int_38d02d44	type	Batman Gambit
The Gruffalo / int_38d02d44	comment	Batman Gambit: In the book, this appears to be the mouse's plan to deter predators: he tells the fox, the owl and the snake that he's going to meet a bigger and more dangerous (but imaginary) predator than them, and that each of them is that predator's favourite food. It backfires when his imaginary predator turns out to a.) not be imaginary, and b.) have mouse as his favorite food.
The Gruffalo / int_38d02d44	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_38d02d44	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_38d02d44
The Gruffalo / int_3b2014fb	type	Mad Libs Catchphrase
The Gruffalo / int_3b2014fb	comment	Mad Libs Catchphrase: The mouse says, "...And his favourite food is [dish made from species of adversary]" The Gruffalo's Child says, "Aha! Oho! X in the snow! Whose is this X and where does it go?"
The Gruffalo / int_3b2014fb	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_3b2014fb	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_3b2014fb
The Gruffalo / int_3b4e5e81	type	Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption
The Gruffalo / int_3b4e5e81	comment	Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: When the mouse first runs into the Gruffalo, he says, "There's no such thing as a Gruffal—oh!".
The Gruffalo / int_3b4e5e81	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_3b4e5e81	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_3b4e5e81
The Gruffalo / int_447d9e50	type	Xanatos Speed Chess
The Gruffalo / int_447d9e50	comment	Xanatos Speed Chess: In both the book and the film, this is what the mouse resorts to in order to defend himself from the Gruffalo.
The Gruffalo / int_447d9e50	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_447d9e50	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_447d9e50
The Gruffalo / int_476d2edb	type	Snakes Are Sinister
The Gruffalo / int_476d2edb	comment	Snakes Are Sinister: Downplayed; like the fox and the owl, the snake wants to eat the mouse justifiably because it's in his nature.
The Gruffalo / int_476d2edb	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_476d2edb	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_476d2edb
The Gruffalo / int_4f4bbeff	type	Interspecies Friendship
The Gruffalo / int_4f4bbeff	comment	Interspecies Friendship: When the fox, the owl and the snake all meet the mouse walking with the Gruffalo, each of them assumes it's because the mouse and the Gruffalo are friends. This is the opposite of the truth, but it's precisely what the mouse wants them to think.
The Gruffalo / int_4f4bbeff	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_4f4bbeff	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_4f4bbeff
The Gruffalo / int_5b565147	type	Meaningful Background Event
The Gruffalo / int_5b565147	comment	Meaningful Background Event: The book hints at them, with many images of predators and prey, but the film expands on them in a scene where the mouse is walking through a swamp full of creatures eating each other (a bunch of flies follow the mouse, but all but one of them get caught in a spider's web, while the sole survivor gets eaten by a frog; a toad eats a worm.) The crowning example: a trio of water-skaters which are quickly and successively eaten by an unseen fish, whereupon a heron's beak plunges into the water and comes up bearing the resigned-looking fish, which is taken out of frame and, presumably, swallowed.
The Gruffalo / int_5b565147	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_5b565147	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_5b565147
The Gruffalo / int_65cd483d	type	Friend to Bugs
The Gruffalo / int_65cd483d	comment	Friend to Bugs: Downplayed in that the mouse isn't beloved by all insects, but when he comes across a line of bugs walking along the forest floor and up a tree where they are being picked off one by one by a woodpecker, he quietly diverts the trail so that the bugs march away from the tree instead.
The Gruffalo / int_65cd483d	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_65cd483d	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_65cd483d
The Gruffalo / int_69df137	type	Fake Danger Gambit
The Gruffalo / int_69df137	comment	Fake Danger Gambit: The Guile Hero mouse plays this trope brilliantly, fending off various predators by pretending that he's going to hang out with a bigger and more dangerous predator than them, which he's invented, and which he says preys on each of them. When he then, to his surprise, meets said Big Bad and realises that Big Bad wants to eat him, he succeeds in persuading it to follow him through the forest, in the course of which he meets all the predators he earlier scared off, and they are duly convinced that he really is the Big Bad's friend. The mouse having thus demonstrated that he's the scariest creature in the forest, the Big Bad runs off in terror.
The Gruffalo / int_69df137	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_69df137	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_69df137
The Gruffalo / int_71e592a0	type	Non-Action Protagonist
The Gruffalo / int_71e592a0	comment	Non-Action Protagonist: The mouse doesn't fight his would-be predators (probably because he physically can't) so instead, he scares them away by claiming he's friends with a monster called the Gruffalo, who eats their species. When it turns out that the Gruffalo does exist, he points out the predators running in fear from the Gruffalo and tricks the Gruffalo into thinking they're afraid of the mouse instead, scaring the Gruffalo.
The Gruffalo / int_71e592a0	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_71e592a0	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_71e592a0
The Gruffalo / int_7360a2f8	type	Growling Gut
The Gruffalo / int_7360a2f8	comment	Growling Gut: After he manages to scare off all of the mouse's previous predators, the gruffalo's stomach growls so loudly that it scares birds out of the trees and nearly knocks the mouse over by sheer force. Then, when he manages to scare the gruffalo himself, the mouse's stomach growls, making the gruffalo afraid that the mouse is going to eat him.
The Gruffalo / int_7360a2f8	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_7360a2f8	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_7360a2f8
The Gruffalo / int_736d791f	type	Adaptational Badass
The Gruffalo / int_736d791f	comment	Adaptational Badass: The Gruffalo in the book isn't exactly a wimp, but he's depicted as being about six times the size of the mouse. The Gruffalo in the film is about twenty times the size of the mouse.
The Gruffalo / int_736d791f	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_736d791f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_736d791f
The Gruffalo / int_83cef301	type	Right for the Wrong Reasons
The Gruffalo / int_83cef301	comment	Right for the Wrong Reasons: In The Gruffalo's Child, the child correctly guesses that the Big Bad Mouse doesn't exist, but she thinks it's because her father was trying to trick her, when actually he'd been tricked himself by the regular-sized mouse.
The Gruffalo / int_83cef301	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_83cef301	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_83cef301
The Gruffalo / int_86b21114	type	Badass Boast
The Gruffalo / int_86b21114	comment	Badass Boast:
The Gruffalo / int_86b21114	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_86b21114	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_86b21114
The Gruffalo / int_8e35ce90	type	FramingStory
The Gruffalo / int_8e35ce90	comment	Framing Story: The film has the story being told by a squirrel to her children. Continued in the sequel.
The Gruffalo / int_8e35ce90	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_8e35ce90	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_8e35ce90
The Gruffalo / int_912b24c4	type	Art Shift
The Gruffalo / int_912b24c4	comment	Art Shift: While most of the short is in 3-D CGI, the thought balloons where the gruffalo is described are drawn in 2-D.
The Gruffalo / int_912b24c4	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_912b24c4	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_912b24c4
The Gruffalo / int_93decddf	type	Ominous Owl
The Gruffalo / int_93decddf	comment	Ominous Owl: The owl is portrayed as a villain. Justified, since the protagonist is a mouse.
The Gruffalo / int_93decddf	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_93decddf	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_93decddf
The Gruffalo / int_95b7c400	type	Faux Affably Evil
The Gruffalo / int_95b7c400	comment	Faux Affably Evil: The fox, the mouse and the snake, all of whom invite the mouse to have (respectively) lunch, tea and a feast with them in their respective homes, and all of whom intend him to be the one thing on the menu; the fox traps the mouse against a rock, the owl chases him all over a tree, and the snake wraps himself around the mouse's neck, but they still keep the tone of the conversation light. Averted with the Gruffalo, who doesn't even bother to be polite.
The Gruffalo / int_95b7c400	featureApplicability	-1.0
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The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_95b7c400
The Gruffalo / int_a10a7f9b	type	Smug Smiler
The Gruffalo / int_a10a7f9b	comment	Smug Smiler: Whenever the mouse gets one-up on his enemies he tends to turn into one of these (when the snake is having his Villainous BSoD the mouse even winks at him), but he's up against such fearsome enemies that you forgive him.
The Gruffalo / int_a10a7f9b	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_a10a7f9b	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_a10a7f9b
The Gruffalo / int_a18fda9c	type	Dumb Muscle
The Gruffalo / int_a18fda9c	comment	Dumb Muscle: The Gruffalo. He's large and beefy, and he's also dumb enough to believe the mouse's lie that everyone's afraid of him instead of the Gruffalo.
The Gruffalo / int_a18fda9c	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_a18fda9c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_a18fda9c
The Gruffalo / int_ad1db87c	type	Oh, Crap!
The Gruffalo / int_ad1db87c	comment	Oh, Crap!: The mouse, the snake, the owl and the fox all react in fear, the first time they see the Gruffalo. Also the reaction of the Gruffalo himself, once he's convinced that all the other animals are terrified of the mouse.
The Gruffalo / int_ad1db87c	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_ad1db87c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_ad1db87c
The Gruffalo / int_ae3d6438	type	Deadpan Snarker
The Gruffalo / int_ae3d6438	comment	Deadpan Snarker: The Gruffalo in the film, when the snake runs away.
The Gruffalo / int_ae3d6438	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_ae3d6438	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_ae3d6438
The Gruffalo / int_c25f7913	type	By the Lights of Their Eyes
The Gruffalo / int_c25f7913	comment	By the Lights of Their Eyes: The eyes of the fox, under the log, when the mouse's sneezing wakes him up.
The Gruffalo / int_c25f7913	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_c25f7913	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_c25f7913
The Gruffalo / int_c2cedc1c	type	Big "NO!"
The Gruffalo / int_c2cedc1c	comment	Big "NO!": The Gruffalo utters, "NO!" when the mouse finally succeeds in persuading him that he's about to be made into Gruffalo Crumble.
The Gruffalo / int_c2cedc1c	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_c2cedc1c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_c2cedc1c
The Gruffalo / int_d308cbb0	type	Character Catchphrase
The Gruffalo / int_d308cbb0	comment	Character Catchphrase: The mouse says, "Doesn't he know? There's no such thing as a Gruffalo!" The Gruffalo's Child says, "I'm not scared".
The Gruffalo / int_d308cbb0	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_d308cbb0	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_d308cbb0
The Gruffalo / int_e35ab565	type	Indy Ploy
The Gruffalo / int_e35ab565	comment	Indy Ploy: Unlike the book, we see the mouse "invent" the Gruffalo on the fly, inspired by the fox's growl. When he meets subsequent creatures, he adds more features based on their own; the owl has a green spot on its beak which inspires the 'poisonous wart on the end of his nose', etc. Again, it backfires when he meets the real thing.
The Gruffalo / int_e35ab565	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_e35ab565	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_e35ab565
The Gruffalo / int_e3bd37f2	type	Scared of What's Behind You
The Gruffalo / int_e3bd37f2	comment	Scared of What's Behind You: Played with, in that mouse knows all too well that the other animals are not scared of him but of the Gruffalo, but he figures the Gruffalo is too dumb to realise it.
The Gruffalo / int_e3bd37f2	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_e3bd37f2
The Gruffalo / int_e784bb8c	type	Accidental Truth
The Gruffalo / int_e784bb8c	comment	Accidental Truth: The mouse telling the fox, the owl and the snake that he's going to meet a Gruffalo. Much later, he discovers the monster he mentioned is actually real.
The Gruffalo / int_e784bb8c	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Gruffalo / int_edde4197	type	Woodland Creatures
The Gruffalo / int_edde4197	comment	Woodland Creatures: The mouse and all of the predators he meets in the forest.
The Gruffalo / int_edde4197	featureApplicability	1.0
The Gruffalo / int_edde4197	featureConfidence	1.0
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_edde4197
The Gruffalo / int_f33ff01c	type	Adaptational Context Change
The Gruffalo / int_f33ff01c	comment	Adaptational Context Change: In the book, the lines beginning "But what is this creature with terrible claws..." are the narrator describing the mouse actually encountering the Gruffalo. In the film, they're the predators comparing notes on what they've been told.
The Gruffalo / int_f33ff01c	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Gruffalo	hasFeature	The Gruffalo / int_f33ff01c
The Gruffalo / int_f47bdd2a	type	Violent Glaswegian
The Gruffalo / int_f47bdd2a	comment	Violent Glaswegian: The Gruffalo comes across like a downplayed version of this: he's voiced by Glaswegian actor Robbie Coltrane but although he's clearly prepared to eat the mouse, he's also ominously quiet.
The Gruffalo / int_f47bdd2a	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Gruffalo / int_fb724048	type	Real After All
The Gruffalo / int_fb724048	comment	Real After All: The mouse makes up the Gruffalo and what he looks like to scare off the fox, the owl and the snake. But then he meets the real Gruffalo and it's exactly as he described it!
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The Gruffalo / int_name	type	ItemName
The Gruffalo / int_name	comment
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The Gruffalo / int_name	itemName	The Gruffalo

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Gruffalo	hasFeature	A Mischief of Mice / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Adaptational Context Change / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Ambiguously Evil / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Big Shadow, Little Creature / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Children's Literature / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Fake Danger Gambit / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Go-to-Sleep Ending / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Monster Media / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Nice Mice / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Non-Action Protagonist / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Outscare the Enemy / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Real After All / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Short Film / int_b5f4999e
The Gruffalo	hasFeature	Woodland Creatures / int_b5f4999e

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