The literary device all the cool kids are talking about…

You know the scene, tale as old as time: There’s a cat in a tree, an old lady crying “Help!” and a heroic figure running to the rescue. Our hero climbs the tree (or flies up if he’s superman), plucks poor old puss from its branches, and returns the cat to its loving owner. Instantly, you think “wow, what a guy!”

What is ‘Save the cat’?

‘Save the cat’ is an old screenwriting device/technique, designed to quickly tell the audience who the hero of the story is. Its use has evolved over time, but its origins lie in early film and comic book media. For now let’s keep it simple: if you have a character on your hands that you want to be seen as heroic, have them rescue a cat (or puppy), or commit a small good deed that mildly inconveniences them. There’s many examples of this in film and comics (the example I’ve used here is Superman), and they all exist with one thing in mind: to get the audience to like the main character.

Why a cat?

Well. It’s something they don’t have to do. A hero could obviously commit a much greater, more dramatic act. Of course the hero has to save the world. They don’t have to rescue a cat from a tree. This small act of kindness shows the audience that the character is not just a hero, but a genuinely good person.

When I was studying literature at college, we didn’t look at many movies (the one we did study was American Psycho and to this day I’m not sure why), but I was aware of saving the cat as a trope. It was kind of a background knowledge, something you knew instinctively. How do we know who’s the hero? Well, they save the cat from a tree, of course. It’s what Superman did, and he’s the epitome of hero.

I’m going to quote a comment from the video I linked, because I think it perfectly encapsulates the idea of ‘save the cat’:

“A lot of people don’t really understand the saving the cat from the tree scene. It appears corny until you understand what the movie is trying to convey: Superman is virtually invincible. He could enslave humanity, he could kill anyone who doesn’t tow the line instantly, he could be King of the entire world, he could be psychopathic and do incredibly evil things and NOTHING could stop him… but he doesn’t. He’s got all those powers and he’s actually a really decent guy. He saves a little girl’s cat from a tree and is really kind to her and down-to-earth. It’s an important scene to establish his character.” – @Halfstar3

If you were to Google ‘save the cat’, you’ll find the term itself credited to Blake Snyder, American Screenwriter (known for blockbusters such as ‘Stop: or my mom will shoot!’ and ‘Blank Check’). In his book, Save the cat: The last book on screenwriting you’ll ever need, Snyder lays out the ‘winning formula’ for screenwriting (by the way, there’s 2 follow up books to this one, so is it really the last book on screenwriting I’ll ever need, eh, Blake?). The literal hero trope of saving the cat is much older than the 2005 book – not that I think Snyder has laid claim to the trope itself, more that he just coined the term as a storytelling device, thus giving it a tangible label. I’m not going to go into specifically the ‘save the cat’ beat sheet or structure here – there’s plenty of sources that outline it way better than I can.

Note: this isn’t entirely relevant, but I read in a blog post that Snyder’s framework is taken from the movie Aliens, which came out in 1986. Ripley sleeping in her pod as the camera pans down to the cat that she rescued is a great way to immediately convey her character, but I’m not sure why this is the example Snyder used (if he used it – I haven’t actually read the book and frankly, I don’t plan to, not for a blog post) when Superman did it in 1978, almost a decade earlier. (BTW I’m not ragging on the Alien franchise here, I am a HUGE Alien and Ripley fan so don’t come for me). I wonder if the Aliens version is an improved version of the iconic Superman deed.

Thing is, I think it doesn’t really matter all that much who used it first or coined the term first or where it came from unless you want to argue about it on the internet. What matters is understanding the point of it as a device (to convey the nature of the hero).

So how do I use it?

However you like! There’s a myriad of ways a writer can implement this for storytelling purposes, but for now I’m going to stick to 3 examples I think could work:

1. Classic superhero
2. Anti-hero or unlikely hero
3. Reverse Uno (the ol’ switcheroo)

1) The Classic Superhero

Just like Superman, Spiderman, Ironman, Wonder woman, and all the other ‘mans, the superhero intro heavily features our main character saving someone or something. This is the classic of classic save the cat methods and it works for a reason. In film, there’s no quicker way to demonstrate the innate goodness of a character than by rescuing a small critter at the heros inconvenience. Superman is running late for a meeting as Clark Kent, but – oh no! The dearest, littlest old lady is crying for help! Her poor kitty is stuck in a tree and can’t get down. In an instant, Clark is transformed and soaring to the rescue. Just like that, we know he’s a true hero and a real nice fella.

2) The unlikely hero or ‘anti-hero’

They’re not a good guy, no. They’re in the middle of a bank heist, or they’re picking pockets, stealing bread or pulling pranks on wealthy businessmen. Maybe they work for the mob, or they’re a fantasy rogue, a questionable character, who, on the first glance, doesn’t appear to be heroic at all. They live for themselves, damn it, and unless you pay them you ain’t getting jack. Until… Right in the middle of their heist, they notice a car hurtling towards a puppy at a crossing. The driver? Unconscious. The puppy? Unaware of the oncoming danger until it’s too late. Our hero somersaults in at the last second, sweeping puppy up in an instant. In one fluid motion, they skid round, let go of the puppy, and sprint towards the now crashed car. There’s fluid leaking and smoke flowing out from beneath the bonnet… It’s gonna blow. The hero rips open the passenger door and drags out the injured driver, pulling him away from danger right before the car bursts into flame. A crowd gathers to celebrate the hero… but they are gone.

The audience now knows exactly what side our character is on, and it’s the side of good despite their misdemeanours. The audience can breathe a sigh of relief and trust that they are in safe storytelling hands.

3) Reverse Uno, bitch

Surprised? I knew you would be. Who could have known, that our sweet, kind hero of ages was actually the villain this whole time? Mwahahahaha!

This is a twist of ‘save the cat’ in that it lulls your audience into a false sense of security. We thought this character was heroic because they saved the puppy/kitten/child at the start of the story, but actually, it was all a farce, a cheap trick to get you to think they were a goody-two-shoes! Really, they sooner kick a cat than save it, and now they’re going to wreak havoc for our real hero/es.

These are just 3 ways a device like ‘save the cat’ could be used in storytelling – how you use it is completely up to you. That’s if you want to use it at all. There’s plenty of stories and plots that don’t require the main character to save anyone. For example, Lara Croft blasts her way through saving the world, wiping out several endangered species as she goes (technically that wolf attacked first, and really, when you think about it, it’s a kindness. They were all just existing there, trapped in an isolated temple, slowly breeding their way to genetic devastation). Anyway.

The beauty of ‘save the cat’ is that your main character could be introduced as not that likeable, but learn and grow into someone who can be heroic (for example, Megamind). Why not experiment with the idea? See if you can push what audiences interpret as heroic and turn it on its head? Make the cat rescue the hero. Make the old lady the villain – villains love cats! Make the hero a dog who saves the cat. Make the cat someone who doesn’t want to be saved (for example, the Incredibles when Mr incredible saves the suicidal man).

I could go on forever here. There’s loads you can do with this. Now go forth and write!