Foxes in culture
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This article discusses foxes in culture.
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[edit] Cultural connotations
In many cultures, the fox appears in folklore as a symbol of cunning and trickery, or as a familiar animal possessed of magic powers.
There is a Tswana riddle that says that "Phokoje go tsela o dithetsenya" translated literally into Only the muddy fox lives meaning that only an active person who does not mind getting muddy gets to progress in life in philosophic sense that it is.
In early Mesopotamian mythology, the fox is one of the sacred animals of the goddess Ninhursag. The fox acts as her messenger.
In Chinese mythology, huli jing (狐狸精 húlijīng, fox spirits) lure men away from their wives. The Chinese word for fox spirit is synonymous with the mistress in an extramarital affair.
In Japanese folklore, the fox-like kitsune is a powerful animal spirit (Yōkai) known for its highly mischievous and cunning nature.
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshiped animals and often depicted the fox in their art.[1]
The words "fox" or "foxy" have become slang in Western societies for an individual (most often female) with sex appeal. The word "vixen", which is normally the common name for a female fox, is also used to describe an attractive woman--although, in the case of humans, "vixen" tends to imply that the woman in question has a few nasty qualities.
The fox theme is often associated with transformation in European literature. There are three main types of fox stories:
- Description of life of more or less realistic animals
- Stories about anthropomorphic animals imbued with human characteristics
- Tales of fox transformations into humans and vice versa
- The word shenanigan (a deceitful confidence trick, or mischief) is considered to be derived from the Irish expression sionnachuighim, meaning "I play the fox."[1]
[edit] Literature (in chronological order)
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- 4 BC - Aesop's fables from classical times, featuring a fox in The Fox and the Grapes.
- 800 - Shen Ji-ji, "Ren's Story" : Story of a love affair between Zheng and a were-fox named Ren.
- 1100 - The medieval story of Reynard, a classic anthropomorphic epic.
- 1532 - Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince : The successful prince must have the traits of both the lion and the fox.
- 1607 - Ben Jonson,"Volpone or The Foxe". Essentially a beast fable about a witty man who tricks potential successor's to believe he is dying so that they bring him expensive gifts.
- 1679 - Pu Songling, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, about encounters between humans and fox spirits.
- 1880-1905 - Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus: Oral tradition including Brer Fox, from the American South.
- 1905? - Ernest Thompson Seton, The Biography of a Silver-Fox, Or, Domino Reynard of Goldur Town: Realistic story with author's drawing, later made into a feature film.
- 1909 - L. Frank Baum, The Road to Oz: Fox king Dox of Foxville changes a boy's head into fox's.
- 1920 - Rudolf Těsnohlídek, Liška Bystrouška (Vixen Sharpears or The Cunning Little Vixen).
- 1922 - David Garnett, Lady into Fox[2] is about transformation into animal, first physical then mental.
- 1943 - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince: A fox indicates the true value of friendship.
- 1960 - Verkors, Sylva, inspired by Garnett where a fox changes into a lady.
- 1965 - Robert Crumb, Fritz the Cat comics : Winston Schwartz, two animated films.
- 1965 - István Fekete Vuk, about life of abandoned fox and his revenge on a hunter. Animated.
- 1967 - Daniel Pratt Mannix IV, The Fox and the Hound stars a fox named Tod as one of the two protagonists. Made into a Disney movie, with a recent sequel.
- 1977 - Richard Adams, The Plague Dogs has a protagonist named "The Tod" who helps out Snitter and Rowf along in their adventures.
- 1986-present - Brian Jacques, Redwall series: Fox characters include Fortunata, Sela, Chickenhound or Slagar, Urgan Nagru, Silvamord, Nightshade and Rasconza. Also animated.
- 1989 - Garry Kilworth, Hunter's moon: The life and tragedies of a fox family which describes foxes' own mythology.
- 1989 - William Wharton (author), Franky Furbo: A magical fox rescues an American soldier and then journeys in search for proof of the unusual story.
- 1994 - Gillian Rubinstein, Foxspell, in which a fox's god propose that a young boy become a fox in favor to proper burial of dead fox's body.
- 1998 - Elizabeth Hand, Last Summer at Mars Hills: An Indian boy has magical amulet which allows him change into a fox.
- 2001 and 2003 - Mordicai Gerstein, Fox Eyes and Old Country, in which anyone can switch bodies with fox if he looks into their eyes long enough.
- 2002 - N. M. Browne, Hunted:A comatose girl wakes up in a fox's body in a fantasy world.
- 2005 - Victor Pelevin, The Sacred Book of Werewolf: The kitsune A-huli searches for a path to Nirvana for were-creatures.
[edit] Young Children books
- 1908 and 1912 - Beatrix Potter included foxes in her anthropomorphic children's tales--as pursuer in The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck and as title character in The Tale of Mr. Tod.
- 1913 - Thornton W. Burgess's The Green Forest: Reddy Fox.
- 1963? - Miyoko Matsutani, The Bread with Color of the Fox's Tail: story about friendship between a girl and a boy-werefox.
- 1970s - Richard Scarry, series of books, Fixit Fox, a mechanic; also animated
- 1970 - Roald Dahl, Fantastic Mr. Fox: Mr. and Mrs. Fox.
- 1982 - William Steig's children's book Dr. Desoto contains an unnamed vulpine patient.
- 1990 - Judith Mellecker, The Fox and the Kingfisher: Picture book about brother and sister who tried to run away from stepmother and changed their selves into a fox and a bird.
- 1998 - Michel Gagné, A Search for Meaning--The Story of Rex : Continues in comics magazine Flight (comic)
- 2006 - Ali Sparkes, Finding the Fox: About an X-Man boy whose ability is to change into a fox.
- 1900s - Irina Korshunow, The Foundling Fox: Picture book about a fox who loses his parents and is adopted by another mother.
[edit] Books with loose fox motifs
- 1919 - Johnston McCulley, Zorro: Stories about a masked avenger whose alias means "fox" in Spanish.
- 1986 and 2001 - Michael Moorcock's The City in the Autumn Stars and The Dreamthief's Daughter: The von Beck family met with Reynard, one of the last of fox-human people, eradicated by Christians.
- 1992-1998 - Roger Zelazny's Amber series of novels include a tricky red-haired character named Rinaldo (alias Luke Reynard) who is suggestive of the fox archetype.
[edit] Movies
[edit] Animated Movies and series
- 1937 - Ladislas Starevich's puppet-animated feature film, Le Roman de Renard ("The Tale of the Fox").
- 1940 - Disney's Pinocchio: J. Worthington Foulfellow (also known as Honest John, and ironically is extremely dishonest).
- 1946- Disney's Song of the South: Brer Fox.
- 1972 - Ralph Bakshi's 1972 film cartoon : Winston Schwartz, the on-and-off-again girlfriend of Fritz.
- 1973 - Disney's Robin Hood: Robin Hood and Maid Marian
- 1973 - Zuiyo Eizo episodes Fables of the Green Forest based on a book The Green Forest.
- 1981 - Disney's The Fox and the Hound: Tod; there was a 2006 sequel The Fox and the Hound 2.
- 1982 - Attila Dargay's Vuk, a young fox who is one of the most famous Hungarian cartoon characters.
- 1983 and 1997 - Encore Enterprises' animated series Chucklewood Critters: fox character Rusty.
- 1985 - A French animated series, Moi Renart.
- 1986 - Hospital Radio's The Space Gypsy Adventures: D.C. Bones, D.C. Fusky, Gemma and Damien Mildury (animated).
- 1987 - Sunbow Productions' serial Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light: Ectar of the Spectral Knights possessed the totem of the Fox.
- 1989 - Nelvana Redwall (TV series) series, based on the book.
- 1991 - Don Bluth's Rockadoodle, based on Chanticleer by Edmond Rostand, a tale about a rooster; one of antagonists of the story is a fat fox named Pinky.
- 1991 - TV Series Bucky O'Hare: Vixen Captain Mimi LaFloo; based on 1970s comics.
- 1993-1996 - The Animals of Farthing Wood TV series and movie: Fox and his mate Vixen.
- 1993, 1996 and 2007 - Flemming Quist Møller's Danish animated films Jack from the Jungle: Rita, an urban fox.
- 1993 - Tezuka's Akuemon: Anime based on Japanese folk tale about fox-wife.
- 1997 - Tezuka's In the Beginning: The Bible Stories: Vixy, a vixen narrator.
- 1999-2003 - Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer - Swiper the Fox, mischievous thief fox.
- 2005 - A Thierry Schiel CGI film Le Roman de Renart ("Renard the Fox").
- 2006 - Lee Seong-gang's South Korean animated film Yobi, the Five Tailed Fox: Yobi, a young kumiho girl.
- 2007 - TV Series Skunk Fu!: Fox, on whom Rabbit has a big crush.
[edit] Anime
- Sonic the Hedgehog series - Miles "Tails" Prower, two-tailed fox
- Naruto - Kyuubi no Yoko, the nine-tailed demon fox, the most powerful Bijuu which is sealed inside Naruto Uzumaki
- Digimon - Kyubimon and Renamon
- Yu Yu Hakusho - Kurama
- InuYasha - Shippo, a small fox demon
- Pokémon - Vulpix and Ninetales.
- Hyper Police - Sakura, eight and half-tailed kitsune.
- Slayers - Zilas, henchmen of Valgave
- Zoids - the Shadow Fox
- Kanon - Makoto Sawatari
- Yobi the five tailed fox-about a young kitsune(fox spirit)
- Kyatto Ninden Teyandee - Kitsunezuka Ko'on-no-Kami, the Prime Minister of Edoropolis.
- One Piece - Foxy, the pirate with a 24,000 beri bounty who's crew cheats at everything.
[edit] Feature Movies
- 1973 - The Belstone Fox (Free Spirit): Fox named "Tag," based on the novel "The Ballad of the Belstone Fox".
- 1973 - Ukrainian movie director Igor Negrescul's Domino: A Life of a Silver Fox.
- 1990 - Akira Kurosawa's Dreams: A boy goes to the forest to see where the foxes have their weddings.
- 1994 - Russian director Ury Klimov's Once Lives a Fox: Story of a fox escaped from the zoo.
- 2005 Andrew Adamson's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Mr. Fox, voiced by Rupert Everett. A fox also appears during a Christmas feast in the novel, and is turned to stone by the White Witch.
- 2006 - Helen the Baby Fox Seven-year old Taichi found a baby fox named "Helen."
- ?? Kazakhstan's movie The Last Fox: Boy rescues fox from a trap.
- ?? Estonia's movie Life of the Fox
[edit] Video Games, Card Games, Comics
- Fox McCloud, James McCloud, and Krystal from the Star Fox series of Nintendo video games.
- Keaton of the Legend of Zelda video games.
- Pokémon - Vulpix and Ninetales.
- Miles "Tails" Prower, a two-tailed fox that can spin his tails like a helicopter to fly, from the popular Sonic the Hedgehog series by a branch of Sega; Sonic Team.
- Fiona Fox, a dark orange female fox who was originally portrayed as a robot; than an organic version was later created for Sonic the Hedgehog, whom Tails had a crush on until she revealed that she was too old for him, then subsequently dated Sonic and finally Scourge, becoming a sexy villain.
- Inspector Carmelita Fox, a police officer in the Sly Cooper series of video games.
- Riff and his girlfriend in the computer game "Inherit the Earth"
- The James Bond parody Spy Fox, star of a computer game series.
- Crazy Redd, the Black Market salesman from the Animal Crossing games.
- In Trickster Online, Fox is the female sense type character.
- The character Reynard in the comic 'Fables' is a Fox based at the 'upstate Fable community' or 'The Farm' where all non human Fables have to live. He is one of the good Fables and has helped save central characters.
- In the trading card game Magic: The Gathering, Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is a legendary fox monk of great power and purity. {The name of this creature may be an attempt to avoid a copyright violation against Nintendo and Game Freak, as there is already a Pokémon named Ninetales.)
- Video game series, Metal Gear Solid, the special forces group is known as "Fox-Hound". It has a logo of either a fox carrying a knife in its mouth, or a cartoon fox with a grenade in one hand, and a machine pistol in the other. Fox is also the highest level codename an operative can receive, designating the highest level of skill.
- Ninetails, a major boss character from the game Okami. Its source of power is the Fox Rods, which contain nine Tube Foxes, one for each tail. During battle with Ninetails, the tails turn into women and must be defeated individually. (It should be noted that this character's name is spelled differently than Ninetales'.)
- Titus the Fox: To Marrakech and Back, fox mascot in a platform game
- In the Image Comics series Kiss: The Psycho Circus, the members of Kiss are portrayed as supernatural beings who train a Feudal Japanese samurai to outsmart supernatural foxes. The warrior outsmarts the fox spirits by applying the fox makeup identity of the late Kiss drummer Eric Carr
- In the video game Drawn To Life for the Nintendo DS handheld system, the charters of the village are "Raposas" which is Portuguese for Fox
- In the webcomic The Whiteboard three characters are foxes: Swampy, Red, and Sandy.
[edit] Other
- Mozilla Firefox's logo is a fox on a globe
- Flora Fox, The Get Along Gang
- Fuse the Fusion Radio fox
- 1963,1968,2002,2006 Peter Firmin's Basil Brush, British television sock-puppet
[edit] Ballet
- The fox in ballet performances of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- 1916, ballet by the Igor Stravinsky Renard
- ballet The Cunning Little Vixen, based on book
[edit] Web-comics
- Ozy and Millie- foxes starring in a webcomic of the same name
- Black Tapestries- a popular webcomic about a drifter who was cursed by a mage into a gray werefox.
- Tales from Mynarski Forest- webcomics about hare Skippy and Liska, the fox
- Vicki Fox- webcomic about an anthropomorphic vixen.
[edit] References
- ^ Katherine Berrin & Larco Museum (1997). The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson.
- ^ David Garnett (1922). Lady into Fox. London: Chatto and Windus. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10337
