# Animal Themes in Film/Literature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863 "2003-04-29T06:49:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blackhawkeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@Blackhawkeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackhawkeye)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/1 "2003-04-29T06:49:10Z")
Help me think of some movies and books that have extensive animal themes, symbolism, metaphors, etc… Got a paper to write, but I’m not asking for ideas on the thesis or key points, just need a fertile piece to focus on. ---
**Author:** ![Blackhawkeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@Blackhawkeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackhawkeye)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/2 "2003-04-29T06:51:14Z")
Oh yeah, and not Jaws. ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/3 "2003-04-29T07:27:14Z")
the ultimate animal metaphor books: George Orwell - Animal Farm Richard Bach - Jonathan Livingston Seagull then there’s…hmm… Jack London - Call of the Wild, and White Fang (not so much metaphorical, as narrative) can’t think of others off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/4 "2003-04-29T09:18:53Z")
Well, it’s a well known fact that “Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH” was an allegory of the struggle between Trotskyism and Leninism, albeit with a “happy ending” tacked on to appease the publisher. And, oddly enough, “Rio Bravo” was based on a study on Herbivore-Carnivore relations. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/5 "2003-04-29T14:31:11Z")
Yes, Animal Farm is the best example. See also Watership Down. Not exactly all-animal, but The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe has symbolism associated with Aslan. The Lion King, Bambi and all the other Disney and Disney-esque animated movies. Mostly they are coming-of-age movies with the young animal being comparable to a young child. Charlotte’s Web. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/6 "2003-04-29T15:02:37Z")
_Watership Down_. Excellent book. ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/7 "2003-04-29T15:03:48Z")
Kafka’s **Metamorphosis** is the Mother of the “Oh Dear, I Seem to Have Turned Into a Giant Cockroach,” genre. TH White’s **The Once and Future King** includes a bunch of episodes where the young King Arthur is turned into different kinds of animals to learn lessons from them. ---
**Author:** ![No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/no_me_ayudes_compadre/32/5224_2.png) [@No\_Me\_Ayudes\_Compadre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Me_Ayudes_Compadre)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/8 "2003-04-29T17:28:26Z")
_Amores Perros_ is all about dogs, and also pays artistic tribute to numerous other movies with “Dog” in the title. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/9 "2003-04-29T18:08:50Z")
Moby Dick comes to mind also, but I highly recommend Watership Down. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/10 "2003-04-29T18:30:22Z")
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell – I’m pretty sure the book was intended as a treatise against certain forms of animal cruelty (overwork and inhumane harness contraptions spring to mind). Old Yeller by Fred Gipson The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings ---
**Author:** ![noodler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/278dde/32.png) [@noodler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noodler)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/11 "2003-04-29T19:00:16Z")
Maus (ok, not a novel, but still universally accepted as literature) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/12 "2003-04-29T20:01:48Z")
Some Films King Kong The Bear The Black Stallion Babe the Gallant Pig ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/13 "2003-04-29T22:10:34Z")
Beast fables: **The Book of the Dun Cow** and **The Book of Sorrows** by Walter Wangerin. Both have something of a Christian theme, in the way that the Narnia books do. All the characters are animals though. They’re very good too. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/14 "2003-04-29T22:44:20Z")
Picnic at Hanging Rock Secret of Roan Inish The Birds The Incredible Mr. Limpet Lair of the White Worm (okay, okay,…) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/15 "2003-04-30T13:30:56Z")
and I forgot one Project X existentialism + monkeys + Matthew Broderick = chaminging little movie. ---
**Author:** ![Foolonthehill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Foolonthehill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foolonthehill)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/16 "2003-04-30T17:58:47Z")
Aesop Fables? Man has been using “animal as metaphor” probably as long as we have had a structured language. ---
**Author:** ![KinSaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@KinSaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinSaba)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/17 "2003-04-30T23:19:10Z")
To the above I would add other books by Richard Adams - The Plague Dogs and Shardik leap to mind. As well as The Red Pony by John Steinbeck. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/18 "2003-05-01T00:14:52Z")
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents; Terry Pratchett Last Chance To See; Douglas Adams (both narrative and symbolic/metaphorical) Gulliver’s Travels (particularly the Houyhnhnms chapter); Jonathon Swift ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-themes-in-film-literature/171863/19 "2003-05-01T01:08:47Z")
_Lord of the Flies_? It’s been a loooong time since I read it, but I seem to remember some imagery with the pigs (not to mention the flies). _Cannery Row_ by John Steinbeck has some parts comparing the community of animals in a tide pool to a community of people, and also some symbolism in a chapter about a gopher. I third/fourth/whatever _Watership Down._ _Wind in the Willows_. Different animals have different human character traits, depending on what species they are (weasels and stoats are evil, Mole is loyal, etc.). _Winnie the Pooh._ Same idea here. _The Sun Also Rises_, by Ernest Hemmingway. Pretty much everything with the bullfights is a metaphor for, well, something. Life or something. I think I was out that day.