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Talking animals are a common element inmythology andfolk tales,children's literature, and moderncomic books andanimated cartoons. Fictional talking animals often areanthropomorphic, possessing human-like qualities (such as bipedal walking, wearing clothes, and living in houses). Whether they are realistic animals or fantastical ones, talking animals serve a wide range of uses in literature, from teaching morality to providing social commentary. Realistic talking animals are often found in fables, religious texts, indigenous texts, wilderness coming of age stories, naturalist fiction, animal autobiography, animal satire, and in works featuring pets and domesticated animals. Conversely, fantastical and more anthropomorphic animals are often found in the fairy tale, science fiction, and fantasy genres.
The use of talking animals enables storytellers to combine the basic characteristics of the animal with human behavior, to apply metaphor, and to entertain children as well as adults.[1] Animals are used in a variety of ways in fictional works including to illustrate morality lessons for children, to instill wonder in young readers,[1] and as a tool for inserting social commentary.[2] In addition talking animals can be utilized for satirical purposes,[1] for humorous purposes like in the case ofFrog and Toad,[1] and to decentralize and deemphasize the human experience.[3] Talking animals can also be used to create analogies or allegories. For example, inNarnia, Aslan the Lion can be seen as an allegory for Christ.[1] Finally, some fictional works with talking animals challenge the human-animal divide and identify children as the members of society who take on the responsibility of being ecological/environmental changemakers.[3]
In textual representations the creature retains its original form, other than being able to speak. Sometimes it may only speak as a narrator for the reader's convenience. The rabbits inWatership Down who, except for the ability to discuss their actions, behave exactly as normal rabbits, also come under this category, as do characters from animated films likeHappy Feet andThe Lion King.
The tradition of using talking animals in stories dates as far back as 550 BCE with the GreekAesop’s Fables. ThePanchatantra, a collection of Indian animal fables, is another early example. Both use talking animals for didactic purposes.[4] More recent fables like Sarah Trimmer’sHistory of the Robins (1786) use talking animals to instruct children on how to behave in society as well as how to maintain the social order.[4] They also reiterate the superiority of humans to animals which is why humans are responsible for caring for animals.[4]
The talking creature concept is featured within much traditional literature, and several mythologies, includingGreek,Chinese andIndian mythologies. A notable example from theJudaeo-Christian tradition is the talkingserpent from theBook of Genesis, which temptsEve to eat theforbidden fruit of theTree of the knowledge of good and evil.[citation needed]
In theQur’ān, animals are seen as gifts from God and thus are meant to serve humans.[5] Aside from a few animals being able to speak, they are never anthropomorphized, personified, or given names.[5] There are only a handful of times that animals speak in the Qur’ān and most of these occurrences happen in relation to Solomon.[5] For example, it is ahoopoe (a bird native to Africa, Asia, and Europe) that tells King Solomon of Queen Sheba’s idolatrous ways.[5]
In Native American mythology, animals are integral to human survival and thus a part of the Native American family/community.[6] Distinctions between humans and animals are more fluid.[6] In these stories animals represent the ability to adapt and serve as mentors and guides.[6] For example, in Louise Erdrich’s bookChickadee the protagonist is saved by a Chickadee, who instructs him in finding food and water, after he escapes a kidnapping.[6]
Other examples of Native American works with talking animal stories includeHow I Became a Ghost,Keepers of the Earth, andThe Orphan and the Polar Bear, just to name a few.[2]
In the Disney franchises ofThe Jungle Book andTarzan,Mowgli along with Shanti and Ranjan can talk to the animals (such as a sloth bear, an elephant, a black panther, a tiger and a python) in the jungles of India, andTarzan along with Jane and her father can talk to the animals: gorillas and elephants in African jungle.[citation needed] Out of the animals, Sabor the leopard does not speak.
In the Frenchferal childcomic bookPyrénée, Pyrénée can talk to the forest animals in the French mountains ofPyrenees.
InGo, Diego, Go! andDora the Explorer, Dora and her cousin Diego can talk to the animals in the rainforest.
InTommy and the Wishing Stone (1915) byThornton W. Burgess, Tommy, who lives on a farm with his parents, resents his chores. He sees a mouse and envies it for not having chores, and imagines that it lives a carefree life. He wishes he was a mouse too, and suddenly, he IS a real mouse. For the rest of the first chapter, Tommy learns firsthand the challenges of being a real mouse living in the wild. He can converse with other mice in human language, but is otherwise just as a real mouse. In dreams, Tommy is thrust into life as 12 wild animals in turn: a mouse, a squirrel, a rabbit, a fox, a goose, a toad, a muskrat, a grouse, a mink, a raccoon, a beaver, and a bear. He learns how difficult and dangerous it is to live as these wild animals, and comes to respect and sympathize with them. Some editions split the book into three volumes:Tommy and the Wishing Stone,Tommy’s Wishes Come True, andTommy’s Change of Heart.
Animal fictions with more conservation-oriented themes allow young readers to engage with challenging messages at a safe distance. For example,Charlotte’s Web introduces the concept of death when Charlotte dies and Wilbur is charged with taking care of her offspring.[4] Similarly, naturalist animal fictions also provide a vehicle with which to provide commentary on the humane treatment of animals, animal rights, and the conservation of animals. A good example of this would be theDoctor Doolittle series.[1] Finally, in this digital age where modern childhood generally has very little contact and exposure to animals in the natural environment, naturalist animal fictions allow authors to portray natural animal behavior.[1][3] For instanceBambi, both the 1928 novel and the Disney film, realistically portrays the life cycle of deers.[1] The hunting dogs in the film adaptation do not talk.
Fictional works told from an animal’s perspective, like the horse inBlack Beauty, encourage readers to empathize with animals. Furthermore, more generally they challenge the human-animal divide.[4] Other examples of animal autobiographies includeThe Life and Perambulations of a Mouse (1783),The Biography of a Spaniel (1806),The Adventures of a Donkey (1815),The Curious Adventures of a Field Cricket (1881), andThy Servant, a Dog (1930).[4]
For some authors talking animals, rather than human characters, allowed them to publish their satirical commentary by protecting them from censure. Chaucer’sCanterbury Tales and Orwell’sAnimal Farm are some of the most famous examples of this.[4]
Contemporary novels such asAlexis Wright'sThe Swan Book,Colin McAdam'sA Beautiful Truth, Erin Hortle'sThe Octopus and I andLaura Jean McKay'sThe Animals in That Country show animal voices alongside human characters. These novels portray animals as equally deserving of a place in the narrative.
In the industries ofillustration,cartooning, andanimation, professionals refer to these types of creature characters astalking animals,[7]funny animals,[8] oranthropomorphic characters.[9]
Manyfairy tales include talking creatures that prove to beshapeshifted people, or evenghosts.[citation needed] The fairy talesHow Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon andTsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf have the hero aided by a fox and a wolf respectively, but in the similar taleThe Golden Bird, the talking fox is freed from a spell to become the heroine's brother, and inThe Bird 'Grip', the fox leaves the hero after explaining that it was thedead man whose debts the hero had paid.[citation needed]
Whether shape-shifted or merely having the magical ability to speak, the talking creature is perhaps the most common trait offairy tales. The motif is certainly present in many more tales than fairies.[10]
A good example of the science fiction genre is thewebcomicAnima: Age of the Robots which uses anthropomorphism to portray an alternate world as modern as ours, but inhabited by creature-lookalikes.[disputed –discuss] The intelligent robots that they have made do rebel and threaten the creatures. This serves as a warning to mankind's thoughtless pursuit of technological advancement.[citation needed]
Animated toys in fictional works are popular for expressing human developmental and existential concerns.[11] In toy literature, there are a few common motifs talking toys are used to convey. For example, talking toys can embody human anxiety about what it means to be “real” as well as reflect struggles of power when they are at the disposal of humans.[11] Another common motif is the religious allusion to divine creation when humans create toys that come alive.[11] Some examples of talking toy animals include the animals inWinnie the Pooh, the wooden toy dog inPoor Cecco,[11] the Skin Horse and Velveteen rabbit inThe Velveteen Rabbit, and theSlinky Dog toy and Tyrannosaurus Rex toy in Disney’sToy Story.[12]
Anthropomorphism of animals is common in the fantasy genre.[2] For example, inL. Frank Baum'sLand of Oz, creatures (such as the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger) talk. The chicken Billina gains the ability to talk when she is swept away by a storm to land near Oz, as do other animals, and Toto, as explained in aretcon, always had the ability since arriving in Oz, but never used it.[citation needed] InC. S. Lewis'sChronicles of Narnia, the world of Narnia is ruled by a talking lion by the name ofAslan, and many minor characters are talking woodland animals, both of which interact with both the humans of Narnia, and the children who act as the protagonists of the books. The popularity of talking animals in Western fantasy has fluctuated over time, with a new wave of animal stories appearing in the 1970s, but they became less common in subsequent decades.[13] In theSailor Moon franchise, the protagonistUsagi Tsukino and her friends awaken their powers as Sailor Guardians thanks to talking catsLuna andArtemis, who also serve as mentoring figures and advisors to them.[14]: Act 1 In thePokémon franchise.Meowth of Team Rocket is considered a unique Pokémon in that he can understand and use human language, even serving as a translator for his fellow Pokémon, where they can only usually call out their own names verbally.[15]
Funny animal comics feature non-human protagonists displaying anthropomorphic traits for humorous purposes.[16] The term "funny animals" has been used since at least the early 1870s, with an American Bookseller descrbing a book titledPretty Picture and Pretty Rhymes which featured anthropomorphic animals.[16][17] The authors ofAnimal Comics; Multispecies Storyworlds in Graphic Narratives (2017) described the style as "rampant" in comic strips in the first half of the 20th century.[18]
Nicholas Labarre inUnderstanding Genres in Comics (2020) stated thatFawcett Publications preempted the style when they began publishingFunny Animals in December 1942 while the first dedicated funny animal comic books were likely Disney and Warner-based comics, such asDell ComicsFour Color series, which started withDonald Duck.[16]
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