Orangutans in popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Orangutans, two species of great apes indigenous to Indonesia and Malaysia, have been the subject of multiple popular culture references.
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[edit] Famous orangutans
- Ah Meng (b. 1960), Sumatran Orangutan of Singapore
- Ken Allen (1971-2000) was a Bornean orangutan at the San Diego Zoo known for his escape artistry. He unscrewed bolts with his fingers, reached around things and climbed steep walls to find temporary freedom. When keepers discovered and closed one of his escape routes he would find another. At least once he was found out among zoo visitors and was led by the hand to a keeper by a visitor. Ken Allen died in 2000.[1]
[edit] Orangutans as villains
An early example of orangutans in English literature is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most famous stories, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," which featured a murderous orangutan. Orangutans also play a prominent role in Poe's short story "Hop-Frog." Later examples offer a more civilized ape: in 1967, Walt Disney produced a film version of The Jungle Book, and added an orangutan King Louie who wanted the power of "man's red fire". The next year, Planet of the Apes featured orangutan administrators and politicians ruling over the other apes and treating humans as vermin.
[edit] Orangutans as pets and guardians
The flexible form of the orangutan is put to use, as in Terry Pratchett's Discworld with The Librarian, a human shapechanged into an orangutan. Orangutans become pets (as in Every Which Way But Loose), friends (as in Dunston Checks In) and even guardians, as in Nickelodeon's The Wild Thornberrys, where they raise a human child.
[edit] Use in entertainment
Young captive orangutans have been used in films, TV and advertising.
The Clint Eastwood movies Every Which Way But Loose and Any Which Way You Can featured an orangutan named Clyde who died shortly after the latter film was made. An assistant trainer admitting beating Clyde with a cane and ax handle, which was not illegal at the time.[2]
The television soap opera Passions used an orangutan named BamBam for the character of Precious, a nurse. Baby orangutans have also been used in television commercials for companies such as Ask.com, Capital One and Visa.
Entertainer Bobby Berosini used several orangutans in his Las Vegas act[3] until he was videotaped beating the animals back stage.[4] Animal rights group PETA publicized a videotape of the abuse and entered into a long series of lawsuits with Berosini who eventually was denied permission to keep these endangered species by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.[5]
[edit] Orangutans in specific works of fiction
- Disney's 1967 animated musical adaptation of The Jungle Book added an orangutan called King Louie to Rudyard Kipling's original cast of anthropomorphic characters. He also appeared in the the Disney Channel's Talespin, but is only referred to as "Louie."
- Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of fantasy novels feature an orangutan as The Librarian of the Unseen University.
- The orangutan Clyde is Clint Eastwood's pet sidekick in the film Every Which Way But Loose and its sequel Any Which Way You Can.
- In the film Dunston Checks In, a young boy befriends a larcenous orangutan in a luxury hotel.
- In the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the protagonists rescue an orangutan from an animal testing laboratory.
- In Nickelodeon's The Wild Thornberrys, the character Donnie was raised by orangutans a for a while after his parents were killed by poachers.
- In Nickelodeon's Drake and Josh, Drake bought an orangutan named Bobo from a car dealership then sold it to a man who meant to eat him.
- In the Futurama episode "The Problem with Popplers", Zap Brannigan fooled aliens into eating an orangutan in order to save Leela.
- In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Raoul Duke is interested in buying an orangutan but later in the book it attacks people and is taken away.
- In the Rob Schneider movie The Animal, Rob's character gets involved in a slapping fight and eventually wrestles with an orangutan.
Many other animals have the same appropriation for comedic and effect in many cultures.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Pollock, Mary S. and Catherine Rainwater (eds). Figuring Animals: Essays on Animal Images in Art, Literature, Philosophy & Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 1-403-96512-9.
- Rothfels, Nigel. (2002) Representing animals. Indiana University Press, ISBN 100-2-53-21551-X.
