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Cultural depictions of penguins

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Penguins are popular around the world primarily for their unusually upright, waddling pace and (compared to other birds) lack of fear towards humans.[1] Their striking black and white plumage is often likened to a tuxedo suit and generates humorous remarks about the bird being "well dressed"[2].

The bird is typically depicted as a friendly and comical figure, with considerable personal dignity despite its physical limitations. Perhaps in reaction to this cutesy stereotype, fictional penguins are occasionally presented as grouchy or even sinister. The popular Sanrio character Badtz Maru is an example, being cute yet somewhat surly. The 1960s television cartoon character Tennessee Tuxedo would often escape the confines of his zoo with his partner, Chumley the walrus. Also, the webcomic Fluble features an enormous penguin conspiracy run by numerous diabolical, if often inept, penguins. In the children's movie Madagascar, the penguins are cast as spies. In the animated series Wallace and Gromit a penguin called Feathers McGraw disguises himself as a chicken with a red rubber glove. Penguins are often portrayed as friendly and smart as well. Another example is in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which features a warm-water penguin named Pen Pen.

Famous penguin characters

Computing

Screenshot from Freedroid RPG
  • Sega's 1982 video-game Pengo stars a penguin.
  • A penguin (often named Pentarou) is a main character in a number of 1980s Konami games (namely Antarctic Adventure and Penguin Adventure), and shows up as a playable character in others, notably the Parodius series.
  • Penguins are featured in the computer game Pingus, similar to the classic computer game Lemmings.
  • Penguins feature prominently in the popular Yetisports series of Flash games.
  • The Linux mascot Tux is a penguin, and is featured in several computer games, such as Tux Racer and Freedroid RPG.
  • The Gentoo Linux distribution is named after the Gentoo Penguin.
  • The Nintendo 64 game Super Mario 64 features a level in which a mother and baby penguin are prominent characters. These penguins are favorite characters of Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto and go on to appear in other Nintendo titles such as Mario Kart 64, Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, and Mario Pinball Land.
  • The penguin appears in a recent edition of the video game Pitfall. In fact, one part of the game involves fighting the protagonist as a penguin. Strangely unlike the typical South American penguins, the penguins from Pitfall have crests like the crested penguins.
  • The Dire Penguin is an animal unit associated with the Frostlings in the PC games Age of Wonders and Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 3 includes enemy penguin robots in Ice Cap Zone. The Sonic series also has penguins appear as real animals freed from machines in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonc Adventure. Sonic Adventure 2 has penguins spread out through levels to collect and use with Chao.
  • The website War Of The Penguins.com is one of several sites that talk about "evil penguins." The website concentrates on the military invasion of the world by a hypothetical Penguin Army.
  • In the video game Mega Man X, there is a boss known as Chill Penguin.
  • In Pokemon there are four penguin Delibird and Pochama's evolutions
  • The game, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, introduced the Prinnies. Prinnies are demonic penguins that use bombs and knives and explode when thrown.

Politics and military

Comics

  • Opus the penguin was a main character in Berke Breathed's comic strips Bloom County, Outland, and Opus.
  • Sparky is a main character in the weekly cartoon This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow.
  • Pokey the Penguin is a popular webcomic.
  • Chilly Willy is another web comic, based on the (penguin) character from the Commodore 64 game Chilly Willy, a clone of Pengo. These only coincidentally share the same name as the theatrical cartoon character.
  • Frobisher is a penguin (actually, a shape-shifting alien who liked the penguin shape) who appeared in the Doctor Who Monthly comic strips in the 1980s. Despite not being strictly canon, he is considered an important part of the Doctor Who mythos.
  • DC Comics' Batman contains a villain named the Penguin, who has also appeared in movies and live-action television programs as well as cartoons. While actually a human, his long nose and stout shape have earned him the nickname commenting on how similar he is in appearance to the bird.
  • Ted the penguin is a penguin of unknown age which inhabits the home of Ethan, Lucas, Scott and Lilah in the Ctrl Alt Del (webcomic), ostensibly as the pet of Scott, the web-comic's Linux guru.
  • Linus the penguin, named after Linux creator Linus Torvalds, is a character in the webcomic Nukees. He befriended Gav while the mad scientist was trapped in Antarctica after fleeing his creation, a homicidal AI named Teri. While Linus is not known to speak, Gav and the other Nukees seem to understand him, and he is quite good with computer hacking despite the lack of hands (he types with his beak
  • Wally and Osborne (formerly On the Rocks) stars an adelie penguin named Osborne (formerly Osbourne). The comic features several penguins as it takes place in Antarctica as well as regularly offering penguin facts.
  • Percy and Pete are characters in the webcomic Hackles. These penguins are sysadmins in the fictional company BitCo.
  • Mellville is Vice-Penguin of the country Pellmellia in the Graphic-Novel-of-a-Humorous-Persuasion series Lookit! by Ray Friesen. He beleives it is because of him that penguins have become so popular recently, as he first burst on the scene in September of 2001, ignoring the several penguin cartoon characters that preceeded him.

Film

Literature

  • The children's book Mr. Popper's Penguins details Mr. Popper and his 12 performing penguins.
  • Three children's books by Janet Perlman--Cinderella Penguin, The Emperor Penguin's New Clothes, and The Penguin and the Pea--retell classic children's stories with a penguin twist.
  • Penguin Island by Anatole France
  • Learning to Fly by Sebastian Meschenmoser
  • H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness notably features giant blind albino penguins around an underground sea in Antarctica.
  • Another literary penguin can be found in the children's book One Hot Penguin, by Jamie Rix
  • Every Russian schoolchild knows and loves Maxim Gorky's reference to the "stupid penguin" in his Song of a Storm petrel
  • And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole. "In the Zoo there are all kinds of animal families. But Tango's family is not like any of the others." (The true story of a penguin family at the Central Park Zoo.)
  • Pondus the Penguin is the eponymous main character in a 1968 photographed Danish children's book by Ivar Myrhøj.

Television

  • Monty Python wrote two sketches about penguins. The first was about a pair of pepperpots watching one stand on top of their television. They discuss where it might have come from and before long, the penguin explodes. The other sketch involve them more directly, it has a documentary-style approach as to whether or not a penguin is smarter than a human being. It is followed by a Terry Gilliam animation about penguins replacing important figures in the world.
  • A sinister penguin was the short lived mascot of Bud Ice, starring in commercials in 1996 themed "Beware the Penguins". The bird would appear either first in disguise, or from hiding (for example, in a hollowed out bookshelf speaker in one commercial) and take hold of an unsuspecting victim's Bud Ice, while eerily singing "Dooby Dooby Doo". The mascot did not last long after a menswear company sued, and Budweiser soon after pulled the ads in favor of a mascot that would better tie in with their products. Many speculate that the bird was actually referencing the line "Strangers in the Night" sung by Frank Sinatra, this has never been confirmed but is likely, as it is the closing line of the song.
  • Futurama featured a whole colony of Penguins in 'The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz'. Leela finds them extremely cute, like 'If Kittens and Puppies could have babies.'
  • An episode of The Simpsons featured penguins in the "Antarctica" warship when Homer steers a ship into International waters. His vessel found itself surrounded by ships from the United States, Canada, China, and etc. including Antarctica. In another episode Lisa peeps into a penguin habitat closed for repair surprising the penguins flying in the room. Once they notice her, they resume their usual "undercover" behavior.
  • The Swiss television programme Pingu featured the adventures of a young penguin and his family in 5 minute episodes; the program proved popular in a diverse group of countries including its native Switzerland, New Zealand, Japan and the UK.
  • Bugs Bunny encounters a lost penguin in the Looney Tunes short "8 Ball Bunny" and assists it in its travels to Antarctica. The penguin goes on to make a cameo appearance in the Looney Tunes-inspired film Space Jam in 1996.
  • Tony Kornheiser performs the "Penguin Dance" frequently on the show PTI. He likes to claim that the dance is sweeping the nation, to the dismay of his partner Michael Wilbon.
  • Penguins were also featured in the television show Count Duckula; one episode showed the penguins as a crew of pirates on the high seas and creating a mutiny, while another episode showed them all as servants and butlers for (appropriately)a bellicose walrus, though becoming hostile when they were not paid.
  • A skit on the Australian show Ronnie Johns mentions 'A Penguin will choose a partner and mate for life. You probably don't have a girlfriend or a boyfriend. The Penguin is happier than you and the Penguin is better than you'.
  • The Red Dwarf episode Quarrantine featured a penguin glove puppet called "Mr. Flibble".

Fashion

Sports mascots

Places

Audio CDs

  • Frobisher, the talking alien penguin from the DWM comics, has appeared in several of the licensed Doctor Who audio plays produced by Big Finish, including The Holy Terror and The Maltese Penguin.
  • Sack Trick's second album, Penguins on the Moon, is the tale of four heroic penguins who journeyed to the moon in search of a more habitable climate.
  • dredg's fifth album El Cielo features a song called "Triangle" with repetitious lyrics asking "We live like Penguins in the desert, why can't we live like tribes?"
  • Woob's Woob1194 album features Emperor Penguins on the album cover.
  • Italian progressive rock band Murple's 1974 album Io Sono Murple tells the story of a penguin named Murple who leaves his home in Anarctica and encounters the Evil Man.
  • Pigloo is a French band which base their songs on penguins. Their videos also feature animate penguins.

Penguins and polar bears

Despite what commercials and other sources may show, the likelihood of a meeting between a penguin and a polar bear without human intervention is vanishingly small. This is because the two species are found on opposite hemispheres. Polar bears inhabit the northern hemisphere, while penguins mainly inhabit the southern hemisphere. This is a misconception that is fueled by popular culture such as movies and television. A prominent example of this takes place in a holiday 2005 ad campaign by Coca-Cola featuring the partying penguins and the polar bears watching from afar. This can also be sparked by the popular joke, sometimes shown on the wrapper of a Penguin biscuit, which asks, "Why don't polar bears eat penguins - Because they can't take the wrapper off."

References

  1. ^ Buenos Aires Herald. March of the Penguins..
  2. ^ Template:Es icon Clarín. 18 January 2006. Un combate entre "pingüinos" por la estratégica secretaría de Agricultura.
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