Foxes In Popular Culture, Films And Literature

The fox appears in the folklore of many cultures, but especially European and East Asian, as a figure of cunning, trickery, or as a familiar animal possessed of magic powers, and sometimes associated with transformation. Literature, film, television, games, music, and other forms of cultural expression may reflect the folklore image and reputation.

The term "foxy" in English ("having the qualities of a fox") can also connote attractiveness, sexiness, or being red-haired. The term "to outfox" means "to beat in a competition of wits", similarly to "outguess", "outsmart", and "outwit".

In folklore and wisdom

Africa

In Dogon mythology, the fox is reported to be either the trickster god of the desert, who embodies chaos or a messenger for the gods.

There is a Tswana riddle that says that ''"Phokoje go tsela o dithetsenya'' nly the muddy fox livesmeaning that, in a philosophical sense, 'only an active person who does not mind getting muddy gets to progress in life.'

Europe

Kuma Lisa is a female fox from Bulgarian folklore and Russian folklore who usually plays the role of the trickster. Kuma Lisa is encountered with another character known as Kumcho Vulcho – a wolf which is opposite to her and very often suffers from her tricks. Veronika Makarova writes that in Western European folklore, words relating to foxes, such as French "renard", have a masculine grammatical gender, which is why Western European foxes are usually depicted as male foxes, but the word лисa (''lisa'') in Russian has a feminine grammatical gender, which is why nearly all depictions of foxes in Russian folklore are female.

In Scotland, the trickster figure of the fox (or ''tod'' in traditional Scots) was represented as ''Lowrence'', as in the ''Morall Fabillis'' of Robert Henryson.

In Finnish mythology, the fox is depicted usually a cunning trickster, but seldom evil. The fox, while weaker, in the end outsmarts both the evil and voracious wolf and the strong but not-so-cunning bear. It symbolizes the victory of intelligence over both malevolence and brute strength. In Northern Finland, the fox is said to conjure the aurora borealis while it runs through the snowy hills. When the fox’s fur touches the snow it creates magical sparks and sets the sky ablaze. Still today, the Finnish word for the aurora is “revontulet” which literally translates to “fox-fires”.

An Occitan song dating from the Middle Ages, ''Ai Vis lo Lop'', features a wolf (''lo lop''), a fox (''lo rainard'') and a hare (''lebre'') dancing and circling a tree. It has been suggested that the three animals represent the King, Lord and Church who were responsible for taxation (the lyrics go on to refer to money gained over the year and how nothing was left after seeing 'the wolf, the fox and the hare').

In Europe, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, foxes, which were associated with wiliness and fraudulent behavior, were sometimes burned as symbols of the Devil.

In the ancient Greek story of the Teumessian Fox, the god Dionysus sends a giant fox as punishment to eat the children of Thebes. To defend the children, Creon, the leader of Thebes, sends a dog with special powers to catch the giant fox. Zeus then intervenes and turns both animals into stone and throws them into the sky, where they become the constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor.

Middle East

In early Mesopotamian mythology, the fox is one of the sacred animals of the goddess Ninhursag. The fox acts as her messenger.

The Bible's Song of Solomon (2:15) includes a well-known verse ''"Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom"'' which had been given many interpretations over the centuries by Jewish and Christian Bible commentators.

To the Jewish sage Matteya ben Heresh, of the 2nd century CE, is attributed the maxim: "Meet each man with friendly greeting; be the tail among lions rather than the head among foxes". "The head among foxes" in this context is similar to the English expression "A big fish in a small pond". "Fox fables" are attributed to Rabbi Meir and Johanan ben Zakai, and appeared in a large compilation by Berechiah ha-Nakdan; the term in fact refers also to fables featuring animals other than foxes.

East Asia

In Classic of Mountains and Seas (edited by Liu Xiang in Han Dynasty and probably composed by people before Qin Dynasty), foxes eat people, and predicts war.
In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean folklores, foxes (''huli jing'' in China, ''kitsune'' in Japan, and ''kumiho'' in Korea) are powerful spirits that are known for their highly mischievous and cunning nature, and they often take on the form of female humans to seduce men. In contemporary Chinese, the word ''huli jing'' is often used to describe a mistress negatively in an extramarital affair. In Shinto of Japan, kitsune sometimes helps people as an errand of their deity, Inari.

Americas

The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped animals and often depicted the fox in their art. The Moche people believed the fox to be a warrior that would use his mind to fight. The fox would not ever use physical attack, only mental.

In the Uncle Remus collection of 19th-century African-American folktales adapted and compiled by Joel Chandler Harris, "Br'er Fox" is a major character, often acting as the antagonist towards the stories' main character, "Br'er Rabbit".

Vladimir Bogoraz wrote down a creation myth he allegedly heard from the Chukchi people, in which the yellow fox attempts to deceive the Creator of the world for food, but fails, and the arctic fox is cowardly.

In language

As an epithet

The Medieval Norman adventurer Robert Guiscard was nicknamed ''"Robert the Fox"'' as well as ''the Resourceful'', ''the Cunning'', ''the Wily'' – underlining the identification of such qualities with foxes.

During the American Revolution Continental Army Officer Francis Marion became so adept at attacking and ambushing British forces in the swamps of South Carolina that he became known as the “Swamp Fox”.

During World War II, the German commander in North Africa, Erwin Rommel, was grudgingly nicknamed the "Desert Fox" by his British adversaries, as a tribute to his cunning and skill in operational art.

The Italian sociologist and economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848–1923) in his ''Trattato di Sociologia Generale'' (1916) developed the concept of an elite social class, which he divided into cunning 'foxes' and violent 'lions'. In his view of society, the power constantly passes from the 'foxes' to the 'lions' and vice versa.

Figures of speech

The words ''fox'' and ''foxy'' have become slang in English-speaking 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 word ''shenanigan'' (a deceitful confidence trick, or mischief) is considered to be derived from the Irish expression ''sionnachuighim'', meaning "''I play the fox''."

Literature

:''(in chronological order)''

* 4 BC – Aesop's Fables from classical antiquity, contain numerous tales involving a fox.
* 800 – "Renshi zhuan" (任氏传) he story of Lady Renby Shen Ji-ji,: Story of a love affair between Zheng and a were-fox named Ren.
* 921 – ''Kuzunoha'': Abe no Seimei's mother is a kitsune (fox spirit) named Kuzunoha
* 1100 – The medieval story of ''Reynard'', a classic anthropomorphic epic.
* 1390s – Geoffrey Chaucer, The Nun's Priest's Tale, based on an incident in the Reynard cycle.
* 1480s – Robert Henryson, ''The Morall Fabillis of Esope the Phrygian'', where the figure of the fox, as ''Lowrence'', is portrayed in an ongoing rivalry with the wolf.
* 1532 – Niccolò Machiavelli, ''The Prince'': The successful prince must have the traits of both the lion and the fox. As the lion cannot protect himself from traps and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves.
* 1668 – Jean de la Fontaine (1621–1695), the French fabulist, brilliantly refashioned Aesop's fables into poems, including some involving the fox such as:
** The Fox and the Crow (french: Le Corbeau et le Renard)
** The Fox and the Stork (french: Le Renard et la Cigogne)
** The Fox and the Billy Goat (french: Le Renard et le Bouc)
** The Fox and the Grapes (french: Le Renard et les Raisins)
* 1679 – Pu Songling, ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'', about encounters between humans and Huli jing (fox spirits).
* 1880–1905 – Joel Chandler Harris, ''Uncle Remus'': Oral tradition including Brer Fox, from the American South.

* 1881–1883 – The Fox and the Cat ( it, Il Gatto e la Volpe) are a pair of fictional characters who appear in Carlo Collodi's book ''The Adventures of Pinocchio''. Both are con-men who lead Pinocchio astray and unsuccessfully attempt to murder him. They pretend to have disabilities – the Fox to lameness and the Cat to blindness. The Fox is the more articulate, the Cat usually limiting itself to repeating the Fox's words.
* 1894 – "Scrapefoot". A tale with a fox as antagonist that bears striking similarities to Robert Southey's "The Story of the Three Bears" was uncovered by the folklorist Joseph Jacobs and may predate Southey's version in the oral tradition. Some sources state that it was illustrator John D. Batten who in 1894 reported a variant of the tale at least 40 years old. In this version, the three bears live in a castle in the woods and are visited by a fox called Scrapefoot who drinks their milk, sits in their chairs, and rests in their beds.
* 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'' is about transformation into animal, first physical then mental.
* 1924 – Hugh Lofting, ''Doctor Dolittle's Circus'' – ''Doctor Dolittle'', the animals' friend, hides the vixen Nightshade and her cubs in his jacket, to save them from fox hunters.
* 1932 – Niimi Nankichi, ''Gon, the Little Fox'': The fox was misunderstood, and it was shot. The moral of result of revenge.
* 1938 – B.B., ''Wild Lone: The Story of a Pytchley Fox'': A novel about a fox's life in Northamptonshire, the home of the Pytchley Hunt.
* 1943 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, ''The Little Prince'': A fox indicates the true value of friendship.
* 1953 – Isaiah Berlin, ''The Hedgehog and the Fox''.
* 1957 – Ted Hughes, ''The Thought-Fox'': A poem featured in Hughes's ''The Hawk in the Rain''.
* 1960 – Vercors, ''Sylva'', inspired by David Garnett where a fox changes into a lady.
* 1965 – István Fekete ''Vuk'', about life of abandoned fox and his revenge on a hunter. Also made into an animated film.
* 1967 – Daniel P. Mannix, ''The Fox and the Hound'' stars a fox named Tod as one of the two protagonists. Made into an animated film by Disney.
* 1976 – John Crowley, ''Beasts'' features a genetically engineered half-human-half-fox named Reynard as one of the main characters.
* 1977 – Richard Adams, ''The Plague Dogs'' has a protagonist named "The Tod" who helps out Snitter and Rowf along in their adventures.
* 1986–2011 – Brian Jacques, ''Redwall'' series: Fox characters include Fortunata, Sela, Chickenhound/Slagar, Urgan Nagru, Silvamord, Nightshade, Vizka Longtooth, and Rasconza. An animated television series based on three of the books was also produced.
* 1989 – Garry Kilworth, ''Hunter's Moon'': The life and tragedies of a fox family which describes foxes' own mythology.
* 1989 – William Wharton, ''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.
* 1995 – Lajos Parti Nagy, ''Fox Affair at Sunset'' (lit. "Fox Object at Sunset"), a postmodern death poem with nostalgic irony.
* 1998 – Elizabeth Hand, ''Last Summer at Mars Hills'': An Indian boy has magical amulet which allows him change into a fox.
* 1999 – Kij Johnson, '' The Fox Woman'', in which one of the protagonists is a fox woman named Kitsune.
* 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.

Children's 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.
* 1924 – Aquilino Ribeiro, ''Romance da Raposa'': Portuguese adaptation of the medieval story of Reynard.
* 1961 – Peter Spier, ''The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night'': an adaptation of the folk song of the same name.
* 1970s – Richard Scarry, series of books, Fixit Fox, a mechanic; also animated
* 1970 – Roald Dahl, ''Fantastic Mr. Fox'': Mr. and Mrs. Fox and their four pups.
* 1972 – Nonny Hogrogian's children's book "One Fine Day": a story of a fox that has its tail chopped off
* 1982 – William Steig's children's book ''Dr. Desoto'' contains an unnamed vulpine patient.
* 1998 – Michel Gagné, ''A Search for Meaning—The Story of Rex'' : Continues in comics magazine ''Flight (comic)''
* 2006 – Ali Sparkes, ''Finding the Fox'': the first of a series of novels about a boy who has the ability to change into a fox.
* 1965 – Dr. Seuss

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