Penguins in popular culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Penguins are popular around the world primarily for their unusually upright, waddling pace, their magnificent swimming ability, and (compared to other birds) lack of fear toward 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]

Penguins as figures in pop culture experienced a resurgence in the mid-2000s thanks to films like March of the Penguins,^[3] Madagascar, Happy Feet, and Surf's Up.^[4] On April 1, 2008 the BBC released a short film of penguins in flight and migrating to the South American rainforest as an April Fool's joke.

Contents 1 Portrayals 2 Places 3 Politics and military 4 Sports mascots 5 Gay couples 6 Food items 7 Penguins and polar bears 8 Literature 9 Film 9.1 Feature films 9.2 Documentaries 9.3 Animations 9.4 Other films 10 Television 10.1 Commercials 10.2 Animated shows 10.3 Live action 11 Computing 11.1 Video games 11.2 Other 12 Comics 13 Music 14 Penguin characters not mentioned above 15 Other 16 References 17 External links

[edit] Portrayals

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. In the movie Madagascar, the penguins are cast as soldiers. 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.

[edit] Places

• Penguin, Tasmania is a town in Australia, located at 41°7′0″S, 146°4′15″E (Map Quest).

[edit] Politics and military

• The penguin is an unofficial symbol of the United States Libertarian Party.
• Nils Olav, a King Penguin living in Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland, is the mascot and Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Norwegian Guard.
• Penguin Vic was a character created to promote tourism in Victoria, Australia
• Supporters and collaborators of Argentine president Néstor Kirchner are known informally as penguins, and pingüino (the Spanish for penguin) is the nickname of the President himself, alluding to his birthplace in the cold southern region of Patagonia. ^{[5] [6]}
• Penguin, a type of missile manufactured by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace.

[edit] Sports mascots

• Penguins are the namesake of the Pittsburgh Penguins (mascot's name: "Iceburgh") of the National Hockey League, their farm team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and the sports teams of Youngstown State University (mascot's name: "Pete").
• The school mascot of New England Conservatory of Music (Boston, MA) is the Fighting Penguin.
• The mascot of North Otago RUFC is Bluey the penguin, due to two penguin colonies located in Oamaru, one of which is Blue penguins
• Diego the penguin is the mascot of the Diego Tartan Army based in Inverness. He was adopted in Lithuania by members of the Tartan Army who follow the Scotland football team abroad. ^[7]

[edit] Gay couples

• In the mid-2000s, several researchers and zoo directors publicised cases of male-male penguin couples forming lasting attachments and in some cases raising chicks together. This caught the public imagination, see Homosexuality_in_animals#Penguins.
• (2006) A movie review of Brokeback Mountain opined that "Gay cowboys are now the new penguins,"^[8], a rhetorical device called a snowclone which includes a double reference to the surprise success of the love story, supplanting the previous year's dark horse, the documentary March of the Penguins; and to the publicity given to the gay penguin couples.

[edit] Food items

• Pingvin, Danish salted liquorice sweets. ^[9]
• Penguin, chocolate biscuit manufactured by McVitie's
• Kid Cuisine, with a penguin named K.C. as its mascot
• Penguin Mints, a brand of caffeinated mints

[edit] Penguins and polar bears

Despite what commercials and other sources may show, penguins and polar bears cannot meet without human intervention. 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, which asks, "Why don't polar bears eat penguins? Because they can't take the wrapper off."

[edit] Literature

• Penguin books is a long-established British publishing house specialising in paperback imprints.
• Pondus the Penguin is the eponymous main character in a 1968 photographed Danish children's book by Ivar Myrhøj.
• 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.
• The children's book One Hot Penguin, by Jamie Rix
• The Penguins of Doom by Greg R. Fishbone features Spots, Stripes, and Solids, three bow tie-wearing penguins who follow the main character around.
• Penguin Island by Anatole France
• Learning to Fly by Sebastian Meschenmoser
• H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness features giant blind albino penguins around an underground sea in Antarctica.
• 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 chick raised by two males at the Central Park Zoo.)
• Gus and Waldo's Book of Love features the eponymous gay penguins who are in love with one another.

[edit] Film

[edit] Feature films

• In the major animated sequence of the film, Mary Poppins, Mary and Bert are served by a group of overeager penguin waiters. Afterward, Bert has an extended dance sequence with them, soon lowering his trousers to imitate their stubby legs.
• One of the main villains of the movie Batman Returns was the Penguin who, in the film, was raised by penguins. In this movie he also formed an army of penguins to attack Gotham City. Their equipment included back mounted rockets and laser eye sights. He also appears in The Batman vs Dracula: The Animated Movie and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.
• Mr Forbush and The Penguins (Mr Forbush and The Penguins at the Internet Movie Database) starred John Hurt as a womanizing biologist who goes to the South Pole as a means of impressing his latest girlfriend.
• In the 2004 romantic comedy, 50 First Dates Adam Sandler's character has a pet penguin named Willie.
• The movie Billy Madison featured a penguin that was a nemesis of Adam Sandler's character.
• Jessica Alba's character from the romantic comedy Good Luck Chuck worked in a zoo with penguins.

[edit] Documentaries

• The documentary March of the Penguins (2005) details a year in the life of a colony of Emperor Penguins mating, giving birth, and hunting for food in the harsh continent of Antarctica. This film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film in 2005.
• Blue Planet: Seas of Life features penguins in its Antarctic segment.

[edit] Animations

• The Three Caballeros is a Disney animated feature, within which is the short segment "The Cold-Blooded Penguin", starring Pablo the Penguin.
• The animated Don Bluth film The Pebble and the Penguin is centered around the mating ritual of the Adelie penguin.
• 3-2-1 Penguins! was a series of Christian animated videos for children. The series was produced by Big Idea Productions, the makers of VeggieTales, and its stories featured lessons from the Bible.
• Chilly Willy is the name of an animated character in Walter Lantz's series of theatrical shorts. ([1]). It appears in The Woody Woodpecker Show.
• The claymation animated film "The Wrong Trousers" from Wallace & Gromit features a ruthless criminal penguin named Feathers McGraw.
• There were four penguins (Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private) in Dreamworks' 2005 animated film Madagascar. They were featured again as main characters in a short Christmas special, "The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper".
• The anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion featured Pen-Pen, a pet/mascot.
• There was a penguin character named Wheezy in Disney's Toy Story 2. He would later make a cameo appearance at the beginning of the direct-to-video Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins.
• Martini the penguin is a major supporting character in the Christmas television special Olive, the Other Reindeer. He earns his living selling fake watches.
• The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin is a ten minute animated film based on the story of Cinderella, featuring a cast of medieval penguins. It was directed by Janet Perlman and produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
• Happy Feet is a CGI-animated movie featuring penguins, released under Warner Bros. It applies a musical treatment and a modified version of the ugly duckling fable to the lifecycle of the Emperor Penguins, with an additional plotline about the impact of human fishing activities on penguin (and other Antarctic animal) food sources. The fable theme plays against the high visual similarity of penguins of the same species to one another (at least from a human perspective) in emphasizing how one individual may stand out from the crowd.*Mumble "Happy Feet" is the main character.
• The Adventures of Scamper the Penguin (original title Chiisana penguin Lolo no bouken), a 1988 Japanese animated film featuring the early life of the main penguin character. In some countries, Scamper is known as "Lolo".
• Cozy Heart Penguin a star of The Care Bears Movie.
• The 2007 animated feature Surf's Up is about surfing penguins. Cody Maverick is the star.

[edit] Other films

• The penguin is Jack's power animal in Fight Club.
• Farce of the Penguins is a parody of 2005's March of the Penguins that was written by Bob Saget, released January 2007.

[edit] Television

[edit] Commercials

• Penguins often make guest appearances on the Coca-Cola Polar Bear commercials, despite the fact that the species live on opposite poles in real life.
• 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". One commercial even had him stealing the Stanley Cup during the 1996 NHL Playoffs. 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^[who?] 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.

[edit] Animated shows

• In the Super Sentai series Juken Sentai Gekiranger, Fist Sage Michelle Peng (an anthropomorphic penguin) trains Ran Uzaki/GekiYellow Fierce Beast Penguin-Fist (激獣ペンギン拳, Gekijū Penginken), which utilizes boardsport skills in battle. Super GekiYellow's Super GekiBeast GekiPenguin uses a jetboard to perform Gekiwazas.
• Tennessee Tuxedo - an animated cartoon airing in the early sixties on CBS.
• Futurama featured a whole colony of penguins in 'The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz'. Leela finds them extremely cute, like "(i)f 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 is surrounded by ships from several places including the United States, Canada, China, and Antarctica. In the "Brake My Wife, Please", 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. In the episode "Bart's Comet", penguins can be seen flying away once they see the comet nearing Springfield.
• The Swiss television programme Pingu featured the claymation 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.
• Count Duckula featured penguins; one episode showed them a crew of pirates on the high seas and creating a mutiny, while another showed them all as servants and butlers for (appropriately) a bellicose walrus, who became hostile when they were not paid.
• In King of the Hill, one of Luanne Platter's "Manger Babies" puppets, Sir Reginald Featherbottom III, is a penguin.

[edit] Live action

• 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 involves 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 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 "Quarantine" featured a penguin glove puppet called "Mr. Flibble" used by Arnold Rimmer.
• In a third season episode of Mind of Mencia, a pair of penguins are left on Carlos' doorstep. He takes them in and teaches them how to survive in LA while protecting them from Joseph, who wants to eat the "tuxedo chickens". When the penguins, on the run from the law, eventually return to Antarctica, they are followed by Joseph. However, using what Carlos taught them, they overpower him and roast him over a fire.
• The Penguin was a villain in the 1960s Batman TV series, played by Burguess Meredith, Batman: The Animated Series, voiced by Paul Williams, and The Batman, voiced by Tom Kenny.
• In the show Frisky Dingo, Killface uses his pet penguin, Baby Lamont, as his mascot for his presidential campaign.

[edit] Computing

[edit] Video games

• Age of Wonders: The Dire Penguin is an animal unit associated with the Frostlings in the PC games Age of Wonders and the third game of the series, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic.
• Bloody Heat: Cronos from Bloody Roar: Primal Fury transforms into a Penguin as his regular beast mode and into a Phoenix during his Hyper mode.
• Crash Bandicoot: Penta, a character from the Crash Bandicoot series, is a penguin.
• Penguins are the avatars for the online multiplayer game Club Penguin.
• Disgaea: Hour of Darkness introduced the Prinnies, demonic penguins that use bombs and knives and explode when thrown.
• In the Kirby series the character King Dedede is often thought to be a penguin and in the crossover game Super Smash Bros. Brawl Solid Snake calls King Dedede a penguin.
• Komai: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.
• Mega Man X features a boss known as Chill Penguin.
• Mortal Kombat:Scorpion from Mortal Kombat can transform into a penguin as an animality
• Pengo:Sega's 1982 video-game Pengo stars a penguin as the main character.
• Penguins are freed from large blocks of ice in the egames Penguin Puzzle PC game.
• Pingus: Penguins are featured in the computer game Pingus, similar to the classic computer game Lemmings.
• 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.
• In the Pokémon series, there are four penguins: Delibird, Piplup, Prinplup, and Empoleon.
• In RuneScape penguins are NPCs found in three areas of the member's game Lumbridge, Ardougne Zoo, and an iceberg north of Relleka.
• 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 Sonic Adventure. Sonic Adventure 2 has penguins spread out through levels to collect and use with Chao.
• 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, Mario Pinball Land and Super Mario Galaxy.
• Yetisports:Penguins feature prominently in the popular Yetisports series of Flash games.

• The video game Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals and its predecessor Zoo Tycoon both depict penguins as being killers. Extinct Animals even includes a killer penguin, an "accident" according to the in-game encyclopedia. Killer penguins are capable of killing a Tyrannosaurus.

[edit] Other

• The official mascot of the Linux kernel is Tux, a penguin, who features in several computer games, such as Tux Racer. The Gentoo Linux distribution is named after the gentoo penguin.
• The icon of Tencent QQ, the IM software, is a penguin.

[edit] 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 which began in 1998.
• 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.
• Ted the penguin 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.
• Wally and Osborne (formerly On the Rocks) stars an adelie penguin named Osborne (formerly Osbourne). The comic, set in Antarctica, features several penguins and offers facts about the species.
• Arctic Circle is a comic strip about three penguins who move to the North Pole.

[edit] Music

• Fleetwood Mac released a record in early 1973 called PENGUIN.
• Italian progressive rock band Murple's 1974 album Io Sono Murple tells the story of a penguin named Murple who leaves his home in Antarctica and encounters the Evil Man.
• Pigloo is a French band which base their songs on penguins. Their videos also feature animated penguins.
• The song "Sweaters for Penguins" appears on James Gordon's CD Tune Cooties. It was written in response to a news event in 2000.
• 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.
• The band Chiodos has a song on their first album, All's Well That Ends Well, called "There's No Penguins In Alaska". Despite the title, the song itself has virtually nothing to do with penguins or Alaska.

[edit] Penguin characters not mentioned above

• Badtz-Maru - Sanrio character who is a lovable "bad boy".
• Joe & Sally - Two penguins who travelled around the world in an art project of Willy Puchner

[edit] Other

• Original Penguin is a brand of apparel, worn by Adam Brody in the popular television show The O.C..
• Due to the popular association of penguins with icy sea, some ship and waterfront goods handling warning signs^[10] show a penguin crossed out to mean "Do not freeze this item".

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• ABC News: Penguins Waddle Into the Culture Wars
• Penguins in popular culture
• Penguins pack pop-culture punch
• The Penguin Guide Penguins in Popular Culture
• The Pop Culture of Penguins
• The Penguin's Longing of Willy Puchner