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 a familiar animal possessed of magic powers. The fox is also sometimes associated with transformation. This folkore is found in literature, film, television, games, and music, and elsewhere.
The term "" in English can also connote attractiveness, sexiness, or being red-haired. The term "to " 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 meaning that, in a philosophical sense, 'only an active person who does not mind getting muddy gets to progress in life.'

Europe

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.
In Scotland, the trickster figure of the fox 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, a fox and a hare dancing and circling a tree. It has been suggested that the three animals represent the King, Lord and Church who were responsible for taxation.
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.

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 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, foxes eat people, and predicts war.
In Chinese, Japanese, and Korean folklores, foxes 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".

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 in his Trattato di Sociologia Generale 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 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 is considered to be derived from the Irish expression sionnachuighim, meaning "I play the fox."

Literature

. The associated game involves matching clues from folklore to pictures of specific creatures
in Pinocchio, as drawn by Enrico Mazzanti.

Animation

Popular music

Video games

Sixteen ships and two shore establishments of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Fox, after the animal. Also vessels of other navies and civilian ships bore such a name.