St. Patrick’s Day approaches, and one of the legends surrounding him is how he stood on top of an Irish hillside and banished those pesky snakes form Ireland.
Poor snakes! From the original Bible stories to current day to the Centers of Disease Control lists of venomous snakes, these slithery critters always get a bad rap. For good reason sometimes. Snakes like vipers and cottonmouths possess sometimes-deadly venom. Yet, these animals have been some of the most interesting characters in pop culture, ranging from devious villains to benevolent heroes.
Here are 10 very random and geeky facts about the fictional representation of one of the most loved and hated members of the animal kingdom: Sneks!
1.Trust in me! If you only know the Disney version of the Rudyard Kipling classic Jungle Books, Kaa is a manipulative baddie. In the book, he is one of Mowgli’s allies. He first appeared in the story Kaa’s Hunting, and helped Mowgli, Baloo and Bagheera escape from and defeat the bandar-log (monkeys). Walt Disney changed Kaa to a villain, because he felt no one would believe a snake to be good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh6icEnP0WE
2. With another Kung Fu Panda movie on its way, hopefully fans of Po and his friends know by now the “Furious Five” is based on The Five Animals of Kung Fu originating from China’s Shaolin Temple: Tiger, Snake, Crane, Dragon, and Leopard. Dragon and Leopard are, of course, replaced in the film by Monkey and Mantis. Each style is unique. (There are actually mantis and drunken monkey styles, by the way.) In snake style, which we see through Viper’s character in the films, you use specific moves to go after vulnerable parts. Snake fighters often attack with their fingertips to go after areas like the eyes. Very snaky move. Viper, voiced by Lucy Liu, sadly, will not be part of the latest film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXHTLMAq1sY
3. Snakes are often misunderstood, like the first the impression the Baudelaire children had of their friend the “Incredibly Deadly Viper.” They met this docile and intelligent snake while living with their kind and ill-fated uncle Monty Montgomery in Book 2 of A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room. Uncle Monty named her this as a joke. This viper is one of the friendliest and least deadly animals in the world. Of course, Snicket reminds us in the book, there are some snakes to look out for: “There is a pair of snakes who have learned to drive a car so recklessly that they would run you over in the street and never stop to apologize.”
4. In the Disney animated classic, all the main characters of the Robin Hood tale are depicted as anthropomorphic animals. The only two major characters added to the story were Lady Cluck and Sir Hiss, Prince John’s right hand snake. Sir Hiss gets his signature gapped tooth look and grin from his voice actor, British comedian Terry Thomas. According to Disney Wiki, there is also historical significance behind Hiss’s shock that Prince John wanted to have Friar Tuck killed: In the 12th Century, the church had influence over the Crown. Were a king to execute a clergy, this could have possibly resulted in excommunication and incite other Catholic nations to war. Hiss had a right be a bit scared of this thought.
5. Grown ups of kids who loved Aaron Blabey’s The Bad Guys series can tell his menagerie of misfits were based on Reservoir Dogs, yet he said his character Mr. Snake, was inspired by another film, Blabey seeing all those snakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Blabey also said on his own website, Mr. Snake is if favorite character of the group, as he is “a complicated dude and he struggles with life more than all the other characters.” He’s even a standout in the animated film adaptation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYxJDS8B3aI
6. Speaking of Raiders of the Lost Ark, just how many snakes were used in the iconic “Snakes? Why did it have to be snakes?” scene. According to an article on All The Right Movies, Spielberg used both fake and real snakes…because they couldn’t gather enough real snakes in the London area. He wanted around 7,000 to 10,000 snakes squirming around, but even after buying out all the snakes they could get in the area (including pet shops) there weren’t enough. To remedy this, the crew amassed several rubber hoses and cut them up to drop among the real snakes.
7. Even if you’re a Slytherin with a snake mascot and ability to speak Parseltongue, should know best to avoid Nagini, Voldemort’s shape-shifting horcrux/snake. Like many of the names in the Harry Potter books, Nagini’s name has meaning. The name “Nagin” in Sanskrit means “female snake”, and Indian and Indonesian mythology talk of a nagini, a half snake/half woman being.
8. One of most beautifully drawn animated villains (at least as snakes go) might be Rattlesnake Jake of Rango. Voiced by Bill Nighy, Jake is a diamondback rattlesnake who was possibly was based on the Lee Van Cleef character, “Angel Eyes”, in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. This would make perfect sense as it Angel Eyes was the nemesis of The Man with No Name, a persona that played heavily in the Rango lore. His “I tip my hat to you, one legend to another..” line has also become popular meme to denote respect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-pyefL3Aao
9. There are many serpent-like villains in video games who are both frightening and intimidating…and then there’s Coily. Coily is the official name of the bouncy purple snake and main enemy of Q*Bert. Coily also goes by the name “Carrot Ends” to some gamers, because his tail and head resemble a carrot. Okaaayyy.
10. Many times, the voice cast of animated features sets the personality and mood of the characters. In The Princess and The Frog, Mama Odie’s assistant, Juju, didn’t need dialogue to show his loyalty and perky demeanor…as well as his hatred of being turned into a pig, dog, goat and other animals. His name, Juju, comes from a type of folk magic deriving from West Africa.
Ireland may not have any “danger noodles” or “nope ropes” slinking around, but there are more than 3,400 species of snakes elsewhere around the world. Plenty to go around.
