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Foxes in popular culture

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Foxes in popular culture

The fox appears in the folklore of many cultures as a figure of cunning or trickery, or as a familiar animal possessed of magic powers. The fox is also sometimes associated with transformation.

Contents

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.

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", the synonym with "outguess", "outsmart" or "outwit".

The fox in various cultures

In Dogon mythology, the pale fox is the trickster god of the desert, who embodies chaos.

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.

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.

There is a Tswana riddle that says that "Phokoje go tsela o dithetsenya" translated literally into Only the muddy fox lives meaning that, in a philosophical sense, only an active person who does not mind getting muddy gets to progress in life.

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

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.

The Moche people of ancient Peru worshiped 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.

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 AD, 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 frog in a small pond".

The words "fox" or "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.

In European and East Asian literature, the fox is sometimes associated with transformation. Such fox stories include four main types:

  • The word shenanigan (a deceitful confidence trick, or mischief) is considered to be derived from the Irish expression sionnachuighim, meaning "I play the fox."
  • Description of life of more or less realistic animals
  • Stories about anthropomorphic animals imbued with human characteristics
  • Tales of fox transformations into humans and vice versa
  • 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 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".

    Arthur Koestler notes in his autobiography that when he attended the University of Vienna in the 1920s, Freshman students were known as "Füchse" (German for "Foxes") and had their own distinct organization within the student fraternities, presided over by the "Head Fox". All this was derived from centuries-old student traditions and lives on in the so-called Studentenverbindung, such as the German Student Corps.

    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.

    See also specific pages for Foxes in Japanese folklore/Kitsune, Foxes in Chinese mythology/Huli jing, Foxes in Fiction.

    Literature (in chronological order)

  • 4 BC - Aesop's fables from classical times, featuring a fox most famously in The Fox and the Grapes.
  • 110-113 - A Japanese legend:Byakko helped Yamatotakeru
  • 800 - Shen Ji-ji, "Ren's Story"(任氏传): 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 figure of the wolf.
  • 1532 - Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince: The successful prince must have the traits of both the lion and the fox.
  • 1607 - Ben Jonson,"Volpone or The Foxe". Essentially a beast fable about a witty man who tricks potential successors to believe he is dying so that they bring him expensive gifts.
  • 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 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 (Italian: 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 1957 - Ted Hughes, The Thought-Fox: A poem featured in Hughes's The Hawk in the Rain.
  • 1960 - Vercors, Sylva, inspired by Garnett where a fox changes into a lady.
  • 1965 - Robert Crumb, Fritz the Cat comics: Winston Schwartz, two animated films.
  • 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 (author), 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.
  • 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.
  • 2010 - Phillip Donnelly, Letters from the Ministry: A fox takes up a junior management position in the Council of Creatures and writes weekly letters to his cousin, Arctic Fox, analysing office politics and the rise of the wolves.
  • 2013 - Saunders, George, Fox 8: A story: A fox learns English by listening to humans and gives an autobiographical account of his life.
  • Young-children 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.
  • 1963? - Miyoko Matsutani, The Bread with Color of the Fox's Tail: story about friendship between a girl and a boy-werefox.
  • 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.
  • 1990 - Judith Mellecker, The Fox and the Kingfisher: Picture book about brother and sister who tried to run away from stepmother and changed their selves into a fox and a bird.
  • 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.
  • 1900s - Irina Korshunow, The Foundling Fox: Picture book about a fox who loses his parents and is adopted by another mother.
  • 1965 - Dr. Seuss, "Fox in Socks". Dr. Seuss' story about tongue-twisters.
  • 1966 - David Thomson, "Danny Fox" An episodic journey story in which the wily Danny Fox seeks food for his wife Mrs Doxie Fox and hungry children Lick, Chew and Swallow. Loosely based on folk tales, two more books followed;
  • 1968 - David Thomson, "Danny Fox meets a Stranger", in which Danny Fox meets and pits his wits against a wolf
  • 1976 - David Thomson, "Danny Fox at the Palace" Danny Fox meets royalty, although not for the first time.
  • 2013 - Ylvis and Svein Nyhus, "What does the Fox Say?", picture book based on the YouTube hit
  • 2015 - Inbali Iserles's fantasy fox series, Foxcraft, debuted with book one, "The Taken", published by Scholastic.
  • 2016 - Jonathan Schork, "The Love of Simon Fox", in which a talking fox living in an enchanted forest befriends a little girlwww.the-love-of-simon-fox.com.
  • Books with loose fox motifs

  • circa 65-75 - Gospel of Luke: Jesus calls Herod Antipas that old fox.
  • 1919 - Johnston McCulley, Zorro: Stories about a masked avenger whose alias means "fox" in Spanish.
  • 1947 - Prince of Foxes by Samuel Shellabarger, the protagonist, a 15th-century Italian soldier, got this nickname for his cunning.
  • 1986 and 2001 - Michael Moorcock's The City in the Autumn Stars and The Dreamthief's Daughter: The von Beck family met with Reynard, one of the last of fox-human people, eradicated by Christians.
  • 1992-1998 - Roger Zelazny's Amber series of novels include a tricky red-haired character named Rinaldo (alias Luke Reynard) who is suggestive of the fox archetype.
  • 2012 - Martin G. Parker's They Also Raise Chickens has a central character called Charles Todd - Charlie and Mr Todd being nicknames used by hunters for the fox. The title of the book is a quotation from Chapter 21 (The Little Prince and the Fox) of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
  • Animated movies and series

  • 1937 - Ladislas Starevich's puppet-animated feature film, Le Roman de Renard ("The Tale of the Fox").
  • 1940 - Disney's Pinocchio: J. Worthington Foulfellow (also known as Honest John, and ironically is extremely dishonest).
  • 1941–1950 – Screen Gems The Fox and the Crow: Fauntelroy Fox, one of the principal characters of the animated film series.
  • 1946 - Disney's Song of the South: Brer Fox.
  • 1960 - Hanna Barbera's Yogi Bear series had short cartoons, Yakky Doodle, in which the duckling is pursued by Fibber Fox.
  • 1964 - The Irish-accented fox from Disney's Mary Poppins
  • 1972 - Ralph Bakshi's 1972 film Fritz the Cat: Winston Schwartz, the on-and-off-again girlfriend of Fritz.
  • 1973 - Disney's Robin Hood: Robin Hood and Maid Marian
  • 1973 - Zuiyo Eizo episodes Fables of the Green Forest based on a book The Green Forest.
  • 1981 - Disney's The Fox and the Hound: Tod and Vixey;
  • 1981 - Attila Dargay's Vuk, a young fox who is one of the most famous Hungarian cartoon characters.
  • 1982 - The Plague Dogs, based on the book.
  • 1983 and 1997 – Encore Enterprises' animated series Chucklewood Critters: fox character Rusty.
  • 1985 - A French animated series, Moi Renart.
  • 1986 – Hospital Radio's The Space Gypsy Adventures: D.C. Bones, D.C. Fusky, Gemma and Damien Mildury (animated).
  • 1986 - Dutch TV series The Bluffers: Sharpy, one of the main protagonists.
  • 1987 – Sunbow Productions' serial Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light: Ectar of the Spectral Knights possessed the totem of the fox.
  • 1987 – Sylvanian Families: The members of the Slydale Family are Slick, Velvette, Buster, Scarlett, Skitter and Lindy from the animated TV series.
  • 1987 – Maple Town: The members of the Fox Family are Fanny, Freddy, Mr. and Mrs Fox from the animated series.
  • 1990 – Disney's Talespin: several fox characters appear in the series.
  • 1990-91 - Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (Samurai Pizza Cats) : whose main antagonist Kitsunezuka Ko'on-no-Kami a prime minister in Edoropolis (in the Saban English version he's known as Seymour "The Big" Cheese, and is a rat instead).
  • 1991 – Don Bluth's Rockadoodle, based on Chantecler by Edmond Rostand, a tale about a rooster; one of antagonists of the story is a fat fox named Pinky.
  • 1991 – TV series Bucky O'Hare: Vixen Captain Mimi LaFloo; based on 1970s comics.
  • 1992/2006 – Operation Lifesaver Video Sly Fox and Birdie teaches kids about railroad safety
  • 1993–1996 – The Animals of Farthing Wood TV series and movie: Fox and his mate Vixen.
  • 1993, 1996 and 2007 – Flemming Quist Møller's Danish animated films Jack from the Jungle: Rita, an urban fox.
  • 1993 – Tezuka's Akuemon: Anime based on Japanese folk tale about fox-wife.
  • 1993 - Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog: A TV series based on the characters Sonic The Hedgehog, Tails the fox, and Doctor Robotnik.
  • 1993 - Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series): Sonic Satam as the fans call it is based on the video game Sonic the Hedgehog.
  • 1997 – Tezuka's In the Beginning: The Bible Stories: Vixy, a vixen narrator.
  • 1999 – Cosgrove Hall's The Foxbusters: Cartoon series based on Dick King Smith's novel about a group of chickens defending their farm against a gang of foxes.
  • 1999–2001 - Pablo the Little Red Fox: A BBC series that revolves around the adventures of three child foxes and the misadventures they have.
  • 1999-2001 – Nelvana Redwall series, based on the book.
  • 1999–2003 – Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer - Swiper the Fox, mischievous thief fox.
  • 2002 - Balto II: Wolf Quest, sequel to 1995's Balto, featuring a cunning fox fooling Balto while the latter searches for his daughter.
  • 2003-2006 - Sonic X is a TV series which focused on Sonic The Hedgehog, Tails The Fox, and all of their friends being teleported to the real world.
  • 2005 – A Thierry Schiel CGI film Le Roman de Renart ("Renard the Fox").
  • 2005 - Foxy Loxy from Disney's 2005 film Chicken Little.
  • 2006 - The Fox and the Hound 2, followup to the animated film The Fox and the Hound
  • 2007 – Lee Sung-gang's South Korean animated film Yobi, the Five Tailed Fox: Yobi, a young kumiho girl.
  • 2007 – TV series Skunk Fu!: Fox, on whom Rabbit has a big crush.
  • 2007 - The Fox and the Child: a young girl who befriends a fox. French Film with the voice talents of Kate Winslet.
  • 2009 - Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson's stop-motion animation adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's book
  • 2010 - My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox is a South Korean romantic comedy where a young girl plays a nine-tailed fox in the form of a human.
  • 2011 - Angelique from the CGI film Rango
  • 2016 - Disney's animated film Zootopia (also known as Zootropolis in some countries) features the fox character Nick Wilde, one of the main protagonists.
  • 2016 - Vix from the CGI film Spark: A Space Tail.
  • Anime

  • Dragonball - Donbe
  • Dog Days - Yukikaze Panettone
  • Gingitsune Messenger Fox Of The Gods Shinto Religion of Japan Anime
  • Digimon - Renamon, Kudamon, Kyuubimon, Pokomon, Taomon, Sakuyamon and Youkomon
  • Gugure! Kokkuri-san - Kokkuri-san
  • Hiiro no Kakera - O-Chan, Yuuichi Komura
  • Hyper Police - Sakura Bokuseiinmonzeninari
  • Inu x Boku - Soushi Miketsukami
  • Inukami! - Yoko and Dai Yoko
  • Inuyasha - Shippo
  • Jewelpet - Larimar and Gumimin
  • Kaiketsu Zorori - Zorori
  • Kamisama Kiss - Tomoe
  • Kanokon - Chizuru and Tayura Minamoto, and Tamamo
  • Kanon - Makoto Sawatari
  • Kekkaishi - Hime
  • Kyatto Ninden Teyandee - Kitsunezuka Ko'on-no-Kami
  • Naruto - Naruto Uzumaki, host to the fox-like Tailed Beast Kurama
  • Natsume's Book of Friends - Natsume, the main protagonist, meets with a young kitsune on day on a walk.
  • One Piece - Foxy, and Suu the cloud fox
  • Pokémon - Vulpix, Ninetales, Zorua, Zoroark, Fennekin, Braixen, and Delphox
  • Rise of the Nura Clan - Hagoromo Gitsune
  • Rosario + Vampire - Kuyou
  • Shaman King - Conchi
  • Slayers - Jillas Jillos Jillas
  • Sonic the Hedgehog - Miles "Tails" Prower
  • Star Driver ~Kagayaki no Takuto~ - Fukubuchou/VP
  • Strike Witches - Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen
  • Tactics - Yoko
  • Tales of Symphonia - Corrine and Venus
  • Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity - Mashiro Mito
  • Urusei Yatsura - The little fox, whose name is a "little fox" too.
  • Wagaya no Oinari-sama - Kugen Tenko, Gyokuyou Tenko, Ogami and Daigorou
  • xxxHolic - Mugetsu
  • Yu Yu Hakusho - Kurama
  • Zoids - The Shadow Fox
  • Feature movies

  • 1973 - The Belstone Fox (Free Spirit): Fox named "Tag," based on the novel "The Ballad of the Belstone Fox".
  • 1973 - Ukrainian movie director Igor Negrescul's Domino: A Life of a Silver Fox.
  • 1990 - Akira Kurosawa's Dreams: A boy goes to the forest to see where the foxes have their weddings.
  • 1994 - Russian director Ury Klimov's Once Lives a Fox: Story of a fox escaped from the zoo.
  • 2005 Andrew Adamson's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Mr. Fox, voiced by Rupert Everett. A fox also appears during a Christmas feast in the novel, and is turned to stone by the White Witch.
  • 2006 - Helen the Baby Fox Seven-year-old Taichi found a baby fox named "Helen."
  •  ?? Kazakhstan's movie The Last Fox: Boy rescues fox from a trap.
  •  ?? Estonia's movie Life of the Fox
  • 2007 - "The Fox and the Child," directed by Luc Jacquet, is about a young girl who befriends a fox.
  • 2009 - Antichrist directed by Lars von Trier has a possibly supernatural fox appearing throughout the film.
  • 2009 - Fantastic Mr. Fox directed by Wes Anderson, and starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, among others.
  • 1966 - The Hollies & Peter Sellers' "After the Fox"; popular theme song from the movie of the same name
  • 1967 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Foxy Lady"
  • 1968 - Manfred Mann's Earth Band's "Fox on the Run"
  • 1975 - Sweet's "Fox on the Run"
  • 1981 - Elton John's 1981 album The Fox, and the title track therefrom.
  • 1996 - Belle & Sebastian's album If You're Feeling Sinister features a song called The Fox in the Snow.
  • 2000 - Nickel Creek's "The Fox" is a variation of a folk song about a fox stealing food for his family.
  • 2001 - Millencolin's album Pennybridge Pioneers includes a song simply titled "Fox".
  • 2004 - mewithoutYou's sophomore studio album is titled Catch for Us the Foxes. The band's subsequent albums feature the songs "The Fox, the Crow, and the Cookie" (It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright, 2009) and "Fox's Dream of the Log Flume" (Ten Stories 2012).
  • 2004 - Rilo Kiley's album More Adventurous features a song titled "Portions For Foxes"
  • 2005 - Sleater-Kinney's album The Woods features a song called "The Fox".
  • 2008 - Rapper Nas recorded the song "Sly Fox" on his untitled 2008 album. In the song he disses Fox News, considering it to be sly and deceitful.
  • 2008 - Born Ruffians' song "Foxes Mate For Life" appears on their debut album Red, Yellow & Blue.
  • 2008 - Fleet Foxes, a five-piece band from Seattle.
  • 2010 - Foxes in Fiction, Warren Hildebrand, an experimental pop and ambient musician from Toronto, Ontario.
  • 2012 - Louisa Rose Allen or known as her stage name Foxes
  • 2013 - Ylvis's "The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)"
  • 2014 - Taylor Swift's song I Know Places from 1989 (Taylor Swift album) references foxes.
  • 2015 - The music video for The Prodigy's "Nasty".
  • Folk music

  • Mr Fox 1970s folk rock band.
  • Heather Dale's song, "The Black Fox", based on the Graham Pratt poem,
  • June Tabor - Reynard The Fox
  • What Time Is It Mr Fox? --Boston area eclectic band; name derived from Victorian children's game.
  • Band's logo is a mixture of an anthropomorphic fox and a question mark.

    Television

  • Crazy Like a Fox, 1980s US cop show
  • The World of David the Gnome, 1980-1990s animated show
  • Teen Wolf, 2011-2014 TV series. The winter premiere of the third season featured kitsune characters.
  • Video games, card games, comics

  • Miles "Tails" Prower, a two-tailed fox that can spin his tails like a helicopter to fly, from the popular Sonic the Hedgehog series by a branch of Sega; Sonic Team.
  • Fox McCloud, James McCloud, and Krystal from the Star Fox series of Nintendo video games.
  • Keaton of the Legend of Zelda video games.
  • Pokémon - Vulpix and Ninetales. Zorua and Zoroark are the Tricky Fox and Illusory Fox Pokémon, respectively. Fennekin is more clearly based on the fennec fox.
  • Luigi wearing the Super Leaf in Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario 3D World. Luigi's Tanooki form is now kitsune-themed and called Kitsune Luigi.
  • Vyper, a kung-fu fox whom Benson the Cat has a crush on from The Agents franchise.
  • Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox, a police officer in the Sly Cooper series of video games.
  • Rif and his girlfriend in the computer game Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb.
  • The James Bond parody Spy Fox, star of a computer game series.
  • Connecticut Fox, character of the Stewniverse.
  • Crazy Redd, the black market salesman from the Animal Crossing games.
  • Sherlock Holmes parody Slylock Fox comic strips from Slylock Fox & Comics for Kids
  • Fox in Animal Kaiser card namco fighting animals kitsune
  • Raposão/McFox, a character from the Brazilian comic series Lionel's Kingdom.
  • Fix and Foxi, a German comic series where the title characters are two fox brothers.
  • In Trickster Online, Fox is the female sense type character.
  • The character Reynard in the comic 'Fables' is a fox based at the 'upstate Fable community' or 'The Farm' where all non-human Fables have to live. He is one of the good Fables and has helped save central characters.
  • In the trading card game Magic: The Gathering, Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is a legendary fox monk of great power and purity.
  • Video game series, Metal Gear Solid, the special forces group is known as "Fox-Hound". It has a logo of either a fox carrying a knife in its mouth, or a cartoon fox with a grenade in one hand, and a machine pistol in the other. Fox is also the highest level codename an operative can receive, designating the highest level of skill. The title of Grey Fox was given to Frank Jaeger.
  • Ninetails, a major boss character from the game Ōkami. Its source of power is the Fox Rods, which contain nine Tube Foxes, one for each tail. During battle with Ninetails, the tails turn into women and must be defeated individually. (It should be noted that this character's name is spelled differently than Ninetales'.)
  • Titus the Fox: To Marrakech and Back, fox mascot in a platform game
  • In the Image Comics series Kiss: The Psycho Circus #14 and #15, the members of Kiss are portrayed as supernatural beings who train a Feudal Japanese samurai to outsmart supernatural foxes. The warrior outsmarts the fox spirits by applying the fox makeup identity of the late Kiss drummer Eric Carr
  • In the video game Drawn To Life for the Nintendo DS handheld system, the charters of the village are "Raposas" which is Portuguese for fox
  • In the webcomic The Whiteboard three characters are foxes: Swampy, Red, and Sandy.
  • Kitsune (or Fox) in Persona 4 who is part of the social links.
  • Jade Empire, the RPG by BioWare, contains fox spirits as well as a non-playable character who uses the alias Silk Fox.
  • Psycho Fox, the main character in a Sega Master System game of the same name.
  • Ninjara, a character who appeared in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Archie Comics. She was also Raphael's girlfriend.
  • The main female protagonist in Neil Gaiman's "The Dream Hunters" illustrated novella, and comic is a legendary Kitsune (Asian Fox-spirit).
  • Scarlet Ann Starfox and the Solar Foxes whom feature in the anthropomorphic comic book series Extinctioners.
  • The 2009 video game League of Legends includes a kumiho character named Ahri, the nine-tailed fox.
  • The Android game Happy Street features a main character who is a red fox named Billy.
  • The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic series from IDW Publishing features the character of Alopex, an Arctic fox ninja.
  • The popular horror game Five Nights at Freddy's features the animatronic character Foxy the Pirate Fox.
  • Also in Five Nights at Freddy's (but exclusive to the second game), the Mangle is a pile of haphazardly assembled animatronic parts featuring a head which is similar to that of Foxy the Pirate Fox, but fashioned to resemble a ventriloquist's dummy.
  • Gregg is one of the main characters of the video game Night in the Woods.
  • Other

  • c.1036 Wild fox koan, an influential kōan story in the Zen tradition
  • 1963, 1968, 2002, 2006 Peter Firmin's Basil Brush, British television sock-puppet
  • Flora Fox, The Get Along Gang
  • Various characters in the radio series The Space Gypsy Adventures including Gemma and Damien Mildury, and Meic Bones.
  • Mozilla Firefox's logo is a fox on a globe
  • (FunctionFox) Time tracking and project management software
  • There is a freely-available red fox avatar which an individual may wish to select to be his or her appearance in the online environment Second Life. Avatars of almost every other type of fox are available for varying prices, as well.
  • Foxes can be seen jumping on a backyard trampoline in a popular web video
  • The Catholic Church used images of foxes dressed as monks or priests preaching to geese in church art as propaganda against the Lollards. These images were based on the story of the preaching fox found in The History of Reynard the Fox and its sequel, The Shifts of Reynardine (the son of Reynard).
  • Ballet

  • 1916, ballet by the Igor Stravinsky Renard
  • ballet The Cunning Little Vixen, based on book
  • The fox in ballet performances of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
  • Heraldry

  • The canting coat of arms of Châteaurenard in France displays a fox, as do the coats of arms of Poligny in France and Tuliszków in Poland.
  • The reynard (male fox) as dexter supporter and vixen (female fox) as sinister supporter of the arms of La Boussac in Brittany.
  • Opera

  • The Cunning Little Vixen, Leoš Janáček opera
  • Morris and folk dancing

  • Mr Fox Masked Fire Dancing troupe from Langsett, South Yorkshire
  • Wolf's Head and Vixen, Neopagan Gothic Border Morris from Medway, Kent
  • Sports

  • The English association football team Leicester City are nicknamed 'the Foxes'.
  • The athletic teams of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York are known as the Red Foxes.
  • Web-comics

  • Ozy and Millie - foxes starring in a webcomic of the same name
  • 21st Century Fox: Romantic Comedy of the Future - a sci-fi webcomic whose main story arc focuses on the anthropomorphic foxes Jack Black and Jenny Curtis
  • Tails From Mynarski Forest - A series based in Canada about a fox named Liska and her friend Skippy a rabbit.
  • Kevin and Kell - Fiona Fennec and George Fennec, her father, are both fennec foxes.
  • Faux Pas - (Fox Paws) A Webcomic featuring Randy the fox and his girlfriend Cindy as some of the main characters.
  • Foxhole - The main race of the comic, as well as that of the protagonist, are anthropomorphic foxes.
  • Gunnerkrigg Court - The comic's main character Antimony has a fox companion whose spirit is trapped in a doll of a white wolf, a symbol for Antimony in Alchemy.
  • References

    Foxes in popular culture Wikipedia