Why Do We Like Animal Characters in Stories?
Since ancient times, people have created stories and tales in which the main characters are animals, usually anthropomorphic at least to some degree. Just to mention few examples, think about Aristotle and Aesop’s fables or Jean De La Fontaine’s stories. Animals have played an important role in legends, myths, oral and written tradition for virtually all populations all over the world, as well as in nowadays children’s books, movies, cartoons… Even animals which are not exactly “pets”, such as frogs or insects and even snakes can turn out to be cute and nice, for instance in a Disney’s movie. Ancient Egyptians saw animals as a representation of divine virtues and some of the wisest cultures and philosophers (Plato, Ayurveda, Saint Francis of Assisi, Taoism…) claimed we are all part of a harmonious system: humans, animals, plants and any other smallest component of the universe. Animals are part of our primitive symbolic system. In fact, they represent our instinctive selves, our de