Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?
I have a lovely drawing of lions hanging above my bed and by reason of familiarity, I compare myself to them. It is mum’s drawing from her art school days. She would have been seventeen at the time and displays her innate talent for life drawing. I have various ‘zoo’ drawings of hers including pen & ink and graphite drawings. She would go on to top art school on graduation.
It’s strange because my association with big cats seems to morph between lions, panthers and tigers for reasons unknown to me. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t pretend to be a ‘cat’ person, nor do I mingle with the pride risking life and limb. Besides, in today’s rather liberated world, ’animal association’ seems harmless enough. But there are numerous examples of this kind of thing in anthropology. Ritual dancing in animal costumes from various cultures such as South India (tigers) and Vietnam (lions). There are depictions in movies such as The Wizard of Oz, The Lion King and Cat People for example. The explanation for these ‘animal slash human’ characters is, I’m afraid, beyond the scope of this spiel but maybe there is something we subjectively appreciate.
Mum’s drawing depicts a male lion and a cub. What is the narrative here? The adult is protecting the newborn. It seems only natural. So what could possibly threaten the infant with it’s parent apex predator? As it turns out, each member of the pride has specific roles and adheres to strict survival demands. But how could this possibly be? The male lion seems to waste his time yawning and lazing around all day and not appearing to do much. Maybe the occasional roar and then lapsing into soporific, pleasurable napping while the lionesses go out to hunt (What a lazy bum, he should be pulling his weight and doing his fair share etc – by way of human association). Turns out he hunts at night and must conserve energy to protect the pride from threatening rival males.
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