Love them or hate them, snakes have long featured in popular entertainment and captured the imaginations of audiences worldwide. From terrifying thrillers to hilarious animated comedies, they’ve appeared in many prominent roles on the big and small screen over the years.
In honour of the Year of the Snake, here are eight sensational serpents that have made their mark on our imaginations.
1. Kaa
The primary antagonist of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”, Kaa is a devious rock python who enjoys trapping his prey through hypnosis, staring into their eyes before crushing them with his powerful coils.
Kaa continually tries to eat “Jungle Book” protagonist Mowgli, who always escapes, resulting in humiliating defeats for the python.
Voiced by Sterling Holloway in the 1967 Disney film, a female version of Kaa appeared in the 2016 live-action remake, voiced by Scarlett Johannson.
2. Nagini
The “Harry Potter” series is full of snakes, from the giant Basilisk in “Chamber of Secrets” to Salazar Slytherin, a Hogwarts founder whose house symbol was a serpent.
One of the most prominent snake characters, however, was Nagini, a large serpent who was a minion of the dark lord Voldemort. A terrifying and ruthless foe, she was eventually slain by Neville Longbottom.
We later learn in “Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald” that she was a Maledictus, a human cursed to transform into a snake.
3. Viper
Many snake characters are villains, but Viper shows that our slithery friends can be heroic as well. Voiced by Lucy Liu in the “Kung Fu Panda” film series, she is one of the Furious Five, a quintet of skilled kung-fu fighters from all over China.
She was the daughter of Great Master Viper, a clan leader who defended his village with his deadly poison fangs. Born without fangs, Viper was initially a disappointment to him; but she ultimately learnt to overcome this deficiency and impressed her father by becoming a skilled warrior.
4. Sir Hiss
Voiced by Terry-Thomas, Sir Hiss is the sly and egotistical snake advisor of Prince John, a cowardly and immature monarch, in the 1973 Disney animated film “Robin Hood”.
While most snakes are menacing, Sir Hiss comes across as bumbling and incompetent. He aims to take down the heroic Robin Hood, yet his plans often fail miserably, leading to Prince John taking out his wrath on him in hilarious ways.
Like Kaa, Sir Hiss possesses hypnotic powers, which he uses to send the kingdom’s previous ruler away, allowing Prince John to take the throne.
5. Ekans and Arbok
While there are many Pokemon based on snakes today, the OG of the bunch has to be Ekans and its evolution, Arbok. Introduced in Generation 1 of the games, these two Poison-type Pokemon were often used by grunts from Team Rocket, a villainous organisation.
In the “Pokemon” cartoon series, the character Jessie owned an Ekans, which evolved into an Arbok. Jessie eventually released it so it could protect a group of wild Pokemon.
If you haven’t noticed, these Pokemon names come from the words “snake” and “kobra”, spelt backwards!
6. Anaconda
Giant snakes have long been a staple of horror and action films. While modern movies such as “Boa vs Python”, “King Cobra” and “Rattlers” may be slitheringly scary, we have to pay tribute to the granddaddy of the genre: “Anaconda”.
This cult 1997 film is the tale of a documentary crew who travels to the Amazon in search of a legendary green anaconda. Expectedly, the legless beast finds them first, and all hell breaks loose.
Watching most of the film’s star-studded cast (Jennifer Lopez! Jon Voight! Ice Cube! Owen Wilson!) getting devoured by a colossal snake proves surprisingly entertaining – and four scaly sequels subsequently followed.
7. Rattlesnake Jake
Rattlesnake Jake is one of the most memorable characters of “Rango”, a quirky 2011 animated film featuring animal characters. Johnny Depp voices the title character, a pet chameleon who accidentally becomes the sheriff of a western outpost.
Rango learns that Rattlesnake Jake (voiced by Bill Nighy), the last outlaw in the land, is out to get him. Jake is an actual western diamondback rattlesnake and a skilled gunslinger, his rattle replaced by a Gatling gun – as if this giant snake wasn’t scary enough already!
While sadistic, he also has a twisted sense of honour and learns to respect Rango.
8. Lady White Snake
One of the most famous stories from Chinese folklore, the Legend of the White Snake has been adapted countless times in various media. Prominent versions include the Hong Kong film “Green Snake” starring Maggie Cheung; the 1992 Taiwanese series “Legend of Madam White Snake”; and “White Snake”, a 2019 Chinese-American CGI action-fantasy romance.
Most versions of the story focus on Bai Suzhen, a white snake who turns into a human woman with her friend Xiaoqing, a green snake. Bai falls in love with a man named Xu Xian, and the two get married.
Troubles begin, however, after Xu Xian discovers his wife’s true nature, and the pair have to find out if true love is enough to save their relationship.
So, who is your favourite snake from popular culture? Have we left out your favourite character? Let us know on ssssocial media!
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