Penguin Facts
Penguins are everywhere in popular culture and the media, mostly because they’re so adorable and completely irresistible!
Penguins are mostly so adorable because of their ‘tuxedo’ appearance, as well as the fact that they’re not completely afraid of humans, unlike most other birds. They also seem to be full of personality, the way they constantly chatter and communicate to one another, as well as their adorable body language and signals they make in one another’s direction. The way many penguins communicate, and stick with one another in groups and colonies reminds us of our own nature as humans, making them even more endearing to us, whether they’re on the big screen, television, comics or books.
Typically, in pop culture, many authors and writers will portray penguins as living in the North Pole. It’s funny how when we think of penguins, we do typically imagine them in colder temperatures, when in fact; virtually all penguins do live on the Southern Hemisphere.
Most recently in films, penguins have become quite a hot topic. Penguins have been featured in Happy Feet, Surf’s Up, as well as March of the Penguins, all of which were box office smashes. These three films have all helped to make penguins popular in pop culture. Happy Feet features a penguin named Mumble, whom is an Emperor penguin, but isn’t able to perform the same mating call as them, leaving him to be rejected by the other Emperor penguin. However, Mumble is able to do a tap dance, which still leads to rejection from the Emperor Penguin. The Emperor Penguins then blame a sudden food shortage on Mumble, and they then force him out of their colony, after which he goes and attempts to live with the humans. Surf’s Up is another CGI film based on the life of penguins who surfed. March of the Penguins is more of a documentary based film, featuring the life of penguins.
Another popular mention of penguins in pop culture is the unforgettable Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which has now become a classic. Written by husband and wife duo Richard and Florence Atwater, the book was awarded as a Newbery Honor Book in the late 1930s, and has become an essential childhood book ever since.
Part of the penguin pop culture are also the television series Pingu, which was another childhood favorite for many, a cartoon following the lives of penguins, starring one named Pingu.