Media coverage of cats

The media coverage of cats concerns how cats are portrayed in contemporary 20th and 21st century media, specifically where cats find themselves in human narratives and which human qualities are often given to personify feline characters within literature, television, or animation.

Printed publications

Cat News

Cat News is a twice yearly publication that is aimed mainly at members of the Cat Specialist Group and other people who have an interest in wild cats. The 40 page magazine has been going for 30 years. It functions as a news magazine about cats with information sourced by its editors as well as Cat Specialist Group members and other cat experts.

Catworld

Magazine, Catworld has 12 publications per year. Aimed at all kinds of cat lovers, it provides information on many aspects relating to domestic cats. The magazine which was founded in 1981 is located in the UK.

Sites

The Catnip Times

Founded by Laura Mieli in 2012, The Catnip Times has been running full time since 2017. It now has more than a million followers in over 100 countries. It contributes articles to American Kennel Club affiliate, AKC Reunite.

In July 2018, it sponsored the first ever "Meow Meetup" at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont. The event which took place over July 21st to the 22nd, was estimated to attract around 3000 people. It was the largest cat conference in the Midwest.

News by Cats

Founded by Lithuanian born Justinas Butkus who lives in Wellington, New Zealand the site adds a cat element to news stories. Reporting on actual events, it changes the wording to a type of cat talk such as " kidney opurration" instead of kidney operation and " prepurr for major eruption" instead of prepare for major eruption. There were mixed reactions within the first week of the site's operation.

The Purrington Post

According to Dow Jones & Company owned financial information service MarketWatch, The Purrington Post is an award-winning cat blog. It averages half a million page views per trimester. It has also been quoted and referenced on news websites, Romper and Eva.ro. It has interviewed Sandy Lerner about her 2017 Book, Caticons: 4,000 Years of Art Imitating Cats and endorsed her work, and it both reviewed the award winning film, Aeris and interviewed its film makers, Aly Miller, Frank Deal and Betsy Aidem.

Journalism

Steve Dale of Steve Dale's Pet World is a well known radio host and pet journalist. He has a show on WGN Radio and is a certified animal behavior consultant. As well as other animals, he addresses cat issues.

The Human Cat

The Human Cat is how the cat as a character is personified within contemporary media; it is primarily based on qualities that humans themselves can or wish to find within a cat's movements, emotions, or personality. This is broken down to the nature of the cat, as, to quote Barbara Byrne's article Cats in Literature, "cats are interesting to artists since they demonstrate the kind of personalities men would most "desire" to develop. Their mysterious nature, complete independence, cunning evil, and patient intelligence makes them fascinating creature." A certain mimesis is born from The Human Cat; the author or creator wishes to live vicariously through the cat. As a result, a human character is created with the body of a cat but still behaves with humanistic qualities to exist as a symbol or an archetype in order to display objectively human ideas and characteristics to a viewer. Sometimes, however, this character may be given "cat-like" qualities in order to balance human qualities in order to return this character from the absurd, such as muteness or primal instincts that are believed to be reserved for animals.

The Cat Archetypes

When cats are to act as characters within a narrative, they often find themselves filling a specific caricature in a story depending on the author's relationship with the cat and which human-like qualities the author would like to give to the cat. Cats are frequently defined by what humans believe to be essential to their catness, their cat-like qualities. These qualities are often nimbleness, stealth, silence, or elegance; it is from these descriptions that a sample of cat characters are created from.

A Free, Conniving Spirit

Here, the isolationist nature of the domestic cat is often represented as an individual that acts independently, freely, or even wildly and hectic. The cat is a character that acts to their own accord and rarely partakes in matters not of their own unless driven to such circumstances. As a result, this character is often a neutral or free-range character within the narrative until the time calls for their assistance. The black cat is a common choice of this character, as their dark, thin, and mysterious complexion allow this type of cat to cause tame mischief and mayhem, as seen in characters such as the unnamed black cat from Coraline and later renditions of Salem Saberhagen from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Salem, in particular, provides an interesting perspective on the Human Cat, as he is a former human transformed into a cat for his crimes against humanity. However, the qualities given to Salem's personality are distinctly cat-like, such as his sharp wit, cheekiness, and his dry or apathetic remarks. The cat is praised for their resourcefulness and independence, and the qualities of snark and wittiness can be attributed to a defense or survival mechanism, creating a modern concept of the "wild cat" through an adaptable and mysterious character that follows no rules and abides by their own personal morals. This later created a more Bohemian and artistic take on the cat, such as Dr. Seuss' strange, magical, and mystical character, The Cat in the Hat. The Bohemian "alley cat" was also popularized in the 20th Century by Hanna-Barbera in the early 1960s with the introduction of Top Cat and Snagglepuss. This musical and theatric characterization is later portrayed and popularized with Disney's 1970 film The Aristocats and the 1972 adult animated film Felix the Cat, a movie which, in particular, identified the institution of hedonism as well as postmodern ideals similar to that of Bohemianism. Later interpretations of this take a more survivalist approach, usually utilizing the mystery genre. Such examples of this include the 1989 novel Felidae, as well as its 1994 animated adaptation, along with the 2010 French animated film Une vie de chat, the 2008 film Bolt, and Team Rocket's Meowth from the Pokémon anime.

Double Trouble

It is not uncommon for the cat to be paired with another animals; often, this pairing is usually with a dog, a mouse, or even a human. Situational comedy and slapstick are the most common genres for this pairing, and the cat often plays a role similar to the free spirit archetype. The difference here is a more static setting created in order to cement its role as an individual whose primary form of comedy is displayed through its reactions to other characters as either the straight man or the antagonist, as opposed to the free cat's independent endeavors. The other animals also perform their humanistic roles within narrative, such as the archetypal characterizations often given to the foils of the cat, being the dog and the mouse. Sylvester the Cat from Looney Tunes and Tom Cat from Tom and Jerry are often seen as the pioneers for the antagonistic and predatory cat within animation through their insistence and the odd methods they use. In this type of media, the cat is often subjected to loss here due to their inherit stealth and cunning being equated to negative or sinister traits. Peg-Leg Pete, the antagonist of Mickey Mouse, takes a more humanistic approach to the cat and mouse dynamic, as the characters imitate human personalities, movements, and conflicts and, for the most part, only exist as cat and mouse in name. In later adaptations, Pete has lost the majority of his antagonistic behavior and is often used as the straightman to Goofy, creating an odd rendition of the dog and cat relationship later popularized in the 1992 television series, Goof Troop, as well as its subsequent movies.

This dynamic is subverted in a few notable instances, such as with Looney Tunes characters Marc Antony and Pussyfoot. The bulldog Marc Antony constantly strives to protect, smother, and coddle the oblivious kitten Pussyfoot from any potential danger. Ren and Stimpy takes a more "dumb and dumber" dynamic between the titular characters, with the feline Stimpy straying from typical depictions of cats by framing him as highly unintelligent and instinctual. The Simpsons introduces The Itchy & Scratchy Show, which parodies the common slapstick cat and mouse dynamic seen in cat media, such as Tom and Jerry, to an over the top violent degree that always ends with Itchy, who parodies Tom, being immensely harmed in some way.

The Fat Cat

The Fat Cat is usually a quite literal take on the political term "fat cat." and is usually divided into two different types of characters. The first form of The Fat Cat is created by turning the cat in question to into an authoritarian or capitalistic figure, usually as an antagonist. A notable example of this is from the 2001 movie Cats & Dogs, in which the main antagonist, Mr. Tinkles, is seen as a demanding, overreaching totalitarian figure that wishes to control the entire the domesticated pet market through horizontal integration and the removal of all competition. This archetype is subverted in the 1997 movie Cats Don't Dance, in which the cats, along with the rest of the animal cast, are subject to discrimination and poverty within Hollywood by humans due to prejudice. The other take on The Fat Cat is by having the cat simply act as an unintelligent and ferocious being in a universe where animals are sentient beings, such as Azrael in The Smurfs, Opal from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or Dragon from The Secret of NIMH.

See also

• Cultural depictions of cats

References

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