Badgers in Popular Culture

[flammableBen]

Badgers are generally depicted as moral, wise and solitary creatures. Badger in The Wind and the Willows is portrayed as a rather grumpy hermit, nether the less, he's also shown as loyal, and his common sense often gets his more reckless friends out of trouble.

Trufflehunter from the CS Lewis Narnia story Prince Caspian, shares many of the wise and noble characteristics of Badger, but is more active in his role, shifting the characteristics from that of a hermit to that of a priest. His strength and wisdom comes from a strong faith in Aslan and 'Old Narnia', a faith he keeps up despite those around him¹ letting theirs go. This faith leads him to be extremely loyal to his cause, going as far as to offer to sacrifice himself to the greater cause of Prince Caspian. Luckily he is saved by an Ewok in a mouse costume.

The use of the badger to depict religious characteristics is used elsewhere, the 1973 Disney animated version of Robin Hood depicts a jovial Friar Tuck as a badger. Old Brock, an old badger who lived in gnarled wood is a somewhat mythical creature to the rabbits of Watership Down.

Not all badgers share these good and wise traits however. Tommy Brock from Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mr. Tod is very much the antagonist of the story, yet despite lacking the moral strength of other badgers, he still shows an intelligence of his own, however it's through cunning rather than wisdom.

Despite their generally positive depiction in fiction, the term "to badger" means pestering someone. Perhaps because of this, the use of "Badger" as a nickname is not always positive, although it can just be descriptive of physical characteristics. In the Look and Read series Badger Girl, the main character Debbie the titular nickname because of her distinctive streak through her hair, resembling the black and white stripes on a European badgers head and snout.

¹Although written as a Male Badger by C.S. Lewis, Trufflehunter was depicted as female in the 1989 BBC Adaptation of Prince Caspian.

[Reg Smeeton]

 I had a mate whose nickname was Badger....because he wore lots of badges...wacky or what?

[Batch]

badgers are a lot bigger than I thought they were.  I nearly ran one over once, but my car might have been as big a mess as the badger.


www.badgerbadgerbadger.com/

[chalkies_shorts]

My brother had one stuck in his cat flap. He said it was a viciuos bastard when he tried to get it out.

[jayohaitchenn]

Everybody knows that Badger loves MASHED POTATO.

[Reg Smeeton]

Everybody knows that Badger loves MASHED POTATO.

Very true....I once saw Bodger and Badger at The Wyvern....

[flammableBen]

How did I forget Bodger and Badger? I met bodger when he was at the Old Town Festival a few years back. He was absolutely hammered and told me that he believed in ghosts.

[nevillew]

I had a mate whose nickname was Badger....because he wore lots of badges...wacky or what?

 Did he manage to collect the complete sett ?

[Reg Smeeton]

 Did he manage to collect the complete sett ?

 No...one of them was brocken

[pauld]

No...one of them was brocken

Ha, ha, that's genius Reg! Love it

[nevillew]

Do gay badgers live on Brockback Mountain ?

[pauld]

Do gay badgers live on Brockback Mountain ?

As long as they're not planning on attending the 2022 World Cup, that's the main thing

[steptoe41]

My brother had one stuck in his cat flap. He said it was a viciuos bastard when he tried to get it out.

I was camping on the Dorset coast a few years ago and one tried to get into the fucking tent. I chased the fucker off and it ran straight into the tent next door which belonged to a family from Germany.

Cue lots of shouting and swearing in German as the bastard thing went mental trying to get out.

I spent the rest of the night sniggering and giggling like a little kid at the memory of fritz and his fat wife trying to rid their tent of their rabid nocturnal visitor.

[Ardiles]

I was camping on the Dorset coast a few years ago and one tried to get into the fucking tent. I chased the fucker off and it ran straight into the tent next door which belonged to a family from Germany.

Cue lots of shouting and swearing in German as the bastard thing went mental trying to get out.

I spent the rest of the night sniggering and giggling like a little kid at the memory of fritz and his fat wife trying to rid their tent of their rabid nocturnal visitor.

Brilliant.

[Samdy Gray]