Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Spotted Hyena In Popular Media And The Biopolitical Implications For Conservation Strategy, Annika Hugosson

Animal Studies Journal

The hyena has been depicted as a villain for millennia, with examples spanning from ancient European texts to today’s popular culture. In the past 30 years, especially, catalysed by Disney’s The Lion King, the hyena-as-villain has been cycled throughout various media. By taking a critical animal studies approach to analysing Western media content depicting hyenas, specifically the spotted hyena, I theorize the implications of morally othering hyenas such that they are rendered killable, which relegates them relative to other species-specific conservation concerns. Hyenas are vilified in part through misrepresentations of their actual ecological roles, the biopolitical ramifications of which are …