Advice To Harper: Beware Of Cats!

Using cats as propaganda tool is a double-edged sword. It may be true that today's view of cats is more appreciative than say in the Middle-Ages when they were massacred owing to their association with witchcraft. However, the dark sides of the symbolism associated with cats are not completely gone. Some aspects still remain and perhaps Harper would want to stay clear of them. No capital gains to be had there for sure!

Reaction to cats range for the doting, which we all know about and which Harper is using, to fear and mistrust ("dream interpretations say that a cat is a bad omen and that you can expect deceit from those that you trust"!) to downright hilarious!

Still there are other more serious aspects to cat symbolism that may be more detrimental to Harper's strategy.

In the cat and folklore chapter from The Tiger in the House comes this:

There are so many folk-tales about cats that some enterprising young man of the future may fill a large book with these alone. Very often the cat plays a cruel or reprehensible part in these stories but he never plays a stupid or foolish rôle. In one of La Fontaine's fables, indeed, the cat outwits even the fox. He is seldom lacking in wit; indeed he may be regarded as the Till Eulenspiegel of the animal world. It is well to remember Andrew Lang's casual remark that "Animals are always most intelligent when most depraved."

Till Eulenspiegel in this wikipedia entry, "is presented as a trickster who played practical jokes on his contemporaries." Tricksters are not always good or a positive influence in society; there are also bad and evil tricksters, The Joker perhaps being among the best known. As an aside, isn't it weird to see the resemblance between Harper, especially in that cat photo, and the contemporary depictions of The Joker character in Batman. Blogger arthurdecco at myblahg! picked that up.

Indeed there is more on the cat-trickster analogy. In The Lore of the Cat, the author writes of the cat as trickster:

The means employed by natural cats to secure their prey have always been ingenious. There are many fables in which the cat set out deliberately to trick, and to take advantage of, more gullible animals. It is portrayed as a gifted actor, a first class strategist and a great fraud. La Fontaine shows the cat as being even more cunning than the fox; for, although both are hypocrites and swindlers, in the last resort the cunning tricks of the cat prove superior to those of the fox.

Other aspects of cat symbolism that may prove more problematic to Harper are the feminine linkage and the anarchist linkage. For example, this might not be quite the image that Harper would wish to project:

Throughout history, the domestic cat has always been considered a she and has been associated with fertility and sensuality. As well as representing Eve, these associations also led the cat to become a symbol of the prostitute and courtesan. From the 15th Century, Englishmen were warned of the risk of chasing 'Cattis Talis' or 'cats tail'. Hence 'tail' and 'pussy' are slang for the female genitalia. Modern phrases such as 'Cat-like' and 'Sex Kitten' also play on these ancient associations between the cat and sensuality.

In paintings, the cat frequently appeared as a symbol of sinful women and lost innocence. The cat alluded to carnality, sensuality and temptation. Whether placed at the feet of Eve in the Garden of Eden, as an onlooker in a seduction scene or with a prostitute or courtesan. Until the late 19th Century, to portray a man or woman with a cat was a slur on their virtue or masculinity.

And then, of course, the anarchist symbolism (yes, it's a black cat, but still a cat!):

The black cat, also called the "wild cat" usually with an arched back and with claws and teeth bared, is closely associated with anarchism, especially with anarcho-syndicalism. It was designed by Ralph Chaplin, who was a prominent figure in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). As its stance suggests, the cat is meant to suggest wildcat strikes and radical unionism. The IWW (or the Wobblies) was an important industrial union, and was the first American labor union to recruit and organize women and people of color, and played a critical role in the fight for the 8 hour work day and in Free Speech fights all over the country in the early 20th century.

Conclusion: Harper should beware of the revenge of the cats!
-----
[Cross-blogged @ The Cylinder]

Note: Harper and the cats Hockey-Dad framing cat lover downright hilarious this this wikipedia entry The Joker myblahg! The Lore of the Cat this the anarchist symbolism The Cylinder