page_title: Stereotypes of animals
section_title: Octopus
hierarchical_section_title: Stereotypes of animals / Common Western animal stereotypes / Invertebrates / Octopus
caption_attribution_description: Pen and wash drawing by malacologist Pierre Dénys de Montfort, 1801, from the descriptions of French sailors reportedly attacked by such a creature off the coast of Angola.
context_page_description: When anthropomorphising an animal there are stereotypical traits which commonly tend to be associated with particular animal species. Often these are simply exaggerations of real aspects or behaviours of the creature in question, while other times the stereotype is taken from mythology and replaces any observation-based judgment of that animal's behavior. Some are popularised or solidified by a single particularly notable appearance in media. In any case, once they have entered the culture as widely recognized stereotypes of animals, they tend to be used both in conversation and media as a kind of shorthand for expressing particular qualities.
  While some authors make use of these animal stereotypes "as is", others undermine reader expectations by reversing them, developing the animal character in contrasting ways to foil expectations or create amusement, like a fastidious pig or cowardly lion.
  Some modern stereotypes of animals have a long tradition dating back to Aesop's Fables, which draw upon sources that include ancient Egyptian animal tales.
context_section_description: The man-eating monstrous gigantic octopus which attacks and destroys ships.
  The gigantic octopus has been a staple of sea folklore for centuries and has been featured in tales like The Kraken, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus
  Octopuses are also often portrayed as surly, hot-tempered and vengeful.
  Many propaganda posters often portray persons or ideologies as an octopus sitting on a globe spreading its tentacles to take over the entire world.
  In Japanese culture octopuses are also associated with tentacle rape.
  Examples: The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife by Hokusai.
caption: Depiction of a gigantic octopus by Pierre Dénys de Montfort, 1801
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