Monkeys

Monkeys are a kind of animal and the fictional creations based on their conceptualization thereupon. In real life most creatures within the infraorders Platyrrhini and Catarrhini- minus the superfamily Hominoidea are defined as monkeys. The difference between monkeys and apes is described as a "lack of tail". However, some people think apes are just a kind of monkey anyways, to the chagrin of scientists and more naturalist-inclined people. The characteristics of monkeys would be having hands both as hands and feet (though the latter is sometimes excluded in media), a bare face,hands, and sometimes chest, a non-wet, flat nose that features unusually large nostril flare (though sometimes these just become small nostril dots), and the sort of squat-but-flexible body-build that most monkeys and apes have.

Monkeys are relatively popular in English media. They typically aren't main characters, often comic relief and smaller, thieving but-not-entirely-evil characters. They're seen as goofy and mischievous. The intelligence of monkeys in comparison to that of smarter humans and other dumb animals leads them to a portrayal of them being almost dumb yet curious and easily getting into trouble. Their real life grosser habits such as scratching or picking their ears leads to scenes of them doing such. These scenes help make them appear of lesser intelligence, or at least an unrefined attitude. Their habits of trying to escape enclosures, throwing feces and other objects, stealing items, and others lead to them being mean troublemakers. Monkeys can be portrayed as good, but whether nice or bad they are troublemakers who accidentally get into too much trouble.

Monkeys aren't featured in every bit of media, typically being reserved for jungles, circuses, and zoos in their settings/homes. In this way they are strictly defined as an "exotic" creature. They often end up as side or background characteres. However, there are shows and movies in which they are a main character, such as Curious George, My Gym Partner's A Monkey Lego Monkie Kid, and A Monkey's Tale. Monkeys are often portrayed as eating bananas. Due to monkeys' association with bananas, it has continued to be seen as a jungle fruit despite being incredibly common in supermarkets and in children's cuisine. Most other fruit has had their biome heritage forgotton by the public until recently, but bananas stayed. The association with bananas is so strong that bananas themselves are also associated with monkeys, sometimes being seen as "monkey food" (but not in a way that would prevent people from eating them, like dog food).

Oftentimes the term "monkey" will be used to refer to a tailless great ape. Sometimes it goes unmentioned, but it's a reoccurring joke to have a talking ape himself correct the human calling him a monkey. This is based on real life, where people do in fact do this thing. The word "monkey" in a casual context (or as defined by society, of the zoologically ignorant) is often applied to apes due to the similarity of their body and facial structures. However, scientifically the word monkey excludes apes. This highlights the difference between the common, natural application of language versus the forced imposition of scientifically applied common words.

In East Asia, monkeys influence is stronger in part due to The Journey Of The West. This book influenced East Asian culture and religion and is one of the most well known stories, being an incredibly important part of classic literature. It has also influenced their religion, as the main character of the novel, Sun Wukong, has become a real life deity that is worship in Chinese-influenced areas. Dragon Ball and Lego Monkie Kid are both examples of shows based heavily on The Journey To The West. There are several movies based on it and shows as well. There are other video games and books based on him. There is also the fact that monkeys are a natural animal that live in those areas. While some live in the jungles, there are quite a few more temperate monkey species that live in China, Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries. They're a normal forest animal there.

In Western Asia they also have a monkey god, Hanuman. This Hindu god also has tons of media.

## References

1. ↑ The TV show My Gym Partner's A Monkey
2. ↑ The movie A Monkey's Tale.