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Wolves have been portrayed negatively in Western literature and folktales for thousands of years, from Aesop鈥檚 fables to Little Red Riding Hood to the Three Little Pigs. (Photo: Biodiversity Heritage Library/Public Domain)

Wolves Are Still the Bad Guys in Children鈥檚 Media. Let鈥檚 Change That.

By portraying predators as villains, we are influencing how our children perceive the natural world

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(Photo: Biodiversity Heritage Library/Public Domain)

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Last summer my daughter, Josephine, and I visited a zoo that houses聽two wolves, both of which were born in captivity. Josephine had approached all the other animals at the zoo with curiosity, but when I pointed out the wolves, she stopped in her tracks. 鈥淎re they bad wolves, Mama?鈥 she asked with fear in her voice.

I explained that wolves aren鈥檛 generally dangerous to people鈥攁nd can even 鈥攂ut in her three-year-old morality that separates the world into good guys and bad guys, the wolves鈥 reputation had already been cemented as cruel and villainous. And I knew exactly where that view had come from.

Over the previous year, with her father working as a nurse on the front lines of the pandemic and me trying to maintain my journalism career with little or no childcare, we watched more movies than I care to admit. During all those hours of guilt-inducing screen time, I鈥檇 noticed a disturbing trend: in children鈥檚 media, wolves are often shown as bloodthirsty killers, chasing heroic figures across a frozen landscape.

Wolves have been portrayed negatively in Western literature and folktales for , from Aesop鈥檚 fables to Little Red Riding Hood to the Three Little Pigs, so I wasn鈥檛 surprised to see this clich茅 as well in movies like Beauty and the Beast. But because recent decades have seen a shift from trying to exterminate wolves to spending millions of dollars on their recovery鈥攁nd because one of the biggest barriers to wolf reintroduction is human antipathy鈥擨 was dismayed to discover that even newer films like Frozen and The Secret Life of Pets 2 perpetuate the stereotype of the big bad wolf. Predators like sharks (sometimes called the 鈥渨olves of the sea鈥) get , despite the fact that most wild predators pose far to humans than .

I鈥檓 thrilled by the possibility of listening to the howls of a wolf pack while camping with my daughter in our backyard mountains.

The stories we tell our children influence how they perceive and interact with the world. And while there are still geographic and cultural pockets where wolves are unwelcome, we鈥檙e moving toward a future in which more of us will have to coexist with these animals. Wildlife managers have successfully to parts of the Southwest, while gray wolves are the Pacific Northwest on their own. Last year, Coloradans of reintroducing wolves to the state鈥檚 Western Slope, where I live. I was among those who voted for reintroduction; I鈥檓 thrilled by the possibility of listening to the howls of a wolf pack while camping with my daughter in our backyard mountains.

If this happens, I don鈥檛 want Jo to be as terrified as she was seeing captive wolves at the zoo last summer. To counteract the 鈥渂ad鈥 wolves flashing across our screen, I鈥檝e begun telling her stories of times I鈥檝e seen wolves in my own life. I try to impart the reverence and awe I鈥檝e felt watching such creatures in the their natural habitat, but since my stories apparently pack less of an emotional punch than a Disney movie, I鈥檝e also begun seeking out books and films that show a different side of wolves. So far we鈥檝e watched and , the latter a 2020 film about a girl who turns into a wolf and must help save her fellow canines鈥攁nd the wild lands they inhabit鈥攆rom vengeful humans. For a less fantastical take, the book , by Jude Isabella and Kim Smith, is a scientifically accurate story of how the reintroduction of wolves to the greater Yellowstone area restored entire ecosystems, right down to the grasses and plants.

Isabella (who, full disclosure, I鈥檝e worked with in the past) recently shared that Bringing Back the Wolves was included on the American Library Association鈥檚 2020 list of , highlighting just how deeply entrenched our cultural biases against wolves are. While these prejudices took shape during a time when many people of European heritage saw wolves鈥攁nd the wildness they symbolize鈥攁s something to be reviled, tamed, or outright eliminated, we鈥檝e reached an era in which those views are no longer necessary and may even be harmful.

Today, if we hope to preserve whatever wildness is left in the world, we need to tell our children fewer stories that portray integral parts of nature as evil and more that show predators and prey alike as part of an intricate web that sustains us all. So if you鈥檙e cuddling up with a movie or children鈥檚 books this winter, take a moment to consider how the media you choose may impact your child鈥檚 relationship with the natural world.

Lead Photo: Biodiversity Heritage Library/Public Domain

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