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February 1 marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year and 2020 is the year of the Tiger in Chinese Zodiac, which means that people born in 2022 will be Water Tigers, and the last Water Tigers were born in 1962. Confusing, right? Though knowledge of zodiac signs is a different science altogether — one hard to comprehend — nonetheless, most of us take pleasure in taking a peek at our horoscopes.
According to Chinese Zodiac, Tigers are considered courageous, assertive, short-tempered and generous. Some of the notable tiger personalities include
Queen Elizabeth II, Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, Leonardo DiCaprico, Lady Gaga and Shawn Mendes. Do those traits apply to the above mentioned people, born in the Year of the Tiger? We don’t know. Even some of the most famous fictional “Tigers” in popular culture cannot match such great expectations!
Though humans have made tigers one of the most endangered animals on the planet, we have celebrated the species wholeheartedly on screens. Salman Khan dedicated several of his films to the big cat i.e.
Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger Zinda Hai, Tiger 3 and Bollywood even has an action star Tiger Shroff. Must have brought some good luck!
To celebrate the Chinese Lunar Year, let’s take a look at some of the most famous tigers in pop culture and honourable references to felines that have made it BIG and are coolest of the bunch!
1. Shere Khan in Jungle Book
Shere Khan is the famous ferocious Bengal tiger from Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book, who “hates man with a vengeance because he fears man’s gun and man’s fire” and hates the threat to his alpha animal status in the jungle.
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2. Tigger from Winnie the Pooh
Though we love fierce cats, not all tigers in literature are a man’s enemy. In A.A. Milne’s beloved Winnie the Pooh children’s book series, the bounce-happy cartoon Tigger is Pooh’s energetic and sometimes troublemaking tiger friend.
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3. Tiger from comic strip Calvin and Hobbes
Often regarded as the last great newspaper comic strip, cartoonist Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes ran from 1985 to 1995. The comic follows the adventures of a 6-year-old mischievous boy Calvin and his best friend Hobbes — a stuffed Bengal tiger that may or may not actually exist. Named after 16th-century theologian John Calvin and 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes respectively, the strip celebrated imagination.
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4. Rajah from Aladdin
Even if you are not a lover of Disney princesses, at one point in your life, you must have been fascinated by the idea of a pet tiger at home. All thanks to Princess Jasmine’s inseparable bond with Rajah in
Aladdin. Rajah is a protector, a friend, a family member with an amazing attitude. He tears into princes that aren’t worthy of Jasmine’s time, and keeps Jasmine’s dad off her back when she’s sick of his attempts to set her up.
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5. Tygra from ThunderCats
Though there is more than one tiger represented in the
ThunderCats series:, namely Javan, Bengali, and Caspin, but let’s talk about Tygra here because he’s one of the core
ThunderCats characters. He’s considered to be second in command, the level-headed adviser who is gifted with numerous abilities. He serves as both an architect and a scientist; he carries “mind-power” which allows him to create simulations within other people’s minds; and he can become invisible.
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6. Richard Parker from Life of Pi
Who didn’t love the incorrectly named Bengal tiger Richard Parker in the novel
Life of Pi by Yann Martel? It won the 2002 Booker Prize for Literature before its big screen adaptation won four Oscars in 2012. The surreal survival story sees shipwreck survivors Pi Patel and a tiger misnamed Richard Parker float adrift at sea on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean.
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7. Master Tigress from Kung Fu Panda
This animated feline was left at the doorstep of an orphanage when she was an infant, but she grew up to be a fierce warrior in 2008’s
Kung Fu Panda and its sequels. Tigress is a South China tiger and the founder of the Furious Five. Angelina Jolie has lent her her voice.
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8. Shivam from The Walking Dead
Before
The Walking Dead, who would have thought that the coolest companion in a zombie outbreak could be an obedient tiger? The seventh season of
The Walking Dead introduced the Kingdom, a post-apocalyptic safe haven led by the exuberant Ezekiel and his trusty tiger, Shiva. Step aside, Joe Exotic: here’s the real Tiger King.
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9. Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
The unmistakably popular opening riff of the Rocky 3 theme song has become a pop culture staple. Written and performed by the US band Survivor, Eye of the Tiger has been used as an intro music by US politicians, games, movies and everywhere else.
10. Tiger Woods
Even the fictional characters on this list will agree that Tiger Woods is deserving of the title as the one true Tiger King who reigns. One of the most remarkable pro careers in the history of sports began when Tiger Woods made his PGA Tour debut 25 years ago. He continuously held the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking for more than five years on two separate occasions. And the list goes on!
11. The White Tiger
Another Booker Prize winner, The White Tiger is a novel by Arvind Adiga. Adapted into a film for Netflix in 2021, it tells the story of Balram Halwai, a poor Indian driver whose street smarts see him break free from serving his rich masters to become a “self-made entrepreneur.” A visiting school inspector once called him the “white tiger” while noting his potential, despite his humble origins.
Netflix docu-series titled
Tiger King on Joe Exotic, an illegal big cat breeder in Florida can also make it to the list, but we choose not to give him any rank here.
