Orcas in popular culture

[1] Creatures by the name of "orca" or "orc" have appeared throughout the history of Western literature, most often as predators portrayed as being threatening to humans.

This killer whale-like sea monster also appears in Michael Drayton's epic poem Polyolbion and in John Milton's Paradise Lost.

[3] As late as the 1970s, killer whales were at times depicted negatively in fiction as ravenous predators whose behavior caused heroes to interfere to help a prey animal escape.

[3] In contrast, the 1974 Walt Disney produced motion picture, The Island at the Top of the World portrayed killer whales as bloodthirsty hunters of the protagonists in one particularly brutal scene.

Narrated by Ryan Reynolds, it tells the story of Luna, a killer whale (orca) living in Nootka Sound, Canada, who was separated from his pod at a young age.

[6] Killer Whales: Wolves of the Sea - Journeys With Wildlife, BBC Documentary - Sir David Attenborough Published on July 20, 2015.

The Japanese anime series Damekko Doubutsu features a killer whale in a humorous and ironic context: unable to swim without a flotation device.

The 2006 Australian animated children's film Happy Feet portrayed two male killer whales as both powerful and intelligent playful predators and also as victims of human-caused ecological disruptions in a heavily polluted hunting ground.

One of the killer whales sports massive propeller scars on its back and shies away in fear from a large fishing vessel.

In Disney's "The Little Mermaid (TV series), features Spot, a playful killer whale that Ariel adopts and takes care of when he was a baby.

[11] The 2013 video game Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies features a performing killer whale being tried in court.

Interestingly, the episode seems to have the implicit message that the fact killer whales do not use human language does not mean they do not have feelings nor a right to be heard.