With Chinese New Year starting on 29 January, we’re officially in the thick of Snake season. This zodiac cycle, the slithering creature is soaking up all the spotlight as snake motifs are being incorporated into fashion trends, beauty looks, and home decor. But the majestic serpent has long been an iconic symbol and a muse in pop culture, whether for its transformative nature, mysterious aura, or pure diva energy.
Ahead, we’re celebrating the rest of the Lunar New Year by revisiting our favourite snake moments that have sunk their teeth into pop culture history.
Britney Spears and her stage companion, Banana
The MTV Video Music Awards are known for their jaw-dropping stages but perhaps none is more iconic than Britney Spears’ 2001 performance of ‘I’m a Slave 4 U’. Halfway through the song, the pop superstar was joined by a giant Burmese python named Banana, who contrary to its name, was “more terrifying than it appeared”, according to Spears.
In her memoir, she reveals being scared at how Banana was hissing in her face. Despite being intimidated by the reptile, the then 20-year-old carried it across her shoulders effortlessly, searing the incredible image of Spears parading a snake in her equally iconic bejewelled two-piece set on stage into the pop culture canon. Slay, Britney!
The racist snake lurking under Hogwarts
The Basilisk in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is pure nightmare fuel. In the film, this colossal serpent that was living under the school for 1000 years was 80 feet long and had the power to kill anyone who made eye contact with it. It was also bred for a sole purpose: to hunt and kill Muggle-born students, witches, and wizards born to non-magical parents.
For all its size and horror, this ancient creature ultimately meets its demise at the hands of 12-year-old Harry Potter, who stabs it through the mouth with the Sword of Gryffindor like The Chosen One he is. A satisfying end to a racist snake.
Voldemort’s loyal weapon with a tragic past
J.K. Rowling must have a thing for snakes because she created another famous fictional snake named Nagini. In the film franchise, Nagini is often seen as Voldemort’s sinister sidekick, mercilessly attacking anyone who comes near its master. The creature plays an important role as it is also one of Voldemort’s seven Horcruxes, holding a piece of his soul within.
However, in the prequel film Fantastic Beasts, fans were shocked to see that Nagini was originally a woman who could shapeshift at will and was often exploited for her ability. She has a brief romance with Dumbledore’s half-brother before a blood malediction ultimately curses her to permanently transform into the 12-foot snake. In the main Harry Potter film series, Nagini is heroically killed by Neville Longbottom with Godric Gryffindor’s Sword, putting an end to her misery. Rest easy, Queen.
The whole #TaylorIsASnake scandal felt like a fever dream
When Kim Kardashian decided to release video footage of Taylor Swift’s phone call with her then-husband Kanye West on 17 July 2016, nobody was prepared for the carnage that was about to happen. Mind you, Miss Kim K even timed it perfectly for the exposé to happen on World Snake Day—oh, the devilishness of it all! On X (previously Twitter), #KimExposedTaylorParty and #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty dominated trending pages for months, leading to a flood of snake emojis all over Swift’s social media channels.
Wait it’s legit National Snake Day?!?!?They have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days! 🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) July 17, 2016
Soon, the ‘You Belong With Me’ singer became synonymous with the snake and the squeaky clean image she cultivated came crumbling down. But as her fans know, Swift always gets the last word. In 2017, the artist announced her sixth studio album, Reputation, with three snake teasers, and kickstarted a career-defining musical era with her electropop sound.
With bangers such as ‘Ready for it?’, ‘Look What You Made Me Do’, and ‘Don’t Blame Me’, Swift successfully reclaimed the snake image for herself and embraced this darker side much to her fans’ delight. Now that’s marketing genius!
Read more about Taylor Swift’s feud with Kimye here.
Whatever Snakes on a Plane was
Listen, we know the 2006 film is anything but Oscar-worthy. It’s objectively a bad movie, but it’s a fun type of bad that hooks you with its ridiculous premise. Sure, they could’ve come up with a more imaginative title but it delivers exactly what it promises: a whole lot of snakes on a plane. If there’s one thing this film has taught us, it’s to look at the toilet bowl seat before relieving yourself just to be safe…if you know, you know.
That crazy Anaconda film
Before Snakes on a Plane, there was Anaconda, a 1997 action-thriller that did an even worse job at representing its star creature (no, anacondas cannot go that fast on land or swallow a load of humans whole)—but boy, did director Luis Llosa have fun coming up with inventive ways to gobble up his characters.
It’s a movie that makes you audibly go “WTF?” every time a kill occurs but like a trainwreck, you just can’t look away. Even at Jon Voight’s hilariously bad death/not-death scene.
The other monster ‘Anaconda’
The 1997 film may have irrevocably damaged the image of Anacondas if it weren’t for this hit song in 2014. Thanks to Nicki Minaj, the rapper successfully transformed the Anaconda from a feared predator to a phallic euphemism. Teenagers proudly sang “My anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns, hun” while parents watched on in horror as Minaj defied the laws of physics with her twerks and played her dancer’s butts like bongos. If that’s not pop culture magic, we don’t know what is.
For more culture reads, head here.
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