Feather Boa Constrictor

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Basically wearing a snake (real or fake) as though it's a fashion accessory. This can often be seen with a Jungle Princess (especially if she has a Fur Bikini), The Chief's Daughter, or a Nubile Savage.

A Femme Fatale or Dragon Lady would use a venomous one, to show she has some connection with these creatures. Ms. Fanservice might use the snake in place of one or more items of clothing, taking the Theiss Titillation Theory to its limits.

Rock singers or Professional Wrestlers might also wear one, just to look Badass.

In Real Life, it's actually a practical way to carry some smaller snakes (as long as you do it right). Larger snakes can be difficult to carry this way for long, as they are heavier than you might expect due to the high percentage of muscle mass and, in the case of constrictors, they will constrict if held in a way that makes them feel like they are about to fall. In fiction, it's meant to give a "wild and untamed" look to the wearer.

Not to be confused with the actual costume piece called a Feather Boa.

Compare Right-Hand-Cat, Friend to All Living Things.

Examples of Feather Boa Constrictor include:

Anime and Manga

  • Margaret from One Piece. In fact, the entirety of Amazon Lily does this, as their snakes actually double as long bows. Subverted with their leader, Boa Hancock, whose snake is so big that it acts as her chair instead.
  • Echidna of Queen's Blade takes this a step further. The snake is the only thing covering her lower half.
  • Mitsuko Kongou from A Certain Scientific Railgun wears a snake during the Beach Episode.
  • In Black Butler, Snake owns several snakes named after literary characters that he keeps wrapped around his person at all times and uses to speak for him.
  • Hotarubi from Basilisk has a pet viper that coils round her neck. The snake isn't only for show, as it works also as a scout and a bodyguard. It even saw through Kisaragi Saemon's disguise, though Hotarubi couldn't understand why her pet acted so hostile towards her lover.

Art

  • The Snake Charmer, by Henri Rousseau.
  • Lilith by John Collier. A painting representing the first woman ever (according to certain legends written in medieval times), the woman so powerfully sinful that Yahweh had to replace her with Eve.

Comic Books

  • Marvel Universe villainess Princess Python usually has a snake draped around her shoulders. When it's not strangling people.
  • Kitty Pryde has been known to wear Lockheed (a small alien dragon) around her neck.

Film

  • Thulsa Doom from Conan the Barbarian is all about snakes and wears them when not using them as ranged weapons. Also, James Earl Jones took a liking to them and insisted on wearing them on and off the set.
  • In the first Wayne's World, Cassandra was shooting a music video, while wearing a snake and complaining about how heavy and awkward it is. She later accused it of trying to feel her up.
  • Salma Hayek in From Dusk till Dawn.
  • Poison Ivy does this in Batman and Robin when she "returns to life" at the start of the movie.
  • Zhora from Blade Runner. Fun fact: it was the actress' pet snake.
  • In The Mummy Returns, Meela (the reincarnated Anck-Su-Namun) comes into the O'Connells' house wearing an Egyptian asp.
  • In Striptease one of the girls performed with a python (named "Monty", of course). Then the snake died and was replaced without her knowledge, with predictable results.

Literature

  • Patricia Paiwonski in Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.
  • Male example from Harry Potter: Lord Voldemort often carries Nagini, his Right-Hand Snake, wrapped around his shoulders, especially in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
  • In the Mallorean, Velvet takes to carrying a snake in her bodice. This took a lot of practice to avoid the "SNAKE IN MY BOOBS!" reaction, and was just so she had a concealed weapon to kill Harakon with. Once that was done, she gladly returned the snake to her proper home (a bottle).

Live-Action TV

"My hos are gonna love this."

Music Videos

  • Britney Spears donned a ball python during her performance at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, one of her most famous performances.
  • Alice Cooper wore snakes around his neck for music videos and live shows. Word has it, that he used a rental snake for one show (animal importation laws prevented him from bringing his own) and since it wasn't used to the lights and excitement in a typical rock concert, it tried to strangle Alice and had to be cut off.
    • Everybody's a critic ...
  • Used by one of the exotic dancers in the music video for "Danger!" by Mistikal
    • Similarly, one of the strippers in the music video for "How Do U Want It?" by Tupac Shakur is briefly seen with a python on her shoulers

Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends

  • Lord Shiva combines one of these with snake bracelets.
  • Mami Wata is usually depicted with a snake.

Professional Wrestling

Tabletop Games

  • Chana Witches from the Talislanta RPG have a variant fashion statement, wearing small trained serpents called "wrist vipers" as living (and highly venomous) bracelets.
  • A possibility in Dungeons and Dragons, given that snakes are a choice for a wizard or sorcerer's Familiar.

Video Games

Web Comics

  • In Eerie Cuties, Brooke Lynn almost always wears her pet snake, Seth, around her neck. Considering that she is a Melusine, and can herself turn into a half-snake form, it doesn't seem to unusual.

Web Original

  • A few items on Gaia Online are snakes that you can wear in this way, including a white one called David Boa.

Western Animation

  • Sour Grapes from Strawberry Shortcake wears her pet snake Dregs in this manner.
  • Juju from The Princess and the Frog.
  • The classic "Microbots" episode of Transformers Generation 1 had Starscream get attacked by a giant snake that draped itself around him in this manner; Rumble zings "I think it looks stunning on ya!" and the other Decepticons share a laugh over Starscream's predicament.
  • One episode of "Aaahh Real Monsters" had an episode revolving around the monstrous trio's attempts to get back Krumm's eyeballs after it was devoured by a boa constrictor. During the chase, the constrictor is captured and kept in a pet store where a singer buys it to wear for his rock concert. With a few scares along the way, the boa is finally caught along with the eyeball.

Real Life

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