Xenofiction

Xenofiction is a genre of fiction that take the point of view of normal or intelligent animals, nonhumanoid fantasy creatures, or nonhumanoid aliens, with particular attention to differences in perception or outlook. There are stories around the world told in the eyes of plenty of animals: ranging from pets like dogs and cats to wild animals like lions or bears. Some even have the point of view of aliens or fantasy creatures like dragons.

Examples of Xenofiction Films

• Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey = Based on the 1961 novel by Sheila Burnford, this 1993 film follows three pets - wise golden retriever Shadow, fun-loving American bulldog Chance, and prissy Himalayan cat Sassy - as they trek through the Californian wilderness to be reunited with their owners. It gained a sequel in 1996 called Lost in San Francisco.
• The Lion King (1994) = Considered one of Disney's greatest animated films, the film stars a lion cub named Simba as he's set to rule the Pride Lands after his father Mufasa, whom he looks up to. When tragedy strikes, Simba flees from home and comes to make a choice as he grows older: return home or abandon his kingdom at its darkest hour.

Examples of Xenofiction Literature

• The Jungle Book = The Rudyard Kipling novel from 1894 chronicles the tale of Mowgli, an orphaned boy raised by a pack of Indian wolves, taught by Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther. He also finds enemies in the chaotic Bandar-Log monkeys, the man-eating tiger Shere Khan, and even his fellow humans. This also tells of other stories like The White Seal (a leucistic fur seal named Kotick who hopes to find a new home for his fellow seals) and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (a mongoose named Rikki-Tikki who defends a human's home from two sinister cobras). Mowgli's stories have gotten several adaptations including some made by Disney in 1967 and 2016.
• The Call of the Wild = This 1903 novel by Jack London tells of a dog named Buck - a Saint Bernard mix - being taken from his pet life and forced into the life of a sled dog. He adapts to the sled dog life and slowly feels the longing of running in the wild tug at him. It's often published alongside White Fang, which was published three years later.
• White Fang = Jack London has created this 1906 novel, which is often published alongside The Call of the Wild nowadays. While The Call of the Wild is about a tame dog becoming wild, White Fang tells of the titular three-quarters wolfdog starting wild before becoming tame. White Fang experiences many trials and cruelty from certain masters - even being forced to fight other dogs - before the power of love converts him.
• The Fox and the Hound = Unlike the 1981 Disney film, this 1967 novel by Daniel P. Mannix has a darker tone, with the fox named Tod and the hound named Copper never being friends. It also shows a bleak nature which shows the countryside being overridden by urbanization.
• Watership Down = This 1972 novel by Richard Adams is about a warren of rabbits leaving their home when it's doomed to be bulldozed. Led by brothers Hazel and Fiver, they soon reach their new home and must build it up, all while the danger of a fascist warren looms near. An animated movie was released in 1978 infamous for its violent and frightening moments. A more family-friendly TV series was released in 1999, which follows a much different plot from the novel. Netflix released a CGI miniseries in 2018 that was intended to be more faithful to the novel.
• The Plague Dogs = From Watership Down author Richard Adams comes this 1977 novel. It tells of two dogs - a black lab mix named Rowf and a fox terrier named Snitter - escaping from a laboratory and surviving in the wild of western England, accompanied and taught by a fox. But as they move on from eating trash to hunting sheep, this catches the attention of the authorities, who believe that the dogs have a plague upon them. An animated adaptation was released in 1982.
• Felidae = This 1989 German novel tells of a house cat named Francis moving to a new neighborhood in a town, where he uncovers a body of a murdered cat. It takes him on a long journey to uncover the murderer who calls himself Claudandus, said murderer having made a cult where he vows to free all cats from humans. An animated film - notorious for its bloody and gory scenes - was released in 1994, making it the most expensive animated film in Germany at the time.
• Warrior Cats = Also called Warriors, this series was started in 2003 by a couple of authors working together under the penname Erin Hunter. It tells of five colonies - or "Clans" - of feral cats living in the wild, hunting and fighting for survival. The series itself starts with a house cat named Rusty leaving his human owners to live with one of these Clans - ThunderClan - though he faces prejudice for his house cat blood before becoming the leader of his new home. It spans many generations and tells of many characters in the past and present that include Rusty's descendants, though it's also infamous for many continuity errors and unfortunate implications (like justifying prejudice against house cats). The series also has several other Erin Hunter series after it: Seekers (a more environmental story about bears), Survivors (about dogs living through an apocalyptic earthquake), Bravelands (about African animals partly inspired by The Lion King), and Bamboo Kingdom (about Chinese animals like pandas and snow leopards).
• Guardians of Ga'Hoole = This 2003 book series tells of a world of owls which form their own kingdoms; chief among them are the Guardians of Ga'Hoole, knightly owls that rise each night to perform noble deeds. The series starts with a young barn owl named Soren who is pushed out of his nest by his jealous older brother Kludd and escaping from a child-labor "academy" with an elf owl named Gylfie. An animated adaptation called Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole was released in 2010, the same year that a spinoff sequel - Wolves of the Beyond - was published. Two other spinoffs called Horses of the Dawn and Bears of the Ice were released years after Ga'Hoole's story has ended.