Goats have been consistent, peculiar, and
adorable figures in culture for millennia.
Just look at this Susa artifact from 3100
B.C.E. next to the goat from Mamma Mia!
As one of the earliest domesticated animals
across cultures,
the goat character spans ancient lore.
Man and woman began domesticating goats around
8000 B.C.E.,
and we’ve been incorporating them into stories
ever since.
For example, Greco-Roman Gods like Pan often
appeared as goat-men.
Agni, the god of fire in Hinduism, is carried
on a chariot by goats.
And in Scandinavian mythology, Thor, you know
Thor, is driven by his goats Tanngrisnir and
Tanngnjóstr.
Yeah, I think that's right.
And oh no, don’t forget Donna’s suitors
are hanging out in the goat house!
But why? What does it mean when a goat appears
in something?
Anything? Nothing? Everything?
Here are five common symbols of goats in cinema.
First, across various ancient cultures, goats
tend to represent domesticity.
This is because goats tend to be low on aggression,
highly adaptable, and docile.
Basically because goats are low risk, high
intelligence, high utility, man started to
live with them rather than eat them.
Such is true in the rom-com Falling Inn Love.
Christina Millian’s character falls into
owning an inn, they always fall into owning
an inn, and has to live with a goat.
She struggles to control the goat, exaggerating
her frustration of getting her house in order.
Her whole house, that is. She loses her boyfriend
and her job in the same week and all she has
now is a goat.
And an inn.
Number two, goats also tend to symbolize submissiveness.
This is because in ancient civilizations,
men and women felt little competition with
goats.
Much like people “acting like sheep” goats
symbolize being “along for the ride".
In competition reality TV, for example, you
know the goat is the player who makes it to
the end of the game without doing much of
anything.
It’s easier to keep them around than to
vote them out.
In the film Happy As Lazzaro, the farm-workers
are deceived, like, VERY deceived if you’ve
seen it, by the land-owners.
The goats accentuate the power hierarchy and
a sense of falling in line.
Lazarro enters frame amidst a herd of goats
and blindly caters to Tancredi, a superior.
In so many ways the film could be called “Happy
as a Goat".
Then, of course, there’s “scapegoat.” 
The word comes from rituals ancient civilizations
took on in order to rid themselves, the humans,
of evil.
Some cultures brought goats into their cities
to remove plagues. Just by standing there.
In The Witch, everyone’s trying to blame
each other for something.
When Thomasin is accused of practicing witchcraft,
she passes the buck to her siblings, who she
says are talking to a goat.
Eventually the meaning of the goat evolves
even further, and darker. The goat is the
last straw, pun intended, separating Thomasin
from witchcraft and her becoming…
well... the family scapegoat.
But goats only get away with being evil distractions
because they’re shrewd.
Goats are intelligent enough to influence
man.
Even in the third century, the Roman author
Aelian told a story of a goat healing his
own cataracts, a process called “couching”
that was a precursor to modern cataract surgery.
The details aren’t critical here, basically
goats could’ve attended ancient med school.
The Men Who Stare at Goats is literally a
story of mental warfare between goats and
man.
Again, the goat falls into that narrow range
between helpless enough to be conquered but
competent enough to be significant if overcome.
Outsmarting a goat is an accomplishment — and a
dangerous one at that.
Finally — and you’ll see this comes up
often — goats represent fertility.
Like rabbits, they have a high reproductive
rate and a fast growth rate.
So it’s no wonder goats turn up in rom-coms.
In Always be My Maybe, goats literally appear
at a children’s birthday party.
Ali Wong’s character is confronted with
the future of family, partnership, and corralling
her future.
And that is it! Do you love goat lore now?
You had better love goat lore!
A little softer please, you are scaring the
goats!
