Lobster in Pop Culture: Movies, TV, Music, and More

There are certain animals that pop culture just can’t get enough of. Dogs, cats, horses — predictable choices. But lobsters? Somehow, this spiny, clawed, deep-sea dweller has carved out a remarkably persistent presence in movies, television, music, and literature. And it’s not just because they taste good.

From Disney’s The Little Mermaid to a critically acclaimed art-house film literally called The Lobster, from Jay-Z lyrics to emoji dominance, the lobster has become an unlikely cultural icon. Why? What is it about this particular animal that keeps writers, filmmakers, and musicians coming back?

Let’s take a tour of lobster’s greatest hits in pop culture — and try to figure out why we can’t stop putting them in our stories.

The Lobster in Movies: From Sidekicks to Stars

The most famous lobster-adjacent character in film history is almost certainly Sebastian, the Jamaican-accented crab from Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989). Wait — crab, not lobster. True, Sebastian is technically a crab. But his design, with those prominent claws and that sideways scuttle, borrows heavily from lobster anatomy. And his signature song, “Under the Sea,” is one of the most beloved Disney musical numbers of all time. Sebastian cemented the idea of a crustacean character who was sophisticated, musical, and just a little bit funny — a template that lobsters would inherit.

The most direct lobster-starring film is undoubtedly The Lobster (2015), directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. In this surreal dystopian dark comedy, single people are sent to a hotel where they have 45 days to find a romantic partner — or be turned into the animal of their choice. The protagonist, played by Colin Farrell, chooses a lobster. Why a lobster? He explains: lobsters live long, stay fertile their entire lives, and are “excellent swimmers.” The film uses the lobster as a symbol of partnership, endurance, and the absurdity of social pressure around relationships. It’s bizarre, uncomfortable, and brilliant — and it earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Then there’s Forrest Gump (1994), where Bubba famously lists shrimp in seventeen different preparations: shrimp gumbo, shrimp creole, shrimp stew, fried shrimp, grilled shrimp… But here’s the thing most people don’t realize — Bubba also mentions lobster, just once, buried in his epic monologue. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but it places lobster right alongside the most famous food monologue in cinema history.

Other notable film appearances include Annie Hall (where Woody Allen hilariously botches a lobster dinner), Love Actually (where the underappreciated wife buys a lobster for dinner that her husband ignores), and SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie, which features a human-sized lobster named Larry the Lobster who’s the lifeguard at Goo Lagoon. Even horror films have gotten in on the action — The Bay (2012), a found-footage eco-horror film, features mutant isopods that resemble lobster-like creatures terrorizing a Maryland town, tapping into our primal unease about what lurks beneath the water’s surface.

Lobster on Television: Sitcoms, Cartoons, and Reality Shows

Television has been even more generous to lobsters. The Simpsons alone has featured lobsters in at least a dozen episodes. There’s the unforgettable “Lisa the Vegetarian” episode where a giant magic lobster (voiced by guest star Phil Hartman) appears to Paul and Linda McCartney. There’s the episode where Homer imagines a world of giant walking lobsters attacking Springfield. And of course, the occasional “Pinchy” the pet lobster storyline, where Homer captures a lobster he intends to cook but instead adopts as a pet, only for tragedy to strike in predictably Homer-esque fashion.

SpongeBob SquarePants gave us the aforementioned Larry the Lobster — perhaps the most buff crustacean in cartoon history. Larry is the muscular, outgoing, perpetually cheerful lifeguard of Bikini Bottom. He’s a minor character, but he’s a persistent one, representing the idea of the lobster as a friendly, approachable figure rather than a terrifying sea monster. His running gag is that he’s inexplicably ripped for a crustacean.

Friends had an entire subplot about Monica catering a banquet where the guests demand lobster. The Office (US version) featured a memorable scene where Michael Scott tries to impress a date by ordering an elaborate lobster dinner, only to be disappointed when she turns out to be a vegetarian. And Succession, the HBO drama about a dysfunctional media dynasty, used lobster to signify wealth and excess — the characters are constantly dining on lobster as a shorthand for their obscene privilege.

Even cooking shows have gotten in on the act. Hell’s Kitchen has featured lobster challenges on multiple occasions, usually with Gordon Ramsay yelling at contestants for overcooking the tail. On Top Chef, lobster appears so often that it’s practically a recurring character. The message is consistent: if you can cook lobster properly, you’re a real chef. If you mess it up, you’re heading home.

For more on how lobster shows up across different media, check out the best lobster memes and emoji content — the internet has taken the lobster and run with it in ways you wouldn’t believe.

Lobster in Music: From Hip-Hop to Classical

Music is where lobster’s cultural footprint gets really interesting. In hip-hop, lobster has become a symbol of wealth and success. Jay-Z references lobster multiple times in his lyrics, including the famous line in “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)”: “I do this for my culture / To let ’em know what a nigga look like when you’re standin’ in the food line / But now I’m sippin’ Dom Prignon and eatin’ lobster.” The equation is clear: lobster = made it. It’s the edible benchmark for having escaped poverty.

Rick Ross, never one for subtlety, has referenced lobster tails and lobster dinners across multiple albums, using the imagery to reinforce his larger-than-life persona. Drake mentioned “lobster with the whole team” in one of his verses, tying the food to camaraderie and success. A$AP Rocky used lobster as a status symbol in his lyrics. The pattern is consistent: in rap, lobster is what you eat when you’ve escaped poverty and achieved real wealth. It’s a direct call back to the food’s historical transformation from prison food to luxury status — a story we explore in more depth in our history of lobster article.

Outside of hip-hop, lobster appears in the B-52’s classic “Rock Lobster” — a 1978 new wave song that features the unforgettable chorus “We were at the beach / Everybody had matching towels.” The song doesn’t make a lot of literal sense, but its joyful, chaotic energy has made it a party staple for over four decades. The music video, with its inflatable lobster and giant sunglasses, is peak 1980s camp. It’s impossible not to smile when “Rock Lobster” comes on.

There’s also a fascinating classical connection. The 19th-century French composer Erik Satie used lobster imagery in his writings and once famously said he wanted to keep a lobster as a pet because it was “the most intelligent of all animals.” Satie even wrote instructions for a piece called “The Dreamy Fish” that included lobster-related stage directions. It suggests that even the most esoteric artists have found inspiration in the lobster’s strange, ancient form.

Lobster in Literature: A Surprising Literary History

Lobsters have been swimming through literature for centuries. Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland includes “The Lobster Quadrille” — a poem/song about lobsters dancing a quadrille at the bottom of the sea. It features the memorable lines: “‘Will you walk a little faster?’ said a whiting to a snail / ‘There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s treading on my tail.’” It’s nonsense, but charming nonsense that has delighted readers for over 150 years.

Charles Dickens referenced lobster in David Copperfield, where the character Mr. Micawber famously becomes “as red as a boiled lobster” after exertion. Edgar Allan Poe used lobster imagery in some of his more lighthearted works. And David Foster Wallace’s essay “Consider the Lobster” (2004) became a minor literary sensation, using the Maine Lobster Festival as a jumping-off point for a meditation on pain, ethics, and the moral complexity of eating animals. It’s widely considered one of the best culinary essays ever written and introduced a generation of readers to the ethical questions surrounding lobster consumption.

Why Lobsters Keep Showing Up

So why lobsters? Here’s our theory: lobsters occupy a strange middle space in the human imagination. They’re strange enough to be interesting — alien-looking, backward-walking, bright red when cooked — but familiar enough to be relatable: they live in communities, they have social structures, and they’re delicious.

They’re simultaneously a symbol of luxury (the expensive centerpiece of a special meal) and humility (they literally used to be prison food). They can be cute (Sebastian, Larry the Lifeguard) or menacing (giant mutant lobsters in horror movies). They’re flexible symbols — which is exactly what pop culture needs from a recurring character. The lobster can represent whatever the story requires: wealth, absurdity, resilience, or just a good meal.

The Bottom Line

The lobster’s place in pop culture is secure. From Disney to David Foster Wallace, from Jay-Z to the emoji keyboard, the lobster keeps swimming back into our collective consciousness. It’s a remarkable cultural journey for an animal that spends most of its life in the dark, at the bottom of the ocean, doing absolutely nothing performance-worthy.

Maybe that’s the appeal. Lobsters don’t try to be interesting. They just are.

Ready to experience the real thing? Buy fresh lobster online and become part of a 100-million-year-old story.