Monster Bugs, Attack! The Origins of ‘Big Bug’ Science Fiction | Monstrum

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Head over to Deep Look!    • These Swarming Locusts Are Grasshoppers Go...  

Insects make up 80 percent of the world’s species, so it's not all that surprising we’ve occasionally made them into monsters in science fiction and horror. What is staggering is why the “big bug” subgenre took off in the 1950s. Find out how nuclear weapons, the suburbs, the Cold War, and the pest control industry all contributed to a beloved film subgenre in this episode featuring special footage from our friends at Deep Look. #bigbugs #filmhistory #locusts #MonstrumPBS.

Thank you to the Global Locust Initiative Lab at ASU for hosting our visit—and to the locusts for tolerating Dr. Z's somewhat subdued shrieking.

Correction: We deeply regret the error of referring to the Lymantria dispar moth as a 'gypsy moth,' which contains a derogatory term for the Romani people. For more information on the important change of the moth's common name, please refer to The Entomological Society of America's official statement (link: https://www.entsoc.org/entomological-....

Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Illustrator: Samuel Allen
Editor/Animator: Steven Simone
Additional Animation by: Sara Roma
Assistant Editor: Jordyn Buckland
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.

The world is full of monsters, myths, and legends and Monstrum isn’t afraid to take a closer look. The show, hosted by Emily Zarka, Ph.D., takes us on a journey to discover a new monster in each new episode. Monstrum looks at humans' unique drive to create and shape monster mythology through oral storytelling, literature, and film and digs deep into the history of those mythologies.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Avila, Eric. “White Flight and Urban Science Fiction Film in Postwar America.” Classic Hollywood, Classic Whiteness, Ed. Daniel Bernardi. University of Minnesota Press, 2001, pp. 52–71.

Bellin, Joshua D. "Us Or them!: Silent Spring and the "Big Bug" Films of the 1950s." Extrapolation (Pre-2012), vol. 50, no. 1, 2009, pp. 145-168.

Bernardi, Daniel, and Michael Green. Race in American Film: Voices and Visions That Shapes a Nation. Greenwood, 2017.

Dick, Bernard F. The Screen Is Red: Hollywood, Communism, and the Cold War, University Press of Mississippi, 2016.


Tsutsui, William M. “Looking Straight at ‘Them!’ Understanding the Big Bug Movies of the 1950s.” Environmental History, vol. 12, no. 2, 2007, pp. 237–53.

Rogers, Martin. “Monstrous Modernism and The Day of the Locust.” The Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 44, no. 2, 2011.