Bug (1975) and Anthropomorphism

Aided by the insect photography of Ken Middleham, who also filmed the documentary The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971) and the science fiction thriller Phase IV (1974), Bug provides an authentic portrayal of the cockroaches, at least until breeding ignites their intelligence to such an extent that they can read and write. The prehistoric roaches that appear after the quake, for example, produce sparks not unlike the bioluminescence of the South American cockroach, called “pronatal headlights” in Bell et al’s Cockroaches. As critic Bill Gibron of PopMatters declares, close-up shots of these roaches’ mandibles also “make [] their actions seem almost plausible.”

Animal studies scholar Marion W. Copeland provides a context for this reaction in her “Voices of the Least Loved: Cockroaches in the Contemporary American Novel” in Insect Poetics, asserting, “The symbolic value of the cockroach to marginal literatures comes from the insect’s reputation as both survivor and victim” (155). Characteristics like these anthropomorphize the cockroach in relation to both positive and negative perspectives on humanity. In the horror genre, this symbolic value also sometimes leads to explorations of how that reputation may transform cockroaches into both monsters and saviors when humanity intervenes either deliberately or by accident. Marion Copeland and evolutionary biologist Marc Bekoff emphasize the usefulness of anthropomorphizing, and entomological consultant James W. Mertins declares that “almost all of the well-treated movie arthropods are at least somewhat anthropomorphized. Yet in the cockroach horror film, representations of the cockroach highlight characteristics that Stephen R. Kellert suggests promote fear in humans while also drawing on the qualities shared by the most horrific versions of ourselves.

Copeland notes other positive associations with cockroaches in her book-length Cockroach, as well. Because “of its predilection for the dark” (81), Copeland suggests, the cockroach has become associated with “the unconscious and the power of the id” (81). In Thailand, Australia, South America, and French Guiana, cockroaches serve as food, medicine, and folk tale source. Copeland suggests that studies by anthropologists and explorers reveal that “rather than racking their brains for effective ways to destroy cockroaches, these cultures found the cockroach a useful neighbor, rich in protein and effective for many human diseases. They also seem to have recognized how useful they were to the environment” (81-2). Copeland also notes that cockroaches contribute to cancer research (131).