POLCYN, D.M.: From Creepy Crawlies to Cuddly Critters: Can Arthropods Really Be Tweaked Enough to Capture the Nation’s Attention?

In a nation which spends billions of dollars a year to kill arthropods, in which people young and old would rather swat an insect than observe it, it seems hard to imagine how film studios could create a cast of insect characters realistic enough to retain their biological characteristics yet “cuddly” enough to garner the affection of a mammal-oriented public. The solution, evidenced in several recent arthropod-based family films, has been an interesting blending of the oddities of arthropod natural history and anatomy with familiar, and often comforting, mammalian (usually human) characteristics. Although the resulting characters and story lines are not completely biologically realistic, they serve to introduce and educate the public to the largest group of organisms on earth – the Arthropods. Story lines revolve around the dynamics of social insect societies, interspecific and intraspecific competitive interactions, predator-prey relations, and the various ecological roles played by different species. The tremendous variety of anatomical modifications seen in the arthropods facilitates the development of both “good” and “evil” characters, and the presence of characteristics such as the exoskeleton and hinged joints has been exploited in the development of animated characters as well as action figures and other toys. Appropriate terminology, although kept to a minimum, is used throughout the films to a surprisingly successful degree. Viewed as a whole, the recent releases of arthropod-based animations have been far more realistic in portraying the structure, function and dynamics of arthropods than had previous attempts, and as such serve to simultaneously entertain and educate a national audience possessing an abysmally low level of scientific literacy.