Cae-20-legendrekvater1975couverturegalaxiebis45

The term insectoid denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s and arachnids.

Etymology

The term ''insectoid'' denotes any creature or object that shares a similar body or traits with common earth

s and arachnids. The term is a combination of "insect" and "-oid" (a suffix denoting similarity).

History

Insect-like creatures have been a part of the tradition of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

. In the 1902 film ''

A Trip to the Moon ''A Trip to the Moon'' (french: Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a 1902 French adventure short film directed by Georges Méliès. Inspired by a wide variety of sources, including Jules Verne's 1865 novel ''From the Earth to the Moon'' and its 1870 s ...

'',

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French illusionist, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well known for the use of ...

portrayed the Selenites of the moon as insectoid. Olaf Stapledon incorporates insectoids in his 1937 ''

Star Maker ''Star Maker'' is a science fiction novel by British writer Olaf Stapledon, published in 1937. The book describes a history of life in the universe, dwarfing in scale Stapledon's previous book, ''Last and First Men'' (1930), a history of the hu ...

'' novel. In the pulp fiction novels, insectoid creatures were frequently used as the antagonists threatening the

damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...

. Later depictions of the hostile insect aliens include the antagonists in Robert A. Heinlein's ''

Starship Troopers ''Starship Troopers'' is a military science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Written in a few weeks in reaction to the US suspending nuclear tests, the story was first published as a two-part serial in ''The Magazine of F ...

'' novel and the "buggers" in Orson Scott Card's ''Ender's Game'' series. The ''hive queen'' has been a theme of novels including

C. J. Cherryh Carolyn Janice Cherry (born September 1, 1942), better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has written more than 80 books since the mid-1970s, including the Hugo Award-winning novels '' Downbelo ...

's ''

Serpent's Reach ''Serpent's Reach'' is a 1980 science fiction novel by American writer C. J. Cherryh. The book was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Novel in 1981. It is set in the author's Alliance-Union universe. Specific placement of the novel withi ...

'' and the ''

Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

'' film franchise. Sexuality has been addressed in Philip Jose Farmer's "The Lovers"

Octavia Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction author and a multiple recipient of the Hugo and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. ...

's ''Xenogenesis'' novels and China Miéville's ''

Perdido Street Station ''Perdido Street Station'' is a novel by British writer China Miéville, published in 2000 by Macmillan. Often described as weird fiction, it is set in a world where both magic and steampunk technology exist. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award an ...

''.

Analysis

The motif of the insect became widely used in science fiction as an "abject human/insect hybrids that form the most common enemy" in related media. Bugs or bug-like shapes have been described as a common trope in them, and the term 'insectoid' is considered "almost a cliche" with regards to the "ubiquitous way of representing alien life".

References

External links

{{wikt, insectoid, position=left Science fiction themes Insects and humans Fiction about creatures

Etymology

History

Analysis

See also

References

External links