In popular culture, insects, particularly locusts, have made appearances in movies, symbolizing various narrative themes such as nature's retaliation, metamorphosis, or the unsettling horror of otherworldly mutants.^[1] Nature documentaries also frequently showcase captivating sequences of vast locust swarms in motion. As a result, our multifaceted and competitive ecological interactions with locusts have frequently found expression through storytelling and artistic endeavors. To scrutinize our existing conceptual framework and subsequently refine it to align more closely with current scientific understanding, it is crucial to delve into the cultural origins of the contemporary paradigm.

Locust and pop culture resources

Resource	URL	Category	Author	Language	Species purview	Geographic purview	Resource description
Data:Resource 4	[ View URL]	Media • Interactive visual tools		English		Africa • Americas • Asia • Europe • Oceania	How locusts and other insects have been demonized in the culture. The world is full of monsters, myths, and legends and Monstrum isn’t afraid to take a closer look.

Movies

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

In this example, locusts are being employed as a conceptual model to facilitate comprehension of the anomalous clustering behavior observed in the GORN species. Notably recognized through Captain Kirk's iconic one-on-one combat encounters in the original series, the GORN have been exhibiting an unusual propensity for group cohesion, a departure from their typical solitary tendencies. This phenomenon is hypothesized to be a response to environmental alterations, potentially triggering a transition towards a swarming phenotype within their population.

Jurassic World Dominion

Locusts were used as a way to explore the usual themes surrounding swarming and emergent phenomena and also with the paranoia about gene editing and sinister corporate manipulation trading public good for profit.

References

↑ Ries MW, Adriaansen C, Aldobai S, Berry K, Bal AB, Catenaccio MC, Cigliano MM, Cullen DA, Deveson T, Diongue A, Foquet B, Hadrich J, Hunter D, Johnson DL, Pablo Karnatz J, Lange CE, Lawton D, Lazar M, Latchininsky AV, Lecoq M, Le Gall M, Lockwood J, Manneh B, Overson R, Peterson BF, Piou C, Poot-Pech MA, Robinson BE, Rogers SM, Song H, Springate S, Therville C, Trumper E, Waters C, Woller DA, Youngblood JP, Zhang L, Cease A (2024) Global perspectives and transdisciplinary opportunities for locust and grasshopper pest management and research. Journal of Orthoptera Research 33(2): 169–216. doi:10.3897/jor.33.112803.

[Ries_et_al._2024-1] Ries MW, Adriaansen C, Aldobai S, Berry K, Bal AB, Catenaccio MC, Cigliano MM, Cullen DA, Deveson T, Diongue A, Foquet B, Hadrich J, Hunter D, Johnson DL, Pablo Karnatz J, Lange CE, Lawton D, Lazar M, Latchininsky AV, Lecoq M, Le Gall M, Lockwood J, Manneh B, Overson R, Peterson BF, Piou C, Poot-Pech MA, Robinson BE, Rogers SM, Song H, Springate S, Therville C, Trumper E, Waters C, Woller DA, Youngblood JP, Zhang L, Cease A (2024) Global perspectives and transdisciplinary opportunities for locust and grasshopper pest management and research. Journal of Orthoptera Research 33(2): 169–216. doi:10.3897/jor.33.112803.

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