ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the variety of ways in which humans enjoy or revile insects in their cultural expressions. Insects have provided a variety of religious, artistic, recreational and other cultural icons. Insects have been used as religious symbols for millennia. Humans have used insects to forecast weather or future events for millennia, although most of this prediction has been based on superstition. Insects are depicted in a variety of art media. A variety of insects and spiders have been featured in literature and cinema around the world. Insect Film Festivals in many areas have helped to maintain the popularity of films featuring insects. An evil corporation has secretly bred mutant cockroaches that are immune to normal insect repellants and can assume the form of any animal they kill, including humans. An inventor’s machine accidentally shrinks his teenaged daughter and son and two other neighborhood teens to the size of insects.
