OUGD405 Studio Brief02 Metamorphosis Analysis

In an effort to pin down why people fear insects I looked into the use of insect anatomy in the design of aliens. In a similar vein of research I read the book Metamorphosis by Frank Kafka. It details the transformation of a normal everyday man into 'monstrous vermin' (direct translation). One of the best known versions of this story is the film the fly, where a man transforms into a fly. 

The strange thing is that at no point in the book is the word fly or insect used (in dirt translation that is), it seems that when anyone thinks of a new monster they think of a large insect. This really says something for the transferal of the fear of insects. Perhaps it has been around for so long that they embody a fear of something unknown and it is this fear that is learned from past generations, not an instinct. 

Could this fear also come from feelings of disgust rather than threat, or even a combination of the two? We are digested by them because they are strange and different and we dislike the fact that we are linked to them in our evolutionary history, therefore we seek to separate ourselves from them, because they embody all the dirty disgusting animalistic things we dislike about ourselves as a race. (this is seen in the way that a human transforms into a supposed insect).

There is also a weakness though. At a certain stage his father throws apples at what was once his son and it lodges in his back paralysing him, this is not something that suggests a strength or even the slightest threat. The most poignant moment in the book is at the end once Gregor has died and his family are openly talking about how he was a burden and they are better off without him. This turns the tables at the last moment bring the question of who the true monsters are to the readers mind, if they cannot feel sympathy for a helpless creature? This clearly highlights my point about how we might dislike insects because they bring out the worst in us.