August 29, 2008
Movies to drive you a little buggy
Pickings are slim for cicada fans who want to see them in starring roles
For a little bug that becomes a national obsession every 17 years, the cicada hasn't left much of an impression on America's movie screens.
That's assuredly strange, given Hollywood's predilection for jumping on any trend that comes within earshot and milking it for every dollar possible. There've been movies about the Lambada, Halley's Comet, valley girls, Jim Jones, roller boogie, ninja turtles, The Gong Show and Martha Stewart.
But those bizarre insects who show up seriously en masse every 17 years; who cause the squeamish to squeam even more than usual at the thought of squishing a handful of them with every step; who force educated people to cower in fear as though the sky itself were falling, moving their spring cookouts indoors and warning their children to stay inside ...
About those bugs, the movies have said practically nothing.
Outside Hollywood, cicadas have shown up a few times. Turkish television broadcast a film called The Cicada (Agustor bocegi, for those who speak Turkish) about 30 years ago, and South Korean theaters in 1985 showed a movie called A Cicada Sings in the City (Dosh ieseo uneun maemi), which is exactly what millions of the little buggers will be doing over the next few weeks.
But on American movie screens, hardly anything. Unless you count the occasional screen appearances by singer John Secada, whose name at least sounds like he could be an insect.
And so, cinephiles who mark every cultural milestone by selecting an appropriate movie to watch - people, say, who view Chariots of Fire whenever the Olympics are about to start or rent Jesus Christ Superstar every Easter - may find themselves seriously out of luck when those insects with the beady little eyes start descending from the trees. Unless, that is, they're willing to be a little creative, to stretch their criteria for an appropriate movie to include horrific bugs of any kind. As everyone knows, the movies have been bugging people for years. Herewith, a few examples:
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