Parasites in fiction
Context
In
Motifs
Nineteenth century novels
Parasitism featured repeatedly as a literary motif in the nineteenth century, though the mechanisms, biological or otherwise, are not always described in detail.
Science fiction
Parasites, represented as
The social anthropologist Marika Moisseeff argues that Hollywood science fiction favours insects as villain characters because of their parasitism and their swarming behaviour. Such films, she continues, depict the war of culture and nature as "an unending combat between humanity and insect-like extraterrestrial species that tend to parasitize human beings in order to reproduce."[4]
Range
The range of accounts of fictional parasites and the media used to describe them have greatly increased since the nineteenth century, spanning among other things literary novels, science fiction novels and films, horror films, and video games.[11][3][5][15] The table illustrates the variety of themes and approaches that have become possible.
Author | Work | Medium | Date | Parasite | Effect | Biological counterpart |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
David Cronenberg | Shivers | Science fiction body horror film | 1975 | Genetically engineered | Useful in sexually transmitted and aphrodisiac when modified by a deranged scientist |
Genetic engineering and its ethical implications[16] |
Metroid |
Video game | 1986 | X Parasite |
Deadly infection; confers useful energy and powers to vaccinated people | Pathogens such as bacteria, viruses; vaccines[15][17] | |
Hideaki Sena (pharmacologist) | Parasite Eve | horror novel |
1995 | Mitochondria cut free from mutualism in human cells | Deadly parasitism | |
Irvine Welsh | Filth | Novel | 1998 | Talking tapeworm | Sinister, comic; | intestinal parasites[22]
|
Fiction and reality
Kyle Munkittrick, on the
Types of parasite
Several types of parasite, corresponding more or less accurately to some of those known in biology, are found in literature.[25] These include haematophagic parasites (fictional vampires), parasitoids, behaviour-altering parasites, brood parasites, parasitic castrators, and trophically transmitted parasites, as detailed below.
Haematophagic parasite
In ancient times, myths of blood-drinking demons were widespread, including Lilith who feasted on the blood of babies.[26]
Fictional
Parasitoid
The
The molecular biologist Alex Sercel compares Xenomorph biology to that of parasitoid wasps and nematomorph worms, arguing that there is a close match.[30] Sercel notes that the way the Xenomorph grasps a human's face to implant its embryo is comparable to the way a parasitoid wasp lays its eggs in a living host. He compares the Xenomorph life cycle to that of the nematomorph Paragordius tricuspidatus, which grows to fill its host's body cavity before bursting out and killing it.[30]
The marine biologist Alistair Dove writes that there are multiple parallels between Xenomorphs and parasitoids, though there are in his view more disturbing life cycles in real biology.[32] He identifies parallels include the placing of an embryo in the host; its growth in the host; the resulting death of the host; and alternating generations, as in the Digenea (trematodes).[32]
Behaviour-altering parasite
Mind-controlling parasites feature in twentieth century science fiction. In
Brood parasite
Parasitic castrator
Parasitic castration is found in nature in greatly reduced parasites that feed on the gonads of their crab hosts, making use of the energy that would have gone into reproduction. It is seen in fiction in Philip Fracassi's 2017 horror novella Sacculina, named for a genus of barnacle-like crustaceans with this lifestyle.[38][39] It tells the tale of a chartered fishing boat, far from home, that is overrun by parasites from the deep.[40]
Trophically-transmitted parasite
The genetically engineered tapeworm in Mira Grant's novel Parasite, and the talking tapeworm in Irvine Welsh's novel Filth, are fictional versions of conventional intestinal parasites.[14][22] Tapeworms have complex life-cycles, often involving two or more hosts of different species, and are transmitted as the eggs are passed in faeces and eaten by another host, only for the host to be eaten, passing the parasite on to the predator.[41] The unattractive lifecycle allows the novelists to exploit their readers' emotional reactions to the parasites. The parasite in Welsh's novel has been described as a "kind of sinister but strangely comic element".[21]
See also
- Evolution in fiction
- Genetics in fiction
- Symbiosis in fiction
- Tuberculosis in culture
References
- ^ a b "Parasitism and Symbiosis". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. 10 January 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Guarino, Ben (19 May 2017). "Disgusting 'Alien' movie monster not as horrible as real things in nature". The Washington Post.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4766-0822-8.
- ^ a b Moisseeff, Marika (23 January 2014). "Aliens as an Invasive Reproductive Power in Science Fiction". HAL Archives-Ouvertes: 239.
- ^ a b Williams, Robyn; Field, Scott (27 September 1997). "Behaviour, Evolutionary Games and .... Aliens". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-691-12085-0.
- ISBN 978-0-87140-480-0.
Parasites, in a phrase, are predators that eat prey in units of less than one. Tolerable parasites are those that have evolved to ensure their own survival and reproduction but at the same time with minimum pain and cost to the host.
- ISBN 978-0-19-157934-9. Playfair is comparing the popular usage to a biologist's view of parasitism, which he calls (heading the same page) "an ancient and respectable view of life".
- ISBN 978-1-78243-857-1.
- ISBN 978-0-472-10760-5.
A satirist seeking to portray client misery naturally focuses on the relationship with the greatest dependency, that in which a client gets his food from his patron, and for this the prefabricated persona of the parasite proved itself extremely useful.
- ^ a b c Jajszczok, Justyna (2017). The Parasite and Parasitism in Victorian Science and Literature (PDF). University of Silesia (dissertation). Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4766-2271-2.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-32952-4.
- ^ National Public Radio. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-135-00651-8.
- ^ Tate, Karl (24 May 2012). "Invasion of the Alien Space Parasites". LiveScience. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- ^ Hughes, Rob (3 April 2014). "SA-Xcellent". IGN. Archived from the original on August 17, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
- S2CID 2385111.
- PMID 10076021.
- ^ Lynch, Lisa (5 September 2001). "Tech Flesh 4: Mitochodrial Combustion at Club Parasite | An Interview With Hideaki Sena". Ctheory journal. p. tf011. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- ^ a b Ford, Matt (11 September 2013). "Irvine Welsh: The 'unfilmable' Filth finally makes it to the big screen". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-25. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7011-8180-2.
- ^ Munkittrick, Kyle (12 July 2011). "The Only Sci-Fi Explanation of Hominid Aliens that Makes Scientific Sense". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- ^ Pappalardo, Joe (31 December 2013). "The 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies—As Chosen By Scientists". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- ^ a b c d Pappas, Stephanie (29 May 2012). "5 Alien Parasites and Their Real-World Counterparts". LiveScience.
- ISBN 978-3-85630-522-2.
- ISBN 978-1-4766-1654-4.
- ^ Budanovic, Nikola (10 March 2018). "An explanation emerges for how the 12th century Paisley Abbey in Scotland could feature a gargoyle out of the film "Alien"". The Vintage News. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- British Broadcasting Corporation. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ^ a b c Sercel, Alex (19 May 2017). "Parasitism in the Alien Movies". Signal to Noise Magazine.
- ^ "The Making of Alien's Chestburster Scene". The Guardian. 13 October 2009. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
- ^ a b Dove, Alistair (9 May 2011). "This is clearly an important species we're dealing with". Deep Sea News.
- ^ )
- ^ Adams, Stephen (4 January 2009). "Cuckoo chicks dupe foster parents from the moment they hatch". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ^ Fromme, Alison (January 2018). "This Baby Bird Is a Mother's Nightmare". National Geographic. Archived from the original on January 11, 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ^ Beshero-Bondar, Elisha (2 November 2017). "Science Fiction and Lilith's Brood". Slideshare.net. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
- Foundation – The International Review of Science Fiction. 72 (Spring 1998): 49–57.
- PMID 19800291.
- ISBN 978-0-691-12084-3.
- ^ "Sacculina by Philip Fracassi: A Gehenna Post Review". Gehenna and Hinnom Publishers. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
- ^ "Parasites – Taeniasis". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2018.