Arachnophobia (film) helped produce it. Marshall meant for the film to be like Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", and added, "People like to be scared but laughing, like a roller coaster. No one wants to be terrified." The film also has similarities with the 1977 film "Kingdom of the Spiders". Producer Igo Kantor hinted in his "Fangoria" interview that "Arachnophobia", which Spielberg produced, bears several similarities to "Kingdom of the Spiders". "I thought it was a copy", Kantor stated, "but you don't go and sue Spielberg!" Jamie Hyneman, of "MythBusters" fame, stated in "Popular Mechanics" that "Arachnophobia" was one of the first movies
What Work Is Fame" and "Growth" are direct accounts of two of Levine's jobs as a young man. "Fear and Fame" is based on a job Levine had cleaning out and refilling acid vats in his mid twenties. "Growth" is about the job Levine held at a soap factory at the age of fourteen. Many of Levine's poems are based on his experience growing up in Detroit. The titular poem, "What Work Is", is based on Levine's experience of waiting in a Detroit employment line. "The Right Cross" is related to a boxing teacher who taught Levine to defend himself while growing up