Review of A Bug's Life (1998) by Haley K — 02 Mar 2014

I personally thought "A Bug's Life" was a great movie. While studying Imperialism and Subjugation in History class, I really connected the movie with Imperialism while watching. Pertaining to subjugation: There are grasshoppers, and ants, along with other bugs. The grasshoppers are in control of ants. They are the bosses of the ants, and the ants are scared of them. The ants are the "citizens" whom the grasshoppers control. The ants job is to collect food for the grasshoppers before rainy season.

Looking at minority ranks, the grasshoppers are less in numbers, but are not the minority group. Their social standing is higher than the ants and they have more control over the ants than the ants have over the grasshoppers. The grasshoppers are the upper, non working class. The ants however, are the largest in numbers, but are the minority. The ants listen to whatever the upper class (grasshoppers) say. The ants are the lower class. They spend all their time, with the exception that the queen and princess are more of a middle class- they direct the other ants. However the queen and princess (middle class) are still under the harsh control of the grasshoppers. The grasshoppers expect the queen and princess to take the blame for the other ants mistakes (when gathering food).

Each of the social groups have different roles: The grasshoppers are there to utilize the under classes labor to collect food for their needs. The grasshoppers just want their food before rainy season. Grasshoppers can be compared to the corporate bosses of a large factory in a business. In respect of the ants, the queen and princess ants can be compared to the bosses or managers of the factory itself in a business. The ants are the low class workers that just work and work and don't get rewarded enough for how much work they put in. The ants' job is to work and get food for the upper class (grasshoppers). Some ants like Flik, even try to make inventions to better the process of the food collecting.

When it comes to process of correcting the injustices, the grasshoppers threaten the ants when they do not collect the food they were supposed to. The grasshoppers tell the ants that if they don't get their food by rainy season, the ants will be in harms way. The grasshoppers only original evident enemies are the birds. When the ants fail at their job to collect the food for the grasshoppers, they are told they have to collect more in a short period of time. The ants however do not know what to do, because they have to begin collecting double the food, because they need food for themselves before rainy season. So, Flik is sent to the city to consult other bugs about coming to help the ants figure out a plan to defeat the grasshoppers. Flik persuades the other bugs to the ant hill. Once there, it is discussed that the lower class ants and bugs will fight the grasshoppers in order to defeat them, so they do not have to give the grasshoppers even more food. However, the idea is eventually shot down and a new idea is brought up. The new plan is to make a bird that can be controlled from the inside. The bird is supposed to scare away the grasshoppers. The man made mechanical bird sore of acts a a "war horse.".

In the end, the grasshoppers figure out that the ants made a FAKE bird. The ants and grasshoppers then fight for a while, then come across a REAL bird. The main/president grasshopper thinks it is another fake bird. So the grasshopper tries to play it off before realizing the bird is actually real this time. The bird then captures the main grasshopper, and feeds it to the baby birds. The ants then become successful in defeat of the grasshoppers. The ants then gain more freedom and hope.

Overall it is a great movie, with a deeper meaning pertaining to how society really was during Imperialism.