Analysis of "A Bug's Life" for my Economics class

[Leftsolidarity]

Idk if this is in the correct forum but whatever.


My economics teacher had us watch the movie "A Bug's Life" and write a short extra-credit paper on how it resembles a command economy or how it doesn't resemble a market economy. He singled me out and said he really wants to read mine and hear what I have to say about it since he knows I'm a Marxist and has spent entire class hours just discussing with me about things like sweatshops.


I said it resembled a feudal society. What do you think about what I wrote? Btw, it's not supposed to be some long thing. Just a short paragraph so I tried to keep my explanations brief.






“A Bug's Life” closely resembles a feudal society. The ants are like serfs which are tied to the land to produce for their Lords, which in this case would be the grasshoppers. The ants are not paid for their labor and after they produce enough for their Lord they produce enough to fed themselves. Just like in feudal society, the grasshoppers (Lords) provide “protection” for the ants (serfs) from other Lords and potential aggressors, saying their oppression/exploitation is better than other potential oppressors/exploiters. Also, little to no surplus is created so there is no market. We can see that at the end of the movie the ants start producing surplus from new technology, which if we look at as if it was what happen in human society it would be similar to the industrial revolution. From this we can go on to assume (if you're thinking way too far into this like I am right now) that the ants could be transitioning out of the feudal stage and into a capitalist society. So if one was to look at “A Bug's Life” from a Marxist perspective it would resemble a feudal society.

[Ocean Seal]

How I wish I could have had this assignment.

[Psy]

You are right that no surplus exists but there is a market it is just that the market is fixed in place by the land lords (grasshoppers) through high rent that prevents any surplus value to develop the productive processes in the economy.

[Rafiq]

Why don't you explain how it was propaganda by a shit company like Disney from the start and that it doesn't resemble anything close to the reality of any sort of civilization. I notice now schools are using movies and fiction to defend their points (JACK SPARROW WAS EVIL THEREFORE ALL HUMANS ARE).

Fucking. Pathetic.

[RedGrunt]

I also thought it was feudalistic, especially since Flint(?) developed technology that aided in production.. >.< My friend thought it was an attack on the USSR however due to the "quotas".

[El Chuncho]

Should be studying 'Antz' instead. :D

[Leftsolidarity]

I also thought it was feudalistic, especially since Flint(?) developed technology that aided in production.. >.< My friend thought it was an attack on the USSR however due to the "quotas".

I think it was an attempted attack on the USSR and socialism in general. My teacher also used it as another opportunity to try to smear socialism and "command economy". They just failed and more accurately displayed a feudal society in my view.

[Pretty Flaco]

It's actually very important to understand the pixar analysis when discussing economics. I'm surprised all schools aren't analyzing the significance of bug's life and finding nemo, which are both considered paramount to modern economic thought.

[RedGrunt]

If it was indeed an attack on the USSR, which is believable, then I would say they were attempting to portray them as similar to feudal lords.

[Lowtech]

in the light that "a bugs life" is being compared to the USSR, one can take it further and point out that "a bugs life" is also comparable to the modern capitalist company/corporation/business. Which are controlled by a totalitarian government (management/corporate executives) with planned internal economies (resource management, workers use no more resources than needed to do their job, uniform wages)

[Firebrand]

I always thought the grasshoppers were like capitalists, but thinking about it it does seem to more closely resemble a feudal economy, still a cool film though.

[MotherCossack]

--QUOTE--
someone makes a main-stream animated movie, to wide acclaim and popular success...
And nobody notices the parallels.
If it was little creepy crawlies getting ripped off ,all their miserable lives... by the big mean bugs....
If the cute little creepy-crawlies numbered many many more, than the big fat bugs, but did not realise that there is strength in numbers, so spent their lives working like slaves, for the profit of ..... Yes, you guessed it... the fatty bugs.
if the fat bugs knew they were in the huge minority... and went out of their way to keep the many, many little creepy crawlies in miserable, Hungary servitude, paying them just enough and taking measures`to ensure that the little workers never became aware of their potential
Strength or power.

If all that was in a kid's movie everyone would go ahhhh! Poor little creepy crawlies.... Mean ,nasty big bugs.... ahh ... thats a good story. Thats a nice film.... Shall we go home ... and forget all about it?
--QUOTE--
MOTHER COSSACK

posted this on a different thread a few days ago. [it was on opposing ideologies, 'capitalism is bad' i think]
point is i was refering to 'a bug's life.'
just thought you might find it interesting.
i think the plot is monumentally significant and resonates profoundly with our own
social construct.