A Bug 's Life, Sociology, Race, Social Stratification, Relationships

The movie “A Bug’s Life” shares the story of a colony of ants that are trapped in a vicious cycle of gathering food for the powerful grasshoppers year after year. The ants become wary of collecting food and soon realize a revolution is needed to free themselves from the grip of the grasshoppers. Throughout “A Bug’s Life”, a critical analysis of character interaction contributes to a greater understanding of the functionalist theory, conflict theory, and Marxism and how these sociological principles create a competitive society and inevitably lead to societal change.

Sociologists concern themselves with social relations among individuals and groups within a particular society (Luton, 2015), so a sociologist would find this movie interesting because when analyzed through a sociological point of view it provides various examples of socialization,

The 1998 film, Pleasantville, written, produced, and directed by Gary Ross is a “swell” example of the three perspectives of sociology. Two 1990 teenagers get trapped in the blue-sky world of a 1950’s sitcom. While spending time with the people in the small town of Pleasantville, the teens begin to drastically change the the bland ways of the townspeople and alter their world completely. Throughout these events, viewers can find examples of the functionalist perspective, interactionist perspective, and conflict perspective.

The movie has good representations of the collectivism point of view like what ants always talked about the betterment for their colony rather than for individuals. In the movie, equal chances

The ant colony, which is the movie’s source of struggle and triumph, represents a typical old traditional economy. The ants relied on the fruits of their own labor. In other words, they are farmers like the other third-world countries in our today’s world. However, the time came when they no longer farm for themselves anymore. Since the beginning of the movie, the ants had to spend all of their time grazing for the grasshoppers. This is a classical depiction of a powerful nation

This movie is a great example of social groups, leadership, culture, norms, society, nature and nurture, and social lives. This movie represents how the American culture chooses our social class in society. Some sociologists believed that lifestyle choices are an important influence on our social class position (Giddens, 209). Our class position is the way we dress, where we eat, where we sleep, and how we relax (Giddens,

Using the language of the moving image, which includes cinematography, editing, sound, music and mise-en-scene, this essay will investigate the ideology of Racism in film. OxfordDictionaries.com describes racism as “Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.” When we, the audience think of racism in film, we traditionally think of movies for adults and often overlook the sinister aspect of racism in children’s films. I have chosen to contrast a recent R-rated film with a G-rated Disney movie from the 1990s. Disney films, even up until the 1990s have persistently reinforced the image of blacks or latino and asian races as being below whites. The

This essay will critically discuss the Bee Movie and explore the relationships between the Bees and Humans in the film linking them to Marx’s theory of class. Karl Marx (1818-1883) was the founder of Marxism, he is one of the few sociological leaders to see their theory carried out within their lifetime. Marx believed that society was built on conflict between two groups, ‘Most societies are based upon exploitation of some groups by others. Those who own the means of production (such as land, factories, raw materials or capital) exploit those who work for them, and who lack the means to produce things themselves’ (Langley, 2004). This is seen as a capitalist society. Marx’s theory of class is present throughout the Bee Movie. Marx stated that

Though there may be little to no exposure to these ideas in the classroom, students will encounter them as they consume mass entertainment media. Social class disparity has long been a reoccurring theme in film. Adolescents and young adults

In a land far far away there were two anthills. Only two in the land. The anthills were not aware of their existence. In one anthill brimming with collected resources and a fair queen lived the Opie ants. In the other there were corrupted a corrupted queen who made the ants work until their death to satisfy her. Those were the Totie ants. Some of the Totie ants were good and hardworking but some turned evil just like the queen. The Totie ants and the Opie ants had the same anthills but different leader. The Opies had an abundance of food; whereas the Totie ants were starving because the queen only looked after her own well-being and ate all the food. The Totie ants were miserable with their leaders and eventually there

Sociologists use many different theoretical perspectives to study the behavior of people in society. According to Macionis, sociology uses both a micro-level and macro-levels to look at both the big picture and the smallest details (p.17). There are three major analytical models in sociology that include functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. Both functionalism and conflict theory are macro-level and symbolic interaction is micro-level (Macionis, P.19). Each one looks at society in a different way and can in this paper I will analyze the movie “The Breakfast Club” using these perspectives.

The disney film, A Bug’s Life, is a story of an outcast who must rise up as the hero to fix his mistakes in order to ensure the good of the other ants in his colony. His colony is in danger of starving due to unfair demands, and oppression brought upon them by grasshopper bugs who serve as antagonist to the story, and tyrants over the ants. Flik must leave the safety of ant island to seek bigger bugs to save the colony. Flik is only one ant, in a societal structure that changes due to revolution and resistance, and a change of mind.

There is much to be discovered about race, whether it be through genetics, sociology, biology or history, there is a lot to be understood and recognize how it is structurally embedded in our institutions. In the article “Race- Stalking The Wild Taboo” written by Richard Spencer, there are very interesting points that are made in regards to his belief that Race is genetic and all around biology which, in turn, leads to social inequality. Spencer claims that because of evolution and genetics, social inequality is no one’s fault but their own because of low SAT and IQ scores compared to others but ignores that those results come from a long line of institutional racism from schooling and neighborhoods.

On the surface, Zootopia might appear like a fun, silly Disney movie, but the film actually touches on powerful messages about stereotypes, prejudices, and power in today’s society, especially regarding racial relationships. Zootopia is a film about a world where prey and predators live together in supposed harmony. Judy Hopps, a bunny aspiring to become a police officer, faces resistance from other animals. Similarly, Nick Wilde, a con artist fox, faces social stereotypes that harm his self-image. These two characters work together to solve a missing mammal case, and end up discovering a darker secret: the mayor’s assistant, Bellwether, hatched a plot to turn predators into savages so that prey would finally get recognition in government. The prey, however, are the majority, making up ninety percent of Zootopia’s population, and the predators are the minority, making up ten percent of the population. (Zootopia) Throughout the movie, the viewers are exposed to the stereotypes and discrimination that the prey impose on the predators. Ultimately, this film is a message about the relationships between the dominant and minority groups. Through this prey-predator relationship, Zootopia reveals how the power of language and the dominant narrative results in both harmful stereotypes and unconscious biases.

Comparable to some degree with the struggle of the early civilizations (i.e. Greek and Roman slavery) to break out their condition of being slaves, the classic animated movie "A Bug 's Life" depicted in a similar way, but in different causes to bring the system down. In the mentioned movie, various societal form and structures of interest are exposed in this paper.