Structural Functionalism In The Disney Film : A Bug's Life

Structural Functionalism aims to understand society in an objective way. It views society as an entity that is “objectively real”. It emphasizes the unity of society, and how individuals perform roles and how these roles are vital in meeting the needs of the collective whole. For instance, because every society has stratification, stratification must have certain functions and these functions can contribute to the survival of the social system as a whole. Furthermore, structural

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.

Structural functionalism is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. Essentially, structural functionalism is how every part of society fits and works together to keep everyone involved, united and to support the process of moving our nation forward. The colony that Flik lives in and that encounters an issue is its own small part of the world that follows structural functionalism; however, when Flik ventures off into the bug world to find warrior bugs it is easy to see ways that structural functionalism works outside of the colony. In the ant colony, the audience can see structural functionalism because each ant has a job that they do to ensure the success of the colony. The ants collect food together and follow orders from people who are higher in position like Princess Atta or The Queen. Through following orders and working together, the colony is able to find a balance and accept what they must do to become successful in fulfilling the needs of not only themselves but also the demanding grass hoppers.

The Functionalist theory emphasizes the contributions (functions) that all parts of society (e.g., social institutions) make within society. This theory has contributed to sociology by providing a view “which emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain stability.” (Schafer 2013, pg13)

Disney films over their course of existence have hidden double meanings in many of the films they produce. Rather if you are a child or a full pledged adult, people from all different ages can receive a bit of advice when it comes to what Disney films try to convey in their motion pictures. Disney is also to be known for some of their unforgettable whimsical characters and memorable songs in every film. The film released in 2009 “The Princess and The Frog” is no different. Especially when it comes to Mama’s Odie’s musical number half way through the film. Mama’s Odie’s song, “Dig a Little Deeper” is full of metaphors, themes and imagery one can deeply analyze.

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

Moreover, Societies are held together by both consensus with values and coercion. The functionalist view is that the balance of harmony among the society is held up by societal institutions. For example, schools, church and family are seen as the most significant foundation for an adequately functional society.

As the movie begins, a structural functionalist would identify the social institutions involved. One of the first institutions introduced is family. The spouse of Chris Gardner is not satisfied with the amount of income coming he is earning. It is clear that the institution of family is not meeting the needs of happiness and financial stability because of the low income. The institution of family interrelates with many others, such as the education institution and especially economic institution.

Before we get into the analysis, let’s take a moment to define the sociological theory that is so prominent in this film. Structural Functionalism is the functions that society is given, to function as a whole. In order for society to work, we need people to be leaders, protectors, farmers etc. to have all jobs in society to be covered. Viewed from a macro sociological perspective, these smaller functions work to goal of a greater whole. If we did not have garbage men, we would not have anywhere to put our waste at the end of the week. If we didn’t have companies that put

In the movie “Breakfast Club” five high school students are punished with an 8 hour Saturday detention. In the beginning, they introduce each of the characters as the criminal, the athlete, the princess, the brain, and the basket case. All five students are from different groups of social status and think they all have nothing in common, but soon realize they have more things in common than expected. This movie can be seen through Structure-Functionalism, one out of three core theories. Structural functionalism view society as a system of co-dependent part that work together to ensure survival, meaning each structure has a certain function or purpose to be in society.

Structural Functionalism is defined as, “a society which is a whole unit made up of interrelated parts that work together” and “ its society as a living organism/ machine that has multiple organs and parts and people to fulfill their individual functions; working together to make it happen ” (Henslin 2015, Smith 2017).

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

Functionalism looks at society in aspects of how it contributes to the steadiness/cohesion of the whole society (Anderson, Taylor, & Logio, P. 18). There are many institutions that are looked at that include the economic system, government, education, religion, health care, and family. All of which have different roles and perform different functions to ensure that society operates in a well-ordered manner. An example of this would be how family reproduces, takes care of children, exposes children to culture and heritage, supports other family members, and shares life experiences. Shared values and social stability are keys to this perspective. When this system breaks down it is because people’s needs are not being covered and shared values are deteriorating. When this occurs, it affects all parts of functionalism and the society must achieve

Each ant and has specific task, which it completes repeatedly. The absolute power exerted by the leader destroys all individualism, leaving the ants with no creativity. Instead, they use trail and error to complete tasks that should take only a small amount of thought. Wart sees this occur when an ant tries with difficulty to organize three cadavers in a small burial chamber, when a small amount of reasoning would of solved the problem quickly. The ants are of a collective mind, so that what one thinks, they all think. They go about their daily lives oblivious to the control the leader has over them.

In the film Zootopia we see right off the back how a society is shown it may look happy on the outside but picture can be misleading. Although race plays a big part in the movie what I didn’t notice before reading Sir Thomas Moore’s Utopia was that it was much more than that. It was about the society and how people views never really change. Even though the predators and prey lived in peace for many year the prey still felt some way about the predators. Zootopia was very large but the people there had hidden resentment toward each other. This goes with the first quotes “They are generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms, right or wrong than on governing well those possess”. Zootopia full of tall beautiful building but the people there were still unhappy.