Theories of Sociology: A Bug's Life

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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.
In order to understand the entirety of a society, we must first understand each part and how it contributes to the stability of the society. According to the functionalist theory, different parts of society are organized to fill discrete needs of each part, which consequently determines the form and shape of society. (Crossman). All of the individual parts of society depend on one another. This is exhibited in “A Bug’s Life” through the distinct roles the ants and grasshoppers play in their own society. The two species are stratified in such a way that they each contribute to the order and productivity of the community. In the movie, the head grasshopper states that “the sun grows the food, the ants pick the food, and the grasshoppers eat the food” (A Bug’s Life). This emphasizes social stability and reliance on one another’s roles. The grasshoppers rely on the ants for food, while the ants rely on the grasshoppers for protection. This effective role allocation and performance is what ensures that together, the ants and grasshoppers form a functioning society to guarantee their survival.
Although different parts interact to form a functioning society, functionalists ...

... middle of paper ...

... between the classes becomes more apparent, eventually, a social revolution is anticipated. Eventually this revolution would result in socialism, where there is no dominating class; rather, socialism consists of cooperative production. In “A Bug’s Life”, the ants begin to be skeptical of the system and start to plan a revolt. Together, the ants, which are symbolic of the proletariats, band together to overthrow the grasshoppers’ dominion. In the end, they all live as equals, which is representative of socialism. This self-emancipation of the working class is consistent with the ideology of Marxism and social movements that struggle to overcome domination and exploitation.

Works Cited

http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociological-Theory/a/Functionalist-Theory.htm

http://www.edu.learnsoc.org/Chapters/3%20theories%20of%20sociology/16%20structural%20functionalism.htm

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