kingofthething Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 The new movie "The Ant Bully" seems to me (based on trailers) to be about a young boy who some how becomes ant-sized and learns the value of collectivism. The queen says something like "Everything we do is by and through the colony." This seems to be a big change from the message of "Antz", which I am pretty sure is by the same company. I am pretty sure that in that movie the main character, played by Woody Allen, is a disgruntled worker ant who is sick of his position and wants to become a soldier so he can win over the princess who is sick of her situation too. It seems like a pretty big change to go from a movie about individuality to selfless sacrifice. If anyone has seen this new movie I would love to know if I am right about my assumption about collectivist themes. Oh and if anyone else has noticed collectivists undercurrents in the media I'm sure we would love to have them out in the open.....even if it's just on this board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaszloWalrus Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 I haven't seen the movie, but Objectivist movie review Scott Holleran (with whom I usually agree) has written a review, saying essentially the same things you are: http://boxofficemojo.com/reviews/?id=2121&p=.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwertz Posted July 29, 2006 Report Share Posted July 29, 2006 The Ant Bully comes from Warner's, I think from their in-house CGI team. Antz was DreamWorks, and A Bug's Life (my favorite) was Pixar. Warner's CGI team did The Polar Express (yuck) and have another upcoming computer animation heavy feature adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, which is rumored to be being developed as a hybrid, as opposed to a full CGI feature. DreamWorks brought us Shrek and Shark Tale, among others (take that for what it's worth), but Pixar has been consistently decent, though I haven't seen their latest, Cars. Other players in CGI animation include Disney's in-house animators, who have been putting out really bad movies for some years now, and Blue Sky, who did Robots and Ice Age; I wasn't terribly fond of either. Columbia (Sony) is debuting in the genre now with Monster House, which looks unimpressive, and in September with Open Season a movie about nature fighting back against Man's encroachment and which I've been concerned about since the first teasers came out almost a year ago. Robots was the most recent example in the genre which I remember being very collectivist and anti-business. If you think about it long enough, it also becomes a plug for socialized medicine. -Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted July 30, 2006 Report Share Posted July 30, 2006 This seems to be a big change from the message of "Antz", which I am pretty sure is by the same company. I am pretty sure that in that movie the main character, played by Woody Allen, is a disgruntled worker ant who is sick of his position and wants to become a soldier so he can win over the princess who is sick of her situation too. It seems like a pretty big change to go from a movie about individuality to selfless sacrifice. Oh, I loved Antz. (spoiler ahead) There was this part when he is told: "Get back to work!" and he just asks: "Why?" and the soldier gives him a startled look, says: "Uhm, I'll be back" and runs away to find out. That was really funny. Also taking Woody Allen for his voice was pure genius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofthething Posted July 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2006 Thanks for the information, very interesting. Yeah, I had to see Robots...long story. I hated almost all of it, and it was't just the message. It just wasn't a good movie. Where was the socialized medicine? I really wasn't paying too much attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwertz Posted August 1, 2006 Report Share Posted August 1, 2006 The anti-capitalist theme is obvious, but if you consider that the products involved are actually parts which the characters need in order to live, and you factor in Roddy's desire to make those parts and repairs available to everyone at little to no cost, it becomes a pretty powerful metaphor for socialized medicine. I thought the overall political message of the film was that medicine and commerce should not mix. The filmmakers intentionally made their characters robots, which emphasizes the idea of medical care (repairs, in this case) as a commodity. I believe this message was deliberate and conscious. Robots came from Blue Sky, who also did Ice Age, which, as I recall (I haven't seen it in a while) had some collectivist tendencies, too. -Q Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.