A Bugs Life Related to Marxism

A BUGS LIFE Marxism is the theory of Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels, it’s based on the economical and social system. Marxism emphasizes on the importance of class struggle in society. They thought that economic processes and class struggles laid the groundwork for every important era and movement in history, and would lead to the downfall of the upper class and the rise of an egalitarian communist society. Under capitalism, the working class or “the people,” own only their capacity to work; they have the ability only to sell their own labor. According to Marx a class is defined by the relations of its members to the means of production. The worker is alienated because he has no control over the labor or product which he produces. The capitalists sell the products produced by the workers at a proportional value as related to the labor involved. Surplus value is the difference between what the worker is paid and the price for which the product is sold. This Marxism concept falls into place with the movie A Bugs life. A colony of ants is threatened by a gang of grass hoppers. Flik, a common ant in the colony recruits a band of circus insects to help him defend his colony from the grasshoppers once and for all. The movie is based off of Marxism throughout the entire movie. For example, when the ants in the colony have to work all spring and summer to collect food for the grasshoppers and themselves which is double work, so the grasshoppers can have food for the winter. The ants get no pay or no appreciation for working so hard collecting food for the grasshoppers. When the grasshoppers return and see that the ants have not gotten enough food for them to last the whole winter they are upset especially the leader. This shows Marxism because the ants are the “working people” also known as the communist that doesn’t get paid for their hard work. The grasshoppers are the capitalist that takes the food and doesn’t pay the ants anything even though they still