MANALO, Jazzel Llaneli E.
September 25, 2010
4CA5
Film Theory
Ideological Analysis on Antz
Marxism is a system wherein a social being is defined by his economic status. This status can be acquired through one’s family’s social background and the condition of the society or historical moment. The economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism (wordnetweb.princeton.edu). A superstructure dictates to a person his or her role in a society and the sets of needs. There are the bourgeoisie or the elitists, capitalists, and autocrats, peti-bourgeoisie or the middle class citizens, and the proletariats or the working class. Oppression, alienation, exploitation, or class struggle may occur in this set up. There are certain modes of production related to the concept of Marxism and which progresses in due time. The first one is pre-capitalistic or communalism, slavery or serf versus master, feudalism or landlord versus tenants, capitalism or capitalist versus workers, socialism, and communism. Apparently, majority of the modes of production involve exploitation as a mode of relationship. It merely states that there is always an ideology dictated to a society. The film to be discussed in this paper goes with the title Antz. It is a film about Z-4195, a worker ant who feels insignificant and ordinary in their colony. Z is sick and tired of the system they have and he is not happy with his destiny and label as a 1
worker. At the higher end of the social scale, there’s Princess Bala, a royalty next in line to be the queen of the colony. She is not happy with the social class she has as well. She is the type of ant who wants to enjoy life and have fun rather than ruling a huge number of subordinate ants. In a bar, the two ants accidentally met. Z instantly fell in love with the princess. Princess Bala was destined to marry the general and continue to become the queen of the colony because someone has to continue the power and authority her mother holds as of the moment. Z knows he doesn’t stand a chance with the princess of the colony, but he still pursues to see the princess after their first meeting. He is willing to do anything even up to switching places with his soldier friend, Weaver. With his impersonation as a soldier, he was forced to join the other chosen soldiers to a mission to fight the termites. He, then, experiences what it is to be like a soldier. After the mission, Z was hailed as hero. Unconsciously, Z tried to bridge the gap between being a worker and being a soldier. General Mandible had plans of changing the structure of the whole colony by dividing the ant society into two, soldiers and workers and will eventually eliminate the workers plus the queen. From Insectopia, Z and Princess Bala returned home to stop Mandible and his evil plans. In this film, the queen of the colony stated this, “E veryone has their place: royalty, soldiers, and the workers. ” The structure the colony was following in the film is almost the same as the idea of Marxism. Antz seems to be indirectly patterned after the Marxist way. A class struggle is evident in this film through the relationship of the capitalist, General Mandible and the royalty, and the labourers or the ant workers. There has been strong exploitation and oppression through the labelling of
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the larvae as worker or soldier. The ants, acting like people, weren’t given any freedom in choosing what they want in their lives. The worker ants, particularly Z, experienced reducing their lives to an object that is bound to be manipulated (MacLean, 1998). A superstructure is also present in the system presented in Antz. The military or General Mandible dictates the ideology or the set of needs of the colony. The ant hill seems to be also under capitalism. Though the ant hill is made and meant for the ants themselves, there seems to be a monopoly of power not by the royalty this time but by the military. Because of the oppression that the workers feel and when Z was hailed as the sole survivor of the termite war, the ant workers came to think that they are capable of doing better than digging every single day. Their realization came to an abrupt end when General Mandible contradicted their recent belief. This shows that General Mandible is really manipulating and exploiting the whole ant colony. All ants, whether workers or soldiers, live up to the orders of Mandible. This is a sign of Marxism; coercing the people to follow a certain ideology. Only Z tried to use his brain and free will and wanted to make a difference in his worker life. This is manifested through the opening or introduction of the film when Z was complaining of the kind of life he has; that it is very difficult to be the middle child among 5 million siblings. Marx defined his communist ideal as a classless society (Ghandchi, 2003). In the Communist Manifesto, the utopian socialists are accused of ignoring class conflict and aiming for the liberation of all instead of supporting the fight of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie (Zacharias, 1985). Each and every ant dreams to live in Insectopia; their own version of Utopia, the ideal city. This is a place where
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food paves the streets and where there are no dictators and anyone can live freely. Z was able to visit this place with Bala and when they were there, they lived freely. The film also tackled a topic about individualism. Coming from General Mandible himself, individualism makes you vulnerable. This is what he told Weaver when he decided for himself that he can change places with Z. In an online article, it was claimed that Marx asserted that individual self-realization was the standard against which social relations should be judged (science.jrank,org). Individualism is almost synonymous to independence; using your own free will. This may bring a person into good or bad, depending on how he will exercise his autonomy. In Weaver’s case, his individualism put him in hot water for a moment but it contributed to the liberation of the colony from Mandible. In Mandible’s individualism, he fell into
his own trap. Because of his constant dictatorship and selfish desires, he lost his own battle in the end when his soldiers had their own individual self-realization. Antz is a film made for kids but with a deeper meaning. If taken into consideration, it can be a useful guide into handling a good number of people and analyzing what your leadership style is. It may entail that capitalism is not beneficial for a society but if a leader is better than how Mandible uses his powers, capitalism may not be bad after all. The system may evolve into a higher level in the mode of production; a level where exploitation is not necessary. Dictating the set of needs of a society is inevitable. But the people should never be exploited to false consciousness.
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References:
Ghandchi, Sam. (2003). Marxist Thought and Monism. Marxist Utopia. Retrieved from http://www.ghandchi.com/299-MarxismEng.htm as of September 22, 2010. Lenin, Vladimir. (1917). The State and the Revolution. The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State. Retrieved from http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm#s3 as of September 21, 2010. MacLean, Davie. (1998). The Influence of Hegel on Western Marxism. Retrieved from http://www.cddc.vt.edu/marxists//reference/archive/hegel/txt/western.htm as of September 21, 2010. Wordnetweb.princeton.edu. (2010). Definition of Marxism. Retrieved from http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=marxism as of September 20, 2010. Zacharias, C. (1985). Utopia and Marxism. Retrieved from http://www.ruthlesscriticism.com/utopia.htm as of September 22, 2010.
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