Why the 2016 Presidential Election Doesn’t Remind Me of A Bug’s Life
With the Democratic National Convention set to kick off tonight on the heels of a contentious Republican convention, the 2016 presidential election is heating up. Indeed, the next 100 days are sure to be packed with twists and turns and highs and lows for both parties as their candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump take the gloves off and duke it out to see who will claim arguably the most important office in the world. As an avid political observer and movie lover, there are certain parallels one could reasonably draw between this election and films such as Citizen Kane, The Candidate, and others. One movie I’m really struggling to connect it to, however, is Pixar’s 1998 animated film A Bug’s Life.
Directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Dave Foley, Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and many others, A Bug’s Life tells a story loosely based on Aesop’s The Ant and the Grasshopper. In it, an ant named Flik finds himself up against a gang of grasshoppers led by Hopper who demand food from the ants every season. In his quest, Flik must band together with a diverse group of other bugs to defeat Hopper once and for all.
Now, a Clinton supporter might read this synopsis and conclude that Hopper is Trump. A Trump supporter might do the opposite. Having seen A Bug’s Life several times and having followed this election pretty closely, I’m here to tell you neither is true. Flik is an ant, Hopper is a grasshopper, and neither bear any real similarity or likeness to either presidential candidate. In fact, A Bug’s Life really has nothing to do with this election. Which makes sense, as it was released 18 years ago. One could watch a film like, say, The Manchurian Candidate and think “Oh, Trump is like the assassin but instead he’s been brainwashed by Putin and the Russians instead of China” or something. I guess. Or you could watch the George Clooney film The Ides of March and see some similarities there to the Clinton campaign. Maybe. But A Bug’s Life really doesn’t give you much to work with, unfortunately. It’s a fairly well done and entertaining children’s film, and little else. Randy Newman provides the soundtrack.
Here are some other movies the 2016 presidential campaign does not remind me of:
Die Hard
Maid in Manhattan
The Family Stone
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Balto
Jeepers Creepers
Once
The Ice Storm
Crimson Tide
I Know What You Did Last Summer
As Good As It Gets
Ghostbusters (any of them)
The Cider House Rules
Eight Mile
A Walk to Remember
Bring It On
The Iron Giant
The Conjuring
etc.
For anyone looking for an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half, I highly recommend A Bug’s Life. For anyone aspiring to gain greater insight into arguably the most important and tumultuous election of our lifetime, you’ll be better off reading the New York Times or watching cable news. There are many examples in history of a work of art connecting clearly to real life events. This is not one of them.
