The film "A Bug's Life" shares the story of a colony of ants trapped in a vicious cycle of gathering food for the powerful grasshoppers year after year. The ants become wary of gathering food and soon realize that a revolution is needed to free themselves from the grasshoppers' grip. Throughout “A Bug's Life,” a critical analysis of the interaction between characters contributes to a greater understanding of functionalist theory, conflict theory, and Marxism and how these sociological principles create a competitive society and inevitably lead to change social. of a society, we must first understand each part of it and how it contributes to the stability of the society. According to functionalist theory, different parts of society are organized to satisfy the distinct needs of each part, which consequently determines the shape and form of society. (Cross). All individual parts of society depend on each other. This is demonstrated in “A Bug's Life” through the distinct roles that ants and grasshoppers play in their own society. The two species are stratified in such a way that each contributes to the order and productivity of the community. In the film, the chief grasshopper states that "the sun grows food, ants harvest food, and grasshoppers eat food" (A Bug's Life). This emphasizes social stability and mutual role dependence. Grasshoppers rely on ants for food, while ants rely on grasshoppers for protection. This effective role assignment and performance is what ensures that, together, the ants and grasshoppers form a functioning society to ensure their survival. Although different parts interact to form a functioning society, functionalists ... middle of paper ..... The division between the classes becomes more evident and a social revolution is eventually expected. Ultimately this revolution would lead to socialism, where there is no ruling class; rather, socialism consists of cooperative production. In “A Bug's Life,” the ants become skeptical of the system and begin planning an uprising. Together, the ants, symbol of the proletariat, band together to overthrow the domination of the locusts. 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.htmhttp ://www.edu.learnsoc.org/Chapters/3%20theories%20of%20sociology/16%20structural% 20functionalism.htm