Chris Trottier
myrmepropagandistI'm not going to be popular for this... but neither.
Both commit the cardinal sin of making half the worker ants male, rather than making male alate characters. It's petty but that drove me nuts even as a kid.
I love that answer!
In your opinion, though, what's the best ant-themed movie? Or is there one?
Flatbush Gardener 🌈
Flittermouse 🔞🐩 
@futurebird @atomicpoet
That is exactly the answer I was thinking of. Great film.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film)
That is exactly the answer I was thinking of. Great film.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film)
A. Tang
Jesse Wilson@futurebird This movie was forever conflated in my childhood memory with the MacGyver episode that featured “killer” ants. Makes no sense.
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Cyber Yuki
ProtectiveHen@futurebird @atomicpoet TOTALLY agree re how annoying this is!! I see the same thing in popular/cartoon depictions of bees - such an obvious fact to overlook.
"But how could you make a whole movie where there aren't any boys and men in it? Who would be the main character if they are all women?"
@futurebird @bok_bok_ba_gok I mean, the life of a drone ant seems like one hell of an amazing plot for a movie.
David Colarusso@futurebird @atomicpoet @bok_bok_ba_gok I'm reminded of Laline Paull’s The Bees. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/books/review/the-bees-by-laline-paull.html
Rabbi Nathan Farb@futurebird @atomicpoet @bok_bok_ba_gok
I wish I could recall the name, but there is a wonderful nonfiction book I remember reading when I was young that is written in the first person from the ant's perspective. I think it follows five or six different types of ants, and there was maybe an introduction for each. I'm likely misremembering it a bit, but I remember reading it over and over. It was as compelling as any YA fiction I was reading at the time.
I wish I could recall the name, but there is a wonderful nonfiction book I remember reading when I was young that is written in the first person from the ant's perspective. I think it follows five or six different types of ants, and there was maybe an introduction for each. I'm likely misremembering it a bit, but I remember reading it over and over. It was as compelling as any YA fiction I was reading at the time.
Bornach@atomicpoet @futurebird @bok_bok_ba_gok
There's precedent for movies told from the point of view of the lowest caste in society
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Fortress
But that would probably only work in Japanese cinema. No big Hollywood Disney-owned blockbuster franchise would ever attempt such a thing
joel b@futurebird @atomicpoet fwiw you are the most popular opinion to me. Sisters are doing it!
Frigid Crystal Tormented WrathThe bee movie also does this. Drones are not fucking yellow and they are good for EXACTLY one thing and they die immediately afterward.
The real social lives of bees &ants are so much more interesting than just projecting a typical human story template on to them. Male protagonist with a hero’s journey & a “love interest” gag me with a stick!
I want 1000s of sisters and a distant and enigmatic mother— strange little brothers with alien desires to fly far from home— the joy of service and the art of “absconding” — Young queens full of ambition— wicked step mothers and baby kidnappers
@Rasp @atomicpoet Let’s not forget that our sisters come in many sizes, the colony calling them to many purposes. Some are warriors so large you could ride on their back without them even noticing your presence (their hearts long for war) — others, the tiny obscure sisters of the deep garden, know the secret language of the mycelium— these small sisters are so tiny we can hardly hear their pheromones when they speak in the language of plant networks.
isaacs@futurebird @Rasp @atomicpoet I would love to see "ants in reverse". A story with human characters, but as if written by ants. All workers in the city are sisters, with their mother a giant living in the most guarded building downtown. Warriors standing 30 feet tall. Their brothers angsty explorers who leave home as soon as the weather is right.
Just another rakyat 🇲🇾@futurebird
Not a movie but this short novel might be what you’re looking for (if you’ve not read it already): https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/25/trailhead
@Rasp @atomicpoet
Not a movie but this short novel might be what you’re looking for (if you’ve not read it already): https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/25/trailhead
@Rasp @atomicpoet
John Gordon@futurebird @Rasp @atomicpoet Indirectly related - I think Charles Stross pending “space opera” alien protagonist relationships might be a fun play on old themes.
llewelly@futurebird @atomicpoet
when I was in college, there was someone (I forget the name) who had been involved with the computer graphics side of Antz, who came and gave a not-very-technical talk about the CG stuff, and another someone who did the same for Bug's Life. Then classmates dragged me to see both movies. My reaction to both was the same: some cool CG tech, but bad movies. My classmates were all sure Antz was far superior, I guess because it was aimed at 13-yr-olds rather than 6-yr-olds.
when I was in college, there was someone (I forget the name) who had been involved with the computer graphics side of Antz, who came and gave a not-very-technical talk about the CG stuff, and another someone who did the same for Bug's Life. Then classmates dragged me to see both movies. My reaction to both was the same: some cool CG tech, but bad movies. My classmates were all sure Antz was far superior, I guess because it was aimed at 13-yr-olds rather than 6-yr-olds.
Ian Tindale@llewelly I reviewed these two films a while back
Antz vs A Bug’s Life (1998) – Ian K Tindale’s connections
Serene 117
Barry Goldman@llewelly @futurebird @atomicpoet ok wait. Bugs life was FUN and those grasshopper guys scary as hell!
Was ant th one with woody allen? Cuz after 2 minutes, allen is TOTLY the wrong mood for ants, we walked out.
Was funny, we asked for money back cuz we thought this was th othwr ant movie (bugs life) and mgr said no.
We said but this movie was really BAD
Mgr said im not responsible for that
We said ur purchasing and showing th movies, u GOTTA BE reaponsible!
No.
We never went back there