What's...in a name?
If...you're a fan of Shakespeare - or - took Drama in 9th grade, I expect you'd answer;
"That which we call a rose, By any other word would smell as sweet".
Alternatively, if - you're a fan of The Shins, you may sooner return...with;
"They got a name...for everything."
Truthfully(?)  - it's...of little consequence which answer  
you'd choose. Because - they mean...the same thing.
The former is - a line - found in the second scene of the second  
act of "Romeo and Juliet". And...the latter is James Mercer of The Shins
referencing that same line...400 something years later.  
In - the play - the phrase "What is in a name?" and its accompanying lines  
are posed as an argument from Juliet. Comparing Romeo to a rose,
she proposes that he would still be graceful and still be her love, if he hadn't  
been named...Romeo. If any other name had been given to him,
had he not been born a Montague -  she would not only love him still - but
be able to love him freely. Something or someone's name is...immaterial when  
considering their essence, their beliefs, or their worth.  
In - The Shins' song "Name For You", the phrase proposes...the
same argument. Except - instead of contending for the right to love
someone belonging to a rival family - it argues in favor of female agency
and against those who would attempt to constrain  a woman's spirit by casting  
labels against them. No matter what name or label you give  someone,
  their qualities...remain...unchanged.
Same. Exact. Argument.  
Just...in a different social context, on a different continent, in a different...century.  
Point is - a name is to Romeo what setting is to Juliet's argument.
It's...inconsequential.  
Medium or setting is of meager signifigance when a moral...is...universal.  
And...I don't think there is a medium  on Earth more intimately acquainted with  
the idea of the same plots - and characters - and morals being...endlessly  
referenced and resurrected under new names...than film - is.
Whether it's - Ridley Scott's "Bladerunner" or Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" -
film is an art form of...rebirths. It is a Lazarus Pit that we lower Boris Pasternak's
Doctor Zhivago into...and pull David Lean's Doctor Zhivago - out of. From
King to Kubrick, from Puzo to Coppola...film - at its best - is often times
just the re-telling of a story that we've already heard or - that someone else
has told...before.
Sometimes - though - a redux comes along so disjointed from its
original that it's hard to tell it's a reproduction in the first place -
and that's what I'm gonna spend the next however long I feel like talkin  
cool about - so put on your thinkin caps and strap in!
I'm really smart and this is why
A Bug's Life Is Literally Seven Samurai.
[Kocky - Share Love]
Pixar got its start in - 1974 - when the founder of the New York Institute of Technology,
Alexander Schure, launched what he called the Compuer Graphics Lab - and - began recruiting other computer scientists who shared in his ambition...to create the first ever computer-animated film. After sinking mountains of money into the department, the team realized they wouldn't be able to make their dreams a reality unless they found a home in a legitimate film studio - and that's when the big man himself, George Lucas, came knockin. 21 years, Lucas suffering from a financially crippling divorce, and Steve Jobs becoming their CEO later; their first feature-length film dropped  -  to...universal acclaim. Distributed by Disney and beating out their own film, Pocahontas, at the box office - Toy Story became a symbol of things to come from the new boys on the block - and - later that year - production started on their following f; A Bug's Life. Despite the film still turning out to be a success, though, it was nonetheless plagued by tensions surrounding its production. Largely due to a feud between two...warring...factions.  
Huh.
  Uh - nevermind - wrong Kurosawa film.  
Anyways, ex-Disney chairman and current DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg -
had been told the entire original plot and approach of Pixar's next film by his once-good friend, the leading director and head of Pixar's animation department - John Lasseter. Katzenberg, realizing the potential for the concept and not wanting DreamWorks to
fall behind their Disney-backed opposition, had his team get straight to work on "Antz".   Their own insect based study of society and the natural order. Once it got back
to Lasseter and Jobs that their old friend had taken the idea and ran with it, tensions rose and quickly erupted into a public - feud. Katzenberg attempted to hold A Bug's Life's winter release date hostage so that it couldn't compete against DreamWorks' animated debut - The Prince of Egypt. And...it gets worse. In an effort to corner Pixar (?), Katzenberg even offered the production team in charge of Antz tremendous financial incentives to do whatever they could to make sure Antz was released first.  
Despite...Pixar's headstart.  
Not only was Katzenberg and DreamWorks prepared to ruin a close friendship from his tenure at Disney, he was willing to risk the success of their other film by moving Antz' release date in front of it...to do it...  
Nonetheless, Jobs and Lasseter...never backed down. Antz released a month before
A Bug's Life and grossed less than half of what A Bug's Life would go on to make at the box office - forever existing not only as a monument to the agressive business tactics Katzenberg had learned from Jobs, but to Lasseter's resolve as a creator - to stand up against a studio...even one ran by an old friend...to defend his work.
And this is where A Bug's Life...first begins...to mirror Kurosawa's...masterpiece.
Not just in its first scene, but in the production...of it.
Seven Samura was a technical and creative force to be recknoed with -  
a watershed  within the world of film...and Kurosawa knew it. Through the use of at the time rare telephoto lenses - as well as multiple camera shoots using diagrams to choreograph each operator's movements - Kurosawa was setting a new bar for every artist within the medium. Unfortnately - trailblazing often comes at a steep cost. And - for Kurosawa - it was having his production shut down not once but twice by his own...studio. Between...the re-writes, the re-casting, the meticulous set designs, and the overwhelming amount of time required to capture his vision - Kurosawa managed to nearly quadruple Seven Samurai's original budget and extended its production length to almost 150 days of shooting - spread over nearly a year. Toho Studios, the production company that had originally given Kurosawa his start as a 25 year old assistant director,  had been financing Ishiro Honda's epochal production of Godizlla contemporaneously with Kurosawa's Seven Samurai - and at a tremendous cost. Backed into a wall by the ever-expanding cost of Kurosawa's epic, the studio had no choice but to threaten him to reign in his excessive spending - or else. Kurosawa - knowing what was at stake - ignored their pleas - forcing Toho Studios to completely halt production on Seven Samurai to avoid falling into bankruptcy. Despite the immense amount of tension on him to reduce the length of his shoot and cut his budget or risk loosing all of his work - each time Toho shut down his production, Kurosawa
simply went fishing. And...waited for them to ask him to continue his work. The reason he later gave for having such a calm and unfaltering resolve was that he couldn't imagine a company on Earth that would sink so much
time and money into his vision and then not let him complete it.
And sure enough...they asked him to come back.
Twice.  
Kurosawa's faith in his work and his crew's determination to complete the vision they'd set out to realize were...fortifications against a siege of pressure to cut his losses and allow someone other than him to dictate the amount of time and passion put into his work - and when it should be released.  
"Okay, fair enough-" you might say "-the conflict and following public controversy that each director faced during the production of their films - are...similar - I'll give you that.
(smol chuckle)
But that isn't enough to make them the same movie...right?"
Well, like Gary Jones says in that pretty terrible Dead Rising movie;
that's not even the half of it.
(play clip - 1:38:28 into film)
(3 ft away from desk)
"Yeah that's - that's where he says it."
Now that we've gotten Lasseter and Kurosawa's parallel production  
perils out of the way, it's time we jump into the films themselves.
Startiiiiing now.
*play beginning 5-ish seconds of A Bug's Life*
The films open with...an establishing, panning shot of the landscape  
just outside - of - where most of the story...will take place.  
We're ushered into A Bug's Life by the forces of wind and the sound of insects
and birds in the distance - the camera dollying forward like a leaf in the wind,
being carried towards the beginning of our story.
In...Seven Samurai - our establishing shot is underscored by nature...as well.  
The pounding of approaching hooves swells into the foreground,
bringing a metaphor from the previous title cards...to life. The sound of
Kurosawa's figurative...thunderous downpour  completely dominates the aural landscape for the first 30 seconds of the film - only relenting to allow us...context.
This is a village...and these are farmers.
Neither the villager in Seven Samurai or the series of ants in A Bug's Life that we're first introduced to are...proper introductions to a significant character within the narrative - but it is precisely this insignificance that makes their introductions...so crucial. They...aren't a main character, rather they are a criterion for the society
that the main characters exist in. Content to serve...but full of fear. Both without
strong leadership to defend them or free them from their chains...of servitude.
Reasoning - that - this alone isn't enough for us to grasp the true scope of their despair, though, Kurosawa and Lasseter each decide it's time to sit us front row for a full demonstration - and - following a cut to this gathering of villagers and the colony's leadership, respectively, we're given a one minute crash course on the overarching despondency that rules over these consonant societies. In Seven Samurai, the villagers respond to proposals of hope with anger - and...in A Bug's Life...there is no proposal of hope...to begin with. As - the queen explains to Princess Ata that serving the Grasshoppers and leaving hardly any food for themselves is..."just the way things have always been" - for their people in one film; the villagers combat any suggestions of seeking help or subverting what they perceive to be the "natural order" - in the other. And - during this scene, in A Bug's Life, the sentiments of Manzo and a majority of the other villagers in - Seven Samurai - are condensed into...the queen...specifically.
See - although these are essentially the sa me movie, the lengths of their run-times are radically different from one another and - due to the almost two hours of time we don't have  to be...introduced to a dynamic cast of characters with unique personalities and differing means of responding to...every beat in the story - in - the way we do with Seven Samurai - a lot of the characters in A Bug's Life take on multiple roles within the film.  
Uhm, here - actually...  
Let me show you what I mean.
Okay, so, protagonist of the film. I'm skipping ahead a little to their introduction
but the reason I am is because Flik - the main character of A Bug's Life - is Manzo, Rikishi, Katsuhiro, and in one scene Kikuchiyo...at the same time.
He - has the individualism and fighting spirit of Rikishi but the fear and otherwise cowardly demeanor of Manzo. It's Flik's idea to seek out the Warriors in the first place. On top of this he places the Warriors on an unrealistically high pedastal - to the point of borderline infatuation. His...desperation for strength to defend his people but simultaneous disdain for their subservient nature and the cycle that forces them to live that way. Oh and speaking of infatuation he's in love with the young, bright female star of the village that - despite his efforts and consistently putting himself in harms way for her - doesn't seem particularly thrilled with his presence beyond his objective use because he doesn't meet her expectations of what someone like him should be and act like.  
Yeah - sound familiar?
Princess Ata...is Shino.  
Again with the compression, though..so is Dot.
Weird, I know, but it makes perfect sense once you think of these two characters in relation to Manzo and Katsuhiro. The...overprotective father relationship that Manzo shares with Shino is the same dynamic between Flik and Dot - it just...overlaps Katsuhiro's  relationship with Shino - which is ultimately one of unrequited love. Katsuhiro doesn't behave the way Shino expects a Samurai to and
when you consider her reactions to everything that happens between her and Katsuhiro
during the film - especially compared to how Katsuhiro reacts - it's clear that he's the immature damsal that's fallen in love, whereas Shino's just a farmer's daughter that
wanted him to drop some Samurai children in her and leave. The radical class inequality that ultimately makes their relationship impossible might be inverted in A Bug's Life but...the same dynamics  are at play. Ata has virtually no romantic interest in Flik for nearly the entire film and this is largely due to the fact that he behaves in pretty much direct contrast to what Ata expects a man in the colony to behave like. Just like Shino.  
Lasseter throws Flik a bone by having Ata at least hold his hand and kiss his cheek before the ending of the film - sure - but when you consider the context surrounding it and the film it mirrors, especially its ending when Shino is completely disinterested in Katsuhiro while Katsuhiro looks aboslutely heartbroken in response to it - Flik and Ata likely have no chance of sustaining a relationship outside of the war they temporarily
came together during. And she doesn't have to. It isn't owed to him.
That's what we call female agency, baby.  
Shouts out to K Swiss for being ahead of the curve.
Anyway; Manny is Kambei.  
Oldest and wisest but ultimately tired of what he does.
De-facto leader but generally the most restrained of the group.
Gypsy is Shichiroji.  
Loyal to Kambei above others and the screenplay specifies they have history.
In this case romantic as they're a couple instead of...old war companions.
Kambei has calm and measured responses and  
Shichiroji contrasts this with jovial warmth and encouragement.
  Heimlich is the other half of  Katsuhiro's character.  
The least mature of the group even in contrast to Kikuchiyo
and at times he feels more like a liability to the group than
a helping hand. Katsuhiro's metamorphosis from the boy
we met in the beginning of the film to the man we've come to know
by the end is made literal - by - Heimlich breaking out of a coccoon following the battle and the other Warriors pulling him along before the credits roll.
  Francis is Kikuchiyo.
Short tempered - but arguably the most emotionally
consistent and well-meaning out of the Warriors.
Although all of the Warriors are there for a noble cause -
his manner of speaking and the way he carries himself eludes to the  
fact that he comes from a lower rung on the societal ladder - much like the ants.
It's because of this that he relates better to the children, and
the children to him, than any other Warrior.
Dim is...Heihachi.
Although cheerful and upbeat - it's acknowledged by the rest of the Samurai
that next to Katsuhiro he is the least skilled combatant and - that - his use
largely comes from appearing to be an imposing adversary -  
and...being a warm...uplifting presence.  
Rose is Gorobei.  
The most collected and easy-going member of  
the Warriors - but a sattelite character nontheless  
so her dialogue is somewhat limited compared to a few  
other members. Next in line to Kikuchiyo in  
terms of how well he bonds with the village considering
Katushiro's bond was specific to Shino and unreciprocated
by the others in the village - especially Manzo.
Slim is Kyuzo.
Another trait of the samurai made literal,  Kyuzo's exceptional swordsmanship
is mirrored by way of the other Warriors, usually Francis, using Slim as an  
actual sword. Kyuzo's disdain for combat and the killing of others
perfectly translates to Slim as well as he is consistently the least willing to fight
and the most eager to avoid it.
Rikishi's wife is...Thumper in that he serves the same narrative purpose.  
A symbol of fear and brutality that keeps the colony living in fear.  
One they're familiar with.
Gisaku - the Old Man - is the Queen, Mosuke is Mr. Soil,  
and  Yohei is represented by the ant colony as a collective.  
Consistently refuting hope, doubting the viability of Rikishi's plan
and in constant disbelief of their own ability to defend themselves.
And finally...P.T. Flea. Introduced to us near the beginning of the film and making his return at the end, sweeping the Warriors away with him - P.T. represents
the hunger within Seven Samurai. Not just for food...but for purpose.  
P.T. fails to maintin an audience and - when he is able to garner some appreciation...
it's only through literal self immolation. The Samurai...no longer fight for lands...
or for money. The time of the Samurai is coming to an end - and - the appreciation
for them is limited at best. The threat to the colony was nullified so it's all happy
faces and music for the villagers. But the hunger...is still there.  
And it takes the Warriors - and P.T. - away.
Because there's nothing left...to feed them here.  
Anyways, after we're introduced to the back sheep of the village  
and the people's court agree to send him on his quest -  
we cut away to our young protagonist setting out
for the big city - in search of warriors willing to defend the colony.
Aagain - due to the contrast in run-time we...don't get to see the Ronin Avengers
assemble one by one like we do in Seven Samurai - but - A Bug's Life
still captures the essence of this sequence - flawlessly. The
flies yelling at Manny and the rest of the troupe, calling them washed up -
as well the group being introduced while they're "performing"  
for entitled and ungrateful onlookres - perfectly reflects
the way Kurosawa introduces Kambei, Kyuzo, and Heihachi
to us. Restricted to...menial service - despite their talents.
The feats they perform going largely unappreciated.
Following this - when Rikishi and Flik return to their villages with their saviors...
the people flee. Hidden in their houses, in their canals, nobody - at least...not at first -
wishes to face them. Because they're afraid. The mantra by which they survive, the only rule that has successfully sustained them - is that the farmer's only choice...is to endure.
So they hide.
The...ensuing demonstration when the Kambei and the others are presented  
the armor of   fallen Samurai, hunted down and killed by the villagers after battles -  
is mirrored...by the Warriors being presented a tapestry -
portraying the conquest that the colony expects from them -  
and their realization that Flik...misunderstood who they actually were -
clicking in all of their heads - at once.  
The desperation in Flik's plea mirroring the anger and sorrow in Kikuchiyo's.  
And after this...initial conflict...the films give us a brief...repose.  
The presence of the warriors alone, and their decision to stay, has...revitalized the colony. A sense of...contented restfulness seems to have washed over the people within it - as well as the Warriors. Their...hope - that was so long dormant - or...perhaps never there to begin with - has finally been restored.  
And then they're attacked.
Lasseter - not having the same luxuries as Kurosawa - an hour and 20 minutes of run-time to illustrate one of the greatest. battles. in cinema history - condenses
the...most broad, dramatic sweeps from Seven Samurai's timeless sequence - into
the last half hour...of A Bug's Life. P.T. Flea returns and...proposes to the Warriors - that - they need to return to his circus and abandon the villagers they've sworn to protect.
This, at once, reflects both Kikuchiyo's decision to abandon his post out of hunger for purpose and honor and the end of the Kurosawa's battle - the remaining Samurai
realizing that their place is...not here. Their...boundless hunger - pulling
them away and on to somewhere new. Somewhere...where they can be fed.
And... Like Kikuchiyo - the Warriors come back.  
The...crescendo - of both films - the villagers and Samurai in one -  
and - the colony ants and Warriors in the other...
clashing with...all of the spit and fire they have in them -  
against the duplicitous natural order that we were ushered into the films by...
Comes to pass...in the pouring rain.
The films end, and the wind carries the defenders off
on its gentle breeze - as the villagers begin...to harvest.
Kurosawa's...greatest feats...
His most...overwhelming and -  formidable displays of filmmaking -  
to me - at least...have always been...his command...of nature.
His - ability to elevate it beyond a simple plot device or aesthetic pattern
and instead treat the rain and wind and thunder and fire and snow of his
worlds...as characters unto themselves.
The opening sequences of both films stating before anything else
that a downpour is on the horizon. In Kurosawa's by the sound of
the bandit's horses and the prodigious clouds looming above them,
and in Lasseter's by the first shot opening on a dried river bed
and...introducing us to the colony as they discuss the coming of rain.  
Thunder being represented by...the terrible crack of the muskets in Seven Samurai
and the harrowing screech of the bird in A Bug's Life. Weapons that pose  
a terrible threat not simply to one...but all  sides of their conflict. |
The...roaring of fire  - symbolizing the sudden rush of indignation within the villagers - as well as the sacrifices they had to make  in...order to contend the fate they'd previously submitted to -  in..A Bug's Life by the children narrowly escaping it,
and...in Seven Samurai...by Rikishi's wife walking...back into it.
Both films usher us in and guide us out  with...rain and wind...during a harvest.  
And...both are, at their core, a meditation...on the ever-changing natural order  
that we all...endure under. An...exploration of the selflessness versus  
pragmatism and an age..long since past of personal honor and kind deeds
being handsomely rewarded - closing with what a first watch may leave you feeling is  
an elated note to end on...a triumph over evil. But - on a second or third watch -  
proposes a much more grey and...indistinct resolution. The villagers and the ant  
colony, content to not further reward their saviors or...even offer them a place among them. Consistent with Aesop's fable of the Ant and the Grasshopper, which both
film's screenplays were based on - proposing that the Ants and the Villagers...
are not victims. They are...pragmatic...and misery...but only because nature  
dictates them...to be. And - the Grasshopper - as well as the Ants' brave defenders  
that Kurosawa and Lasseter and Tomioka and Roberts and Nugmanov and  
Sayles included...are products of the same...order.  
The same moral...transcending time, geography, language, and medium.
John Lasseter's...A Bug's Life...may differ in the finer strokes.
There...may be changes made and cuts to certain character dynamics
to accomodate for its time constraits as well as its audience - but
it doesn't change...anything that matters. The broad strokes remain...untouched.  
There...may be a rift that separates them.
44 years of technological advancement,
presented to a different society,
in a different setting,
(small chuckle)
starring a different species,
(/)
and presented with a different name.
But...beat for beat...
Point...for point...
A Bug's Life...is literally...Seven Samurai.
It's just got a different name.
And...after all.
(^)
What's in a name?
*****ENDING******
Because....after all. What's in a name?