History Headscratchers / ABugsLife

When he gets stuck distracting the bird and almost gets eaten, why didn't he suck himself in as he does right after when Gypsy distracts the bird.

** The ultimate answer to this question is that we simply don't know enough about how this insect world works to get any kind of straight answer, all we can do is guess. Based on what's seen in the film, the economics of this world seems to work on a region-by-region basis, with some regions having an economy due to a large population of bugs of differing species interacting with one another, while other regions, like the area where the ants live, don't have any kind of economy because of a lower population whose residents tend to keep to themselves and their own kind and generally don't interact much with other species. Whether it's possible for bugs to integrate themselves into the regions that have economies is unknown, nor is it known if these economic areas have always existed or are a relatively new thing. As for why the grasshoppers insist on taking food from the ants, it's implied, based on what Hopper says in the beginning of the film, that the ants and grasshoppers made some kind of deal in the past in which the grasshoppers would protect the ants from outside bugs harassing them (whether or not there were any actual bugs harassing them is not known) in exchange for the ants giving them a portion of their food. Then, at some point in time, the original deal simply became a means of exploiting the ants for free food. If the insect economy didn't exist back when this deal was first made, then the grasshoppers are essentially conservatives who don't want to adapt to a new lifestyle. If the economy ''did'' exist back when the deal was made, then the grasshoppers are basically a criminal gang operating a ProtectionRacket so that they could have food without needing to actually work for a living.

** The ultimate answer to this question is that we simply don't know enough about how this insect world works to get any kind of straight answer, we can only guess. Based on what's seen in the film, the economics of this world seems work on a region-by-region basis, with some regions having an economy due to a large population of bugs, while other regions, like the area where the ants live in, don't have any kind of economy because they don't interact much with other insects and keep to themselves. Whether it's possible for bugs to integrate themselves into the regions that have economies is unknown, nor is it known if these economic areas have always existed or are a relatively new thing. As for why the grasshoppers insist on taking food from the ants, it's implied, based on what Hopper says in the beginning of the film, that the ants and grasshoppers made some kind of deal in the past in which the grasshoppers would protect the ants from outside bugs harassing them (whether or not there were any actual bugs harassing them is not known) in exchange for the ants giving them a portion of their food. Then, at some point in time, the original deal simply became a means of exploiting the ants for free food. If the insect economy didn't exist back when this deal was first made, then the grasshoppers are essentially conservatives who don't want to adapt to a new lifestyle. If the economy ''did'' exist back when the deal was made, then the grasshoppers are basically a criminal gang operating a ProtectionRacket so that they could have food without needing to actually work for a living.

** The ultimate answer to this question is that we simply don't know enough about how this insect world works to get any kind of straight answer, we can only guess. Based on what's seen in the film, the economics of this world seems work on a region-by-region basis, with some regions having an economy due to a large population of bugs, while other regions, like the area where the ants live in, don't have any kind of economy because they don't interact much with other insects and keep to themselves. Whether it's possible for bugs to integrate themselves into the regions that have economies is unknown, nor is it known if these economic areas have always existed or are a relatively new thing. As for why the grasshoppers insist on taking food from the ants, it's implied, based on what Hopper says in the beginning of the film, that the ants and grasshoppers made some kind of deal in the past in which the grasshoppers would protect the ants from outside bugs harassing them (whether or not there were any actual bugs harassing them is not known) in exchange for the ants giving them a portion of their food. Then, at some point in time, the original deal simply became a means of exploiting the ants for free food. If the insect economy didn't exist back when this deal was first made, then the grasshoppers are essentially conservatives who don't want to adapt. If the economy ''did'' exist back when the deal was made, then it was simply a case of the grasshoppers operating a ProtectionRacket so that they could have food without needing to actually work.

** The ultimate answer to this question is that we simply don't know enough about how this insect world works to really understand. As for why the grasshoppers insist on taking food from the ants, it's implied, based on what Hopper says in the beginning of the film, that the ants and grasshoppers made some kind of deal in the past in which the grasshoppers would protect the ants from outside bugs harassing them in exchange for the ants giving them a portion of their food. Then, at some point in time, the original deal simply became a means of exploiting the ants for free food.

** The ultimate answer to this question is that we simply don't know enough about how this insect world works to really understand. Based on what's seen in the film, it seems to be a region-by-region basis, with some regions having some kind of economy due to a large population of bugs, while other regions, like the ants, don't have any kind of economy because they don't interact much with other insects and keep to themselves. As for why the grasshoppers insist on taking food from the ants, it's implied, based on what Hopper says in the beginning of the film, that the ants and grasshoppers made some kind of deal in the past in which the grasshoppers would protect the ants from outside bugs harassing them in exchange for the ants giving them a portion of their food. Then, at some point in time, the original deal simply became a means of exploiting the ants for free food.

* Okay, so the grasshoppers have a system where if the ants (who, presumably, if the grasshoppers weren't getting involved, would probably just collect food for themselves without exporting or importing anything) give them food every so often, they don't attack the ants, and it's mentioned that this has been going on so long that extorting and subjugating the ants has become a way of life and an end in and of itself even though there are other ways they could get food without this whole shakedown. Here are my questions:
** There's a whole economy where bugs can order food at restaurants and presumably also buy it in stores, and the grasshoppers themselves (seem to) participate in it because they go to a bar, with the only reason they go back to harass the ants for more food being that this has basically become routine for them. Did the grasshoppers extorting the ants become too ingrained in their lifestyle for them to stop before or after this economy arose, and if it was around back when the main concern was food instead of power, why didn't the grasshoppers back then try to do something to get MONEY which they could then get food with instead of just harassing what amounts to a farm in the middle of nowhere to get food directly. Yeah, the grasshopper in the original story was a total freeloader, but THESE grasshoppers seem to be putting in a lot of a whole different kind of work to keep the ants in line,

** There's a whole economy where bugs can order food at restaurants and presumably also buy it in stores, and the grasshoppers themselves (seem to) participate in it because they go to a bar,

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** It could also be an act and said grasshopper is merely pretending to be a raving animal to help Hoppers with his intimidation of the ants.

*** It's even more than that. Hopper initially only asked for a new stockpile after what happened to the old one, but doubled up on it after Flik stood up to him, triggering his fear of the rest of the colony following suit and rebelling against him and his gang. And as we see in the colony scene where the ants are struggling with the do-over, Thorny notes that there's likely not enough food to meet the double quota. And given that this is summer time, it's highly unlikely any more food will have grown during that time. As such later, when they scramble to fill the order after aborting the bird plan and banishing Flik and the troupe, but only come up with a mediocre amount of food, he points out that while there is more food on the island, if they give up anymore than they've offered already, the colony will starve that winter. Hopper deliberately set a demand that he knew the ants couldn't meet, which gave him the perfect excuse to take over the island, force the colony to give up their winter storage of food, and then publicly assassinate their Queen in order to break them into to complete and utter submission to his gang.